The great paradox: Belonging in contradicting networks

Rashidah Farid, Ph.D., Dept. Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, AL

As a southern woman and black ecologist, the accomplishments of my career have come without a sense of belonging in ecology, and at great sacrifice. This talk will explore how someone could exist in many networks without the feeling of belonging to any community and what we can do to change the culture of ecology. Further, I will discuss how I use my own experiences to teach a new generation of minority ecologists to pursue their passions, without assimilating into an ideology that is unrepresentative of their own culture and identify.