Anti-Racism and Academic Equity Task Force
The “Anti-Racism and Academic Equity Task Force” (Arbeitskreis) is a dedicated initiative within the GASCA/DGSKA aimed at fostering an equitable, anti-racist and anti-discriminatory academic environment. We invite suggestions, collaboration, and sharing of experiences, including contributions on specific topics.
The “Anti-Racism and Academic Equity Task Force” was established following a motion at the General Meeting of the GASCA/DGSKA Conference in Munich in July 2023. After its inaugural meeting and two additional sessions in 2024, the group agreed on its name and identified key priorities and goals for its initial phase: developing support structures, creating guidelines and best-practice examples, expanding outreach and public engagement, and organizing events.
The “Anti-Racism and Academic Equity Task Force” (Arbeitskreis) is a dedicated initiative within the GASCA/DGSKA aimed at fostering an inclusive, equitable, anti-racist and anti-discriminatory academic environment for students, staff and academic inquiry. Recognising the systemic inequities within academia and society is an essential feature of academic excellence, the task force works to address intersectional barriers that marginalize individuals based on racialization, sexism, class, ableism or other intersecting categorizations. Our mission is to critically examine and dismantle structures of exclusion in anthropology while promoting practices that centre equity and epistemic justice. This includes developing resources, hosting workshops, and providing recommendations to advance anti-racism and equity in research, teaching, the history of the discipline and its professional development. The Task Force strives to cultivate a field that amplifies underrepresented voices, promotes equity, and addresses systemic issues such as academic precarity.
We acknowledge the historical, structural and systemic inequalities within the discipline. The task force has the aim to counter the persistent denialism of racism within the German and broader European context and signals the importance of directly addressing racialized and discriminatory inequalities. The German translation, Rassismuskritik, ties the Task Force to established interdisciplinary traditions within German academia that critically engage with racialization and racism and its sociopolitical implications. Anti-Racism, as well as Rassimuskritik is an essential tool for establishing equitable opportunities. Both address the individual, structural and historical foundations of racism and emphasise the biases and privileges that enable forms of oppression within these different spheres. Anti-racism is complemented with the addition of “Academic Equity”, which underscores our commitment to intersectionality, fostering inclusion, fairness, and opportunity within academic spaces.
As a task force (Arbeitskreis), we prioritize openness, respect, and inclusivity in all interactions within the GASCA/DGSKA, especially when addressing complex or sensitive topics. We invite suggestions, collaboration, and shared experiences, including contributions on specific topics. While we primarily communicate in English, multilingual engagement is encouraged to foster a more inclusive space for dialogue. If you would like to join the group, please contact any of the members or Simone Pfeifer who is coordinating the task force (s.pfeifer@uni-koeln.de).
Current Activities:
Events
● For the GASCA/DGSKA Conference in Cologne (September 29-October 2, 2025), the taskforce is organising the roundtable Who is afraid of anti-racism? Intersectional justice and inclusive futures in anthropology, led by Thiago Pinto Barbosa, Sina Emde, Catherine Whittaker and Mihir Sharma, in collaboration with chair Judith Albrecht and discussants Katharina Schramm and Sultan Doughan.
● Workshop with participation of Prof. Dr. Katajun Amirpur, Dr. Judith Albrecht, Prof. Dr. Alice von Bieberstein, Dr. Jogat Sohail, Prof. Dr. Tahani Nadim at HU Berlin, 13 May 2024.
Awareness and Accessibility Guidelines
● Together with the working group Anti-Discrimination of the Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology in Cologne, Gerda Kuiper, Sina Plücken, Amtul Shaheen, Simone Pfeifer and Hauke-Peter Vehrs are developing an awareness concept for the GASCA/DGSKA conference 2025, accessible to members in advance (more information will follow soon).
Support Structures and Best-practice examples
● We are currently developing support structures and compiling best-practice examples for fostering equity and inclusion within the discipline, across departments, and between institutes. This is a collaborative and ongoing effort. If you would like to contribute or get involved, please feel free to reach out!
Current Members of the group:
Dr. Thiago Pinto Barbosa (Leipzig University)
https://www.gkr.uni-leipzig.de/en/profile/mitarbeiter/thiago-pinto-barbosa
Prof. Dr. Julia Eckert (University of Bern)
https://www.anthro.unibe.ch/about_us/people/prof_dr_eckert_julia/index_eng.html
Dr. Antony Pattathu (University of Tübingen/City of Heidelberg)
https://uni-tuebingen.de/en/faculties/faculty-of-humanities/departments/asian-and-oriental-studies/social-and-cultural-anthropology/department/members/dr-antony-pattathu/
Dr. Simone Pfeifer (Goethe University Frankfurt)
https://simone-pfeifer.de/
Prof. Dr. Katharina Schramm (University of Bayreuth)
https://www.ethnologie.uni-bayreuth.de/en/team/Schramm-Katharina/index.php
Dr. Nasima Selim (University of Bayreuth)
https://www.ethnologie.uni-bayreuth.de/de/team/Selim-Nasima/index.php
Prof. Dr. Sahana Udupa (LMU Munich)
https://www.en.ethnologie.uni-muenchen.de/staff/professors/udupa/index.html
Amtul Shaheen (University of Cologne)
https://ethnologie.phil-fak.uni-koeln.de/content.php?kid=427
Prof. Dr. Catherine Whittaker (Goethe University Frankfurt)
https://www.goethe-university-frankfurt.de/99318816/Whittaker_C?locale=en
Prof. Dr. Martin Zillinger (University of Cologne)
https://ethnologie.phil-fak.uni-koeln.de/content.php?kid=190