Earth & Environmental Sciences

Presumed Incompetent is a pathbreaking account of the intersecting roles of race, gender, and class in the working lives of women faculty of color. Through personal narratives and qualitative empirical studies, more than 40 authors expose the daunting challenges faced by academic women of color as they navigate the often hostile terrain of higher education, including hiring, promotion, tenure, and relations with students, colleagues, and administrators.

The courageous and inspiring personal narratives and empirical studies name formidable obstacles and systemic biases that all women faculty--from diverse intersectional and transnational identities and from tenure track, terminal contract, and administrative positions--encounter in their higher education careers.

Making research on the science of human learning accessible to educational professionals around the world, this book shows educators how to relate this research to their own practice.

This book shares advice, how-to's, validations, and cautionary tales based on minoritized students' recent experiences in doctoral studies.

First published in 1994. DRM-free version.

This book explores how disability can be more effectively incorporated into college environments.

An anthology that sheds light on the experience of life as an individual with disabilities, as told by authors with these life experiences.

Looks at the evolving culture, politics, economics, and spiritual life of Detroit--a blend of memoir, love letter, history, and clear-eyed reportage that explores the city's past, present, and future and its significance to the African American legacy and the nation's fabric.

Reveals that slavery was at the heart of the Midwest’s iconic city: Detroit. This richly researched book has pieced together the experience of the unfree—both native and African American—in the frontier outpost of Detroit, a place wildly remote yet at the center of national and international conflict. Skillfully assembling fragments of a distant historical record, introduces new historical figures and unearths struggles that remained hidden from view until now. The result is fascinating history, little explored and eloquently told, of the limits of freedom in early America, one that adds new layers of complexity to the story of a place that exerts a strong fascination in the media and among public intellectuals, artists, and activists.

A comprehensive and readable history of Native Americans in the Upper Great Lakes region

Historical maps of the Great Lakes region document Indian civilization.

Blackbird (Mack-e-te-be-nessy) was an Ottawa chief's son who served as an official interpreter for the U.S. government and later as a postmaster while remaining active in Native American affairs as a teacher, advisor on diplomatic issues, lecturer and temperance advocate. In this work he describes how he became knowledgeable about both Native American and white cultural traditions and chronicles his struggles to achieve two years of higher education at the Ypsilanti State Normal School. He also deals with the history of many native peoples throughout the Michigan region (especially the Mackinac Straits), combining information on political, military, and diplomatic matters with legends, personal reminiscences, and a discussion of comparative beliefs and values, and offering insights into the ways that increasing contact between Indians and whites were changing native lifeways. He especially emphasizes traditional hunting, fishing, sugaring, and trapping practices and the seasonal tasks of daily living.

Author writes about her years as an oshkaabewis, a traditionally trained apprentice, and as friend to the late Keewaydinoquay, an Anishinaabe medicine woman from the Leelanau Peninsula in Michigan and a scholar, teacher, and practitioner in the field of native ethnobotany. Keewaydinoquay published little in her lifetime, yet Geniusz has carried on her legacy by making this body of knowledge accessible to a broader audience. Sharing the traditional stories she learned at Keewaydinoquay's side as well as stories from other American Indian traditions and her own experiences, author brings the plants to life with narratives that explain their uses, meaning, and history. Stories such as "Naanabozho and the Squeaky-Voice Plant" place the plants in cultural context and illustrate the belief in plants as cognizant beings. Covering a wide range of plants, from conifers to cattails to medicinal uses of yarrow, mullein, and dandelion, she explains how we can work with those beings to create food, simple medicines, and practical botanical tools.

Examines how the grammar of geology is foundational to establishing the extractive economies of subjective life and the earth under colonialism and slavery.

Drawing on black studies, studies of race, cultural geography, and black feminism as well as a mix of methods, citational practices, and theoretical frameworks, author positions black storytelling and stories as strategies of invention and collaboration. She analyzes a number of texts from intellectuals and artists ranging from Sylvia Wynter to the electronica band Drexciya to explore how narratives of imprecision and relationality interrupt knowledge systems that seek to observe, index, know, and discipline blackness.

Acclaimed historian and activist Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz offers a history of the United States told from the perspective of Indigenous peoples and reveals how Native Americans, for centuries, actively resisted expansion of the US empire. Dunbar-Ortiz adroitly challenges the founding myth of the United States and shows how policy against the Indigenous peoples was colonialist and designed to seize the territories of the original inhabitants, displacing or eliminating them.

Challenges the notion of westward progress as exalted by widely taught formulations like "manifest destiny" and "Jacksonian democracy." In stark contrast to the resurgence of "America First" rhetoric, Black and Latinx intellectuals and organizers today have historically urged the United States to build bridges of solidarity with the nations of the Americas.Tthis bottom-up history, told from the interconnected vantage points of Latinx and African Americans, reveals the radically different ways that people of the diaspora have addressed issues still plaguing the United States today, and it offers a way forward in the continued struggle for universal civil rights.

