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Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice

Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice

Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice

 

Video: Murals for Justice, DreamPlay Media

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“It all comes back to how we think about ourselves and others. The need to redefine the concept of being human and move toward global racial justice begins by understanding and addressing the ways we resist recognizing people who live under different circumstances than our own.”   

— Michelle Stephens, Founding and Executive Director

Envisioning Justice

The Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice is a conduit for new knowledge and ideas, providing opportunities for Rutgers faculty whose inquiries address racism and social inequality to work collaboratively and effect meaningful action and positive change. In bringing together scholars from multiple humanities disciplines across Rutgers—from law to language, from philosophy to art, from history to gender studies—the institute serves as a universitywide intellectual corridor that escalates the likelihood that their explorations and findings will inform real-world decisions, providing solutions to problems that have been increasingly thrust into sharp focus in the United States and around the globe.

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Moving in the Local while Mapping Oneself in the Global 

 

“I think of what we’ve been doing as a process that has been slow but also very vitalizing. Moving in the local while mapping oneself in the global. And to my mind that is what the mission of this Institute is” 

— Michelle Stephens, Founding and Executive Director

Watch our Evergreen Video: An Emblem of our Founding, Mission and Who We Are

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ISGRJ Evergreen Video

Congratulations to our 2024-2025 Early Career Faculty Fellows!

We are pleased to welcome and introduce our new cohort of 2024-2025 Early Career Faculty Fellows!!

Chancellors, deans, and the ISGRJ executive director, in consultation with department chairs have nominated and selected these promising scholars working in the areas of social justice and racial inequality for a one-year fellowship at the Institute. They will receive research funds, have access to institute-funded events throughout Rutgers and benefit from mentoring and professional development. 

Congratulations to Julio Angel Alicea (Rutgers-Camden), Keisha April (Rutgers-Newark), Valerie Adams-Bass (Rutgers-Camden), Alexandria Bauer (Rutgers New-Brunswick), Nicole Burrowes (Rutgers New-Brunswick), Germán Cadenas (Rutgers New-Brunswick), Carla Cevasco (Rutgers New-Brunswick), Karishma Desai (Rutgers-New Brunswick), Tajah Ebram (Rutgers New-Brunswick), Shanna Jean-Baptiste (Rutgers New-Brunswick), Carla Murphy (Rutgers-Newark), Allison Page (Rutgers-Camden), Sangita Pudasainee-Kapri (Rutgers-Camden), Seema Saifee (Rutgers-Camden), Anthony Ureña (Rutgers-Newark) and Shelley Zhang (Rutgers New-Brunswick).

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Call for Applications! 2024-2025 Fellows in Racial Justice Learning Community

The Office of Undergraduate Intellectual Life (OUIL) at the Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice is pleased to announce its third annual call for applications for the 2024-2025 Fellows in Racial Justice (RAJU) Learning Community. The Fellows in Racial Justice Learning Community is open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors from Rutgers-Newark, Rutgers-New Brunswick, and Rutgers-Camden. There is no minimum GPA requirement. We are looking for students who: 

- Are assertive and bold in their convictions and good communicators/listeners

- Are passionate about social justice and activism

- Are interested in thinking from embodied personal and collective experiences

- Want to show up for their communities

- Have diverse positionalities and interact with different identities

- Have availability to commit to being part of this learning community and designing a social action project during the 24-25 academic year

The application window has now closed. 

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The 2024 Racial Justice Summit

Our second annual Racial Justice Summit: Fighting for the Now, Hopeful for the Future: Living and Breathing Camden, the only cross-campus, student-led initiative dedicated to exploring the future of racial justice on all three Rutgers campuses, was held on Friday, September 20, at Rutgers-Camden. The summit was founded as an opportunity to explore the future of racial justice on all three Rutgers campuses; this year’s theme, “Living and Breathing Camden,” fostered nuanced conversation at the intersection of housing policy and environmental justice in Camden, N.J.

This year's keynote was delivered by Arielle King, Environmental Justice Strategist and Assistant Director of the Racial Justice Center at the New York Civil Liberties Union.

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Just Takes

We're pleased and excited to announce the launch of "Just Takes," our new Op-Ed/thought piece/writing initiative at the Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice.

We encourage our affiliated-faculty and Rutgers Researchers on Race to submit pieces of writing of 500 words or less pitched to orient their research towards a more public audience and/or as relevant for a current issue in the broad area of global racial justice. 

To read our first round of fascinating pieces from colleagues covering such topics as reparations, the significance of water, childhood as a political battleground, urban racial and economic segregation, and the intersectionalities of structural gendered racism in child protective services, or if you're interested in submitting an entry, please click below. 

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Announcing the ISGRJ Teaching and Research Labs: On Race, Social Justice and the Human

We're pleased and excited to announce two signature ISGRJ Teaching and Research Labs on Race, Social Justice, and the Human.

In these multi-modal spaces, scholars, students and faculty investigators pair arts, humanities, and cultural studies research methods with social and behavioral science and stem approaches, producing collaborative, multi-genre, cutting-edge research on race. Each lab aims to contribute innovative research and pedagogy that can lead to the disruption and transformation of racial formations of the human.

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The Quilting Water Undergraduate Prize

We're pleased to announce the final, collaborative project from our 2024 Quilting Water Undergraduate Prize winners! 

The student-artists from across Rutgers University joined a vibrant community of artists and scholars to think and collaborate at the intersection of ecological and racial justice and were mentored by renowned artist LaTasha Diggs during the Spring 2024 semester. This second cohort produced a poetry, sound, and photography collection called "Submerged" as their final project.

Guided by their individual relationships with water, the student-artists wrote a series of connecting poems in various styles. In addition to their original written works, this collection also contains voiceovers with original backing tracks composed by Papa Mbahwe (Rutgers-New Brunswick) and photography by Ryan Rivera (Rutgers-Camden).

Congratulations to these exemplary student-artists on their transformative work as the second cohort of the Rutgers Quilting Water Undergraduate Prize! They join a vibrant group of thinkers and makers who form the growing community of the ISGRJ. 

Pictured: (Top L to R) Hagar Ezzo (Rutgers-Camden), Ryan Rivera (Rutgers-Camden) and Papa Mbahwe (Rutgers-NB). (Bottom L to R) Sophia Wyllie (Rutgers-NB), Cass Guinto (Rutgers-Newark), and Salma Abedullah (Rutgers-Newark)

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Racial Justice Events

Current Themes

● Race in the Arts and Humanities ●
● Transforming Social Justice Values into Policies ●

Upcoming Events

Join Us in the Pursuit of a Just Society. Donate.

Donors to the institute partner with faculty working together to evaluate the past, address the embedded issues of the present, and envision a more equitable future.

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