Towards an Anti-Racist Curriculum
“Can We Talk About Race?”
Hosted by the UNC School of Medicine’s Office of Inclusive Excellence, “Can We Talk About Race?” serves as a kickoff for a medical education curricular innovation and a nuanced discussion on race at the Ackland Art Museum.
Why Art?
Art is the ideal vehicle to present contentious topics for the same reason that these topics are difficult to talk about –– both carry an emotional charge. Art allows us to locate our emotional response in an object and to receive others’ perspectives from common ground. Unlike typical discussions of race, “Can We Talk About Race?” invites all students to participate in the conversation not from a place of anger, privilege, or guilt, but as individuals who also experience and have been deeply affected by racial division. Using art as a means to confront race is one of many innovations we can employ to enrich medical school racial education.
This project has been developed by medical students, Bria Adimora Godley and Diana Dayal, with the guidance of faculty mentors:
Dr. Candis Watts Smith, Dr. Samuel Cykert, and Dr. Paul Godley, Vice Dean for Diversity and Inclusion, UNC School of Medicine.
Special thanks to Elizabeth Manekin and Carolyn Allmendinger of the Ackland Art Museum, Stephanie Brown and Mimi Chapman.
The Paul A. Godley Art of Medicine Fellowship
Founded by Bria Godley and Diana Dayal in 2019, the Paul A. Godley Art of Medicine Fellowship awards $2,500 to two second-year medical students interested in working to ensure the curriculum and culture at UNC SOM is not only inclusive, but explicitly anti-racist. Interested students should also have a passion for working with social justice and the arts.
For more information regarding the Paul A. Godley Art of Medicine Fellowship, click here.