Be critical: Does Exclusion Exist?
SeungHee Lee
Associate Professor, Art and Design, University of Tsukuba.
Her main research fields are “Kansei” (affective informatics) and design.
A Korean resident in Japan.
Rasel Ahmed
Assistant Professor, Theatre, Film, and Media Arts, The Ohio State University.
Filmmaker. An immigrant to the U.S. from Bangladesh.
Students from Lee’s Lab
Max (half Japanese, half Dutch)
Alvin (half Chinese, half Indonesian)
Prof. Rasel’s stance on DEI is complex.
While he criticizes fundamentalist approaches to DEI as nothing more than “a cosmetic solution” or “an easy fix,” he also rejects the anti-DEI position that claims: “There is no inclusion or exclusion—discrimination doesn’t even exist.”
Prof. Rasel insists that exclusion does in fact exist, and it needs to be understood more deeply.
His Critique of DEI Fundamentalism
“DEI felt like a cosmetic solution of a long term practice of institutional inequity and practive of discrimination.”
“Having a more critical understanding that inclusion doesn’t mean just tokenizing someone.”
His Critique of Anti-DEI Views
“You have to acknowledge that exclusion exists.”
“We need deeper and critical and institutional understanding that why exclusion exists.”
Tokenizing someone:
Placing a person in a group simply to show diversity without meaningful inclusion.
e.g. Adding “at least one woman or minority” to a team just to make it look diverse, while ignoring their real participation or voice.
Talk session with Prof. Rasel, Lee and Students
- Is DEI good or evil?
- Does Exclusion exists?
- Prof. Rasel and the Making of Film
- Should Children Learn about Exclusion?
- Pros and Cons of AI
- Prof. Lee’s story and the Film
Related Post:
Prof. Rasel Ahmed of OSU visits UT Held Talk Session with Prof. Lee Seung Hee