American Association of Teachers of
Slavic and East European Languages
Slavic and East European Languages
AATSEEL is committed to improving diversity, equity, access, and inclusion (DEAI) in the Slavic field. The list of resources below contains generally applicable practices as well as specific practices for anti-racism and social justice that are relevant to the field. Additions to and subtractions from this collection are welcome. This list is a work in progress as the work toward racial equity requires continuous and evolving advocacy.
"It's Time to Decolonize That Syllabus" by Yvette Dechavez (Los Angeles Times)
"What I Want to Say When You Ask: 'How Are You Today?'" by Lash Nolen
"Pushing Back Against Racism and Homophobia On Campuses" by MarYam Hamedani, Hazel Rose Markus, and Paula Moya
"Institutionalized Racism: A Syllabus" by Catherine Halley (JSTOR Daily)
Antiracist Educator Self-Examination Questionnaire and Rubric
Antiracist Student Self-Examination Questionnaire
Anti-Racism Resource Collection (Resource Sharing Project)
Eloquent Rage by Britney Cooper
Five Tips for Being an Ally (Links to YouTube)
Funds of Knowledge (Washington Office of Public Instruction)
Harvard Implicit Bias Test
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Jewish Racial Justice Resources (Jewish Social Justice)
The Lens of Systemic Oppression (National Equity Project)
Racial Equity Learning Modules (Racial Equity Tools)
Seeing White (Duke University)
Talking to Kids about Racism and Justice (Oakland Public Library)
Showing Up for Racial Justice