A collaborative initiative by Brown’s Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences
Welcome to the Department of Behavioral and Social Science’s Resources for Antiracist Research website, which was launched in 2021. This is an internal-facing website open to all within Brown. The website is designed so that you can access papers, books, and book chapters directly through Brown by clicking on the provided links.
This website is the product of BSS faculty, students, and postdoctoral fellows coming together to share resources and collate expertise from our community. In each section of the website, you will find a brief video giving you an overview of that section and tips for using the resources there. Please note that we are relying on the published works and presentations of antiracism experts from around the country. We do not claim to be an authoritative source on antiracist research. However, as a community of researchers, we can leverage our collective wisdom and commitment to provide resources that can help ourselves and others move their research towards an increasingly antiracist agenda.
We believe conducting public health research that is intentionally antiracist is imperative. This is as true today as when the work for this website began. Individual, interpersonal, structural, and systemic racism manifest unmistakable harms on the health of minoritized ethnoracial communities. As we outline in this website, research that is not intentionally antiracist can result in unintended negative consequences that sustain racial inequities.
If you are new to this website, we suggest that you first visit the Getting Started section to consider where your work lies along an antiracist continuum and how you can move further down that continuum, including examining your own positionality and motives for engaging in this work. You can then explore additional sections covering appropriate nomenclature, theories for antiracist research, measures, analysis, and engaging communities.
Emerging federal policies and actions are attempting to eradicate decades of progress of institutional and systemic diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, including intruding on core pillars of academic freedom and university governance (e.g., see most recently President’s federal agreement and proposed ‘Compact’ update). Despite the federal government’s attempts to censor antiracist research and to block efforts to promote equity, both within and outside the academy, our commitment to social justice and academic freedom remains unwavering. In the face of governmental restrictions to funding that seek to dictate scientific inquiry, including terminating health equity grants and eliminating funding announcements that support understanding and ameliorating structural racism and its consequences, our antiracist approaches within the academy will have to adapt.
In persisting in antiracist research, we recognize the following:
Antiracist research is not pursued because it is where federal funding is concentrated. Such “health equity tourism” does more damage than good. Therefore, changes in administration and funding priorities do not alter the need and should not alter the desire for doing this work.
As academics, we are free to study the topics that we believe are essential. The resources in this website are designed to help anyone conducting public health research to incorporate antiracist thinking and practices.
A commitment to antiracism that extends beyond research. Antiracism is needed at all levels where both implicit and explicit racism manifests, both inside and outside the academy, including at the individual (e.g., internalized, interpersonal), institutional (e.g., foundations and regulations of institutions), and structural/systemic (e.g., policies, laws, and practices foundational to society and differential access to resources and opportunities) levels.
Given that federal funding makes up the vast majority of funding for public health research, for many of us it will remain important to seek federal research funding. Brown's Division of Research provides updates on the current federal funding landscape here. We include links to organizations that are likely to be receptive to proposals that have antiracist aims here.
We hope that you find this resource of value and appreciate your commitment to learning about and conducting antiracist research.
Your insights help us strengthen this resource and ensure it continues to serve the BSS community.
Antiracist research methods and practices are continually evolving—if you have suggestions, ideas, or feedback, please share them using the form below.