Do Communities of Color Really Feel Disconnected From Nature?
Working with college STEM students, Dorceta Taylor debunks the cultural stereotypes that dominate diversity discussions.
When Dorceta Taylor took her first biology course at Northeastern Illinois University, it quickly dawned on her that she was the only black undergrad in the room. Growing up in Jamaica, she鈥檇 always sat in science classes with black, white, Indian, and Chinese kids. 鈥淲e did STEM like there鈥檚 no tomorrow,鈥 she says. So then why, she wondered, were her science classes in the United States so uniform?
Taylor posed the question to her professor, whose response was surprisingly unscientific. 鈥淎frican Americans aren鈥檛 interested,鈥 he said. His generalization was based on a body of research that points to a lack of connections between black urbanites and nature. But as a member of that community, Taylor knew it wasn鈥檛 true.
Her hunch was confirmed when she started finding cracks in the research. One touted analysis compared the perspectives of black children in New Haven, Connecticut, with perspectives from white adults in well-to-do suburbs. Class wasn鈥檛 factored into the responses. Another survey looked at black women鈥檚 opinions of a Philadelphia park to characterize 鈥渁 legacy of fear toward the city鈥檚 natural environment.鈥 The space in question was neglected, crime-torn, and hardly a suitable habitat for families or wildlife.
Flawed studies like these have led to what Taylor calls 鈥渆ternal stereotypes鈥 in conversations about racial representation (and the lack of it) in the environmental field. So the newly minted American set out to draw more sincere and accurate conclusions. Thirty-five years later, as a professor, author, and director of diversity, equity, and inclusion at the University of Michigan鈥檚 School of Environment and Sustainability, she鈥檚 finding better ways of polling communities and improving the pool of data. It鈥檚 this work that earned her 探花精选鈥檚 2018 Rachel Carson Award.
Taylor鈥檚 most recent research, published in the journal last month, focuses on the values and viewpoints of minority college students studying STEM. For it she included 157 individuals selected randomly from three U.S. universities (a public one, a private one, and a historically black one from different geographies). The subjects were sent eight photos of landscapes and animal species鈥攕ome remote, some urban鈥攁nd were asked to rate their preference for each. Then, they responded to open-ended questions on their notions of nature.
Overall, students of all backgrounds expressed a deep connection to the outdoors. Black respondents scored wild landscapes especially high, contradicting the idea that they only relate to urban scenes. Also of note: Any fears triggered by the images seemed to be situational, rather than pervasive. What鈥檚 more, they weren鈥檛 disproportionate by race.
This is an important point, Taylor says, because anxiety of nature has long been imprinted on black communities. 鈥淚f blacks express fear in their interactions with the natural world, it is often framed as an aberration, deviance, alienation, ignorance, and in negative terms,鈥 she writes in the study. On the flip side, if a white person is turned off by a snake or poor camping conditions, the bad experience is pinned on the environment, not the individual. 鈥淔or blacks, we see [the fear] as a reaction, not a description,鈥 Taylor says. 鈥淎nd that rises to the level of stereotypes.鈥
The best way to avoid false conjectures is to weigh opinions from as many individuals as possible, and consider the complexities of human-nature bonds. But if there鈥檚 one generalization we can make, it鈥檚 that there鈥檚 a universal appreciation for the beauty of the world, Taylor says. 鈥淭hese students understand the value of it,鈥 she adds. Her previous work has shown that minority youth have a strong, vested interest in environmental professions. They also see environmentalism as a multi-faceted calling鈥攐ne that seeks to endorse conservation, social justice, and science.
If there's a barrier between diverse communities and nature, it's because the relationship is being narrowly interpreted. 鈥淲hite people have a varied set of perspectives [of the outdoors],鈥 Taylor says. 鈥淎ll I鈥檓 saying is people of color get that, too.鈥