As a botanist, author asks questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces indigenous teachings that consider plants and animals to be our oldest teachers. Author brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take "us on a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise. Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, a mother, and a woman, author shows how other living beings offer us gifts and lessons, even if we've forgotten how to hear their voices.

Provides diverse range of perspectives from which the authors describe, analyze, and offer recommendations for urban education in the US.

Makes a clear and compellingly pragmatic case for diversity and inclusion and presents overwhelming evidence that teams that include different kinds of thinkers outperform homogenous groups on complex tasks. Benefits include improved problem solving, increased innovation, and more accurate predictions--all of which lead to better performance and results. Author shows that various types of cognitive diversity--differences in how people perceive, encode, analyze, and organize the same information and experiences--are linked to better outcomes. He then describes how these cognitive differences are influenced by other kinds of diversity, including racial and gender differences--in other words, identity diversity.

The Difference is about how we think in groups--and how our collective wisdom exceeds the sum of its parts. Why can teams of people find better solutions than brilliant individuals working alone? And why are the best group decisions and predictions those that draw upon the very qualities that make each of us unique? The answers lie in diversity--not what we look like outside, but what we look like within, our distinct tools and abilities. Reveals that progress and innovation may depend less on lone thinkers with enormous IQs than on diverse people working together and capitalizing on their individuality.

Most colleges and universities embrace the ideals of diversity and inclusion, but many fall short, especially in the hiring, retention, and advancement of faculty who would more fully represent our diverse world--in particular women and people of color. Book argues that diversity and excellence go hand in hand and provides guidance for achieving both.

This book presents information about narcissism in the workplace that is based both on empirical research and on opinion derived from systematic observation.

Shows leaders how to tap into the power of human connection to foster a culture of connection within their organizations.

Demonstrates that prejudice and unconscious biases toward others are a fundamental part of the human psyche.

Argues that we dramatically undervalue introverts and shows how much we lose in doing so. Charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal throughout the twentieth century and explores how deeply it has come to permeate our culture.

Delivers a new way to explore the issues that dominate today's multicultural, multiethnic workplace. To the twenty-five witty yet inspiring stories in this collection, author has added tips and suggestions for putting these key learnings into action.

Data is fundamental to the modern world. But because so much data fails to take into account gender, because it treats men as the default and women as atypical, bias and discrimination are baked into our systems. And women pay tremendous costs for this bias, in time, money, and often with their lives.

In this deeply researched and fast-moving narrative, author chronicles the entire story of anti-black racist ideas and their staggering power over the course of American history. He uses the life stories of five major American intellectuals to drive this history: Puritan minister Cotton Mather, Thomas Jefferson, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, W.E.B. Du Bois, and legendary activist Angela Davis. Argues that racist ideas did not arise from ignorance or hatred. They were created to justify and rationalize deeply entrenched discriminatory policies and the nation's racial inequities.

Exploding the myth of de facto segregation arising from private prejudice or the unintended consequences of economic forces, author describes how the American government systematically imposed residential segregation: with undisguised racial zoning; public housing that purposefully segregated previously mixed communities; subsidies for builders to create whites-only suburbs; tax exemptions for institutions that enforced segregation; and support for violent resistance to African Americans in white neighborhoods.

Using real-life examples and the latest research, presents strong evidence that straight talk about our racial identities-whatever they may be-is essential if we are serious about facilitating communication across racial and ethnic divides.

Guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from police brutality and cultural appropriation to the model minority myth in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race, and about how racism infects every aspect of American life.

A powerful look at the non-scientific history of "race science," and the assumptions, prejudices, and incentives that have allowed it to reemerge in contemporary science.

Pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son. The author offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation's history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of "race," a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men.

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine: The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, which are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years.

Explores the counterproductive reactions white people have when their assumptions about race are challenged, and how these reactions maintain racial inequality.

Account of growing up Black, Christian, and female that exposes how white America's love affair with "diversity" so often falls short of its ideals.

"The only way to undo racism is to consistently identify and describe it -- and then dismantle it." Reenergizes and reshapes the conversation about racial justice in America and points toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other. Asks what an antiracist society might look like, and how we can play an active role in building it.

Takes readers on a 28-day journey, complete with journal prompts, to do the necessary work that can ultimately lead to improving race relations.

For those wanting to equip their children to be active and able participants in a society that is becoming one of the most racially diverse in the world while remaining full of racial tensions. For white people who are committed to equity and justice, living in a nation that remains racially unjust and deeply segregated creates unique conundrums.These conundrums begin early in life and impact the racial development of white children in powerful ways. What can we do within our homes, communities and schools? What roles do we want to equip them to play in addressing racism when they encounter it? What strategies will help our children learn to function well in a diverse nation? How do we talk about race honestly, then, without making our children feel bad about being white? Most importantly, how do we do any of this in age-appropriate ways?

The moral values and interpretive systems of religions are crucially involved in how people imagine the challenges of sustainability and how societies mobilize to enhance ecosystem resilience and human well-being. The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Ecology encourages both appreciative and critical angles regarding religious traditions, communities, attitude, and practices. It presents contrasting ways of thinking about "religion" and about "ecology" and about ways of connecting the two terms. Written by a team of leading international experts, the Handbook discusses dynamics of change within religious traditions as well as their roles in responding to global challenges such as climate change, water, conservation, food and population. It explores the interpretations of indigenous traditions regarding modern environmental problems drawing on such concepts as lifeway and indigenous knowledge.

Every ten years, Alan Chalmers draws on his experience as a teacher and researcher to improve and update the text that strives to answer the philosophical question in it? What is This Thing Called Science? Identifying the qualitative difference between knowledge of atoms as it figures in contemporary science and metaphysical speculations about atoms common in philosophy since the time of Democritus proves to be a highly revealing and instructive way to pinpoint key features of the answer to that question.

Successful science writing tells a story. The book shows scientists and students how to present their research in a way that is clear and that will maximize reader comprehension using the principles of story structure to discuss every aspect of successful science writing.

Science survival is rarely part of formal graduate training, and a good mentor is hard to find. Author lays out a rational path to a fulfilling long-term research career. He offers sound advice on selecting a thesis or postdoctoral adviser; choosing among research jobs in academia, government laboratories, and industry; preparing for an employment interview; and defining a research program.

Career guide for grad students, adjuncts, post-docs and anyone eager to get tenure or turn their Ph.D. into their ideal job. Addresses the most important issues facing any Ph.D., including: -When, where, and what to publish -Writing a foolproof grant application -Cultivating references and crafting the perfect CV -Acing the job talk and campus interview -Avoiding the adjunct trap -Making the leap to nonacademic work

Lab Girl is a geobiologist's revelatory treatise on plant life--but it is also a celebration of the lifelong curiosity, humility, and passion that drive every scientist.

Recounts the personalizing and professionalizing factors that go into making an educator in the modern social climate. Recounts happenings at an iconic place during pivotal times in the nation's history and the role these events are playing in shaping education and defining the modern American character.

Exploration of why there are still so few women in the hard sciences, mathematics, engineering, and computer science. Based on six years interviewing her former teachers and classmates, as well as dozens of other women who had dropped out before completing their degrees in science or found their careers less rewarding than they had hoped, The Only Woman in the Room is an examination of the social, interpersonal, and institutional barriers confronting women-and minorities-in the STEM fields.

Uses concepts and data from psychology, sociology, economics, and biology to explain the disparity in the professional advancement of men and women. According to Valian, men and women alike have implicit hypotheses about gender differences--gender schemas--that create small sex differences in characteristics, behaviors, perceptions, and evaluations of men and women. Those small imbalances accumulate to advantage men and disadvantage women. The most important consequence of gender schemas for professional life is that men tend to be overrated and women underrated. Valian's goal is to make the invisible factors that retard women's progress visible, so that fair treatment of men and women will be possible.

Shares advice, how-to's, validations, and cautionary tales based on minoritized students' recent experiences in doctoral studies.

Explores intersections of imperialism and research - specifically, the ways in which imperialism is embedded in disciplines of knowledge and tradition as 'regimes of truth.' Concepts such as 'discovery' and 'claiming' are discussed and an argument presented that the decolonization of research methods will help to reclaim control over indigenous ways of knowing and being.

A leading scientist describes his life, his gender transition, his scientific work, and his advocacy for gender equality in science.

Challenges the founding myth of the United States and shows how policy against the indigenous peoples was colonialist and designed to seize the territories of the original inhabitants, displacing or eliminating them.

An anthology that sheds light on the experience of life as an individual with disabilities, as told by authors with these life experiences.

Charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal throughout the twentieth century and explores how deeply it has come to permeate our culture.

Data is fundamental to the modern world. But because so much data fails to take into account gender, because it treats men as the default and women as atypical, bias and discrimination are baked into our systems. And women pay tremendous costs for this bias, in time, money, and often with their lives.

Offers "the most forceful argument ever published on how federal, state, and local governments gave rise to and reinforced neighborhood segregation"

So You Want to Talk About Race guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from police brutality and cultural appropriation to the model minority myth in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race, and about how racism infects every aspect of American life.

A profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men.

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine: The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, which are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years.

Explores the counterproductive reactions white people have when their assumptions about race are challenged, and how these reactions maintain racial inequality.

Account of growing up Black, Christian, and female that exposes how white America's love affair with "diversity" so often falls short of its ideals.

Takes readers through a widening circle of antiracist ideas—from the most basic concepts to visionary possibilities—that will help readers see all forms of racism clearly, understand their poisonous consequences, and work to oppose them in our systems and in ourselves.

Tells the little-known history of Asian Americans and their role in American life. An epic history of global journeys and new beginnings, this book shows how generations of Asian immigrants and their American-born descendants have made and remade Asian American life in the United States.

This book will walk you step-by-step through the work of examining: your own white privilege, what allyship really means, anti-blackness, racial stereotypes, and cultural appropriation.