Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

In response to the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and countless others, we, faculty and staff of the Anthropology Department at Emory University, strongly condemn the continued state-sanctioned violence against Black Americans and the racist and white supremacist rhetoric that endorses it. We stand in solidarity with the protesters and others who seek an end to these long-standing injustices and against those who seek to divide and incite hatred in our communities.

In our teaching, research, hiring, mentoring, and service to Emory and its broader community, faculty, and staff of the Anthropology Department are working to identify and dismantle deeply embedded structures of anti-Black racism. As anthropologists, we understand that current events must be seen in the context of deep structural racism and structural violence persisting throughout our history, including but not limited to slavery, Jim Crow, lynchings, and pervasive deprivation and imposed disparity in the domains of education, health, wealth, job opportunities, political participation, incarceration, policing, and the basic respect due to all human beings. We commit to building a highly rigorous and inclusive environment that honors the rights and voices of marginalized communities and nourishes the human diversity that is at the heart of our discipline.

Emory University is located on Muscogee (Creek) land. In the Anthropology Department, we believe it is important to recognize our relations to place, people, and history. Emory was founded in 1836, during a period of sustained oppression, land dispossession, and forced removals of Muscogee (Creek) and Cherokee people from Georgia and the Southeast. We acknowledge our immense debt to the Muscogee (Creek), Cherokee, and other original peoples who have cared for and inhabited these lands, and to their descendants.

In our teaching, research, mentoring, and service to Emory and its broader community, faculty, and staff of the Anthropology Department are committed to building deeper connections to the Indigenous peoples of this region and beyond, and to redressing the continuing consequences of settler colonialism, Indigenous land dispossession, and genocide in the Americas.

Further resources and information can be found here: Native American Initiative and Native American and Indigenous Engagement at Emory.

Refer to the full Land Acknowledgement and History Statement.

The Department of Anthropology at Emory University is committed to maintaining an environment that is free of unlawful harassment and discrimination against any individual or group based upon race, color, religion, ethnic or national origin, gender, genetic information, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, veteran’s status, or any factor that is a prohibited consideration under applicable law. 

Any experience of discrimination, harassment, or retaliation should be reported immediately. As a student, you have several options for reporting:

• You may report the incident to a member of the Advisory Committee of the Department of Anthropology or to Anthropology staff:
  • Anna Grimshaw, Chair, Professor
  • Kristin Phillips, Director of Graduate Studies, Associate Professor
  • Robert Paul, Director of Undergraduate Studies, Professor
  • Elizabeth Lonsdorf, Professor
  • Corey Anderson, Academic Department Administrator
  • Ryan King, Graduate Coordinator
  • Heather Carpenter, Undergraduate Coordinator
• Or, you may report the incident directly to one of the following campus offices:
  • The University Title IX Coordinator, if the complaint is related to sexual harassment or sexual assault.
  • The Division of Campus Life’s Office of Student Conduct, if the complaint is against another student.
  • The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), in all other cases.

If an incident of discrimination or harassment is reported to a faculty or staff member in the Anthropology Department then the Anthropology Department must in turn report to the relevant University office (Title IX, Office of Student Conduct, or DEI).

If the incident does not rise to the level of discrimination or harassment (for example, in the case of a complaint about microaggressions, or concerns about lack of diversity of content), the complaint will be acted upon by the Department Chair and/or other members of the Executive Committee.  Actions may include discussing the complaint with the faculty or staff member, making a formal record of the incident, and/or seeking curricular or pedagogical support from the Center for Faculty Development and Excellence (CFDE). A report of the actions taken will be reported by the Department Chair to the student in a timely manner. 

If you report an incident, and later feel you are being retaliated against, this is a violation of Emory’s policy, and needs to be reported, following the same procedures as named above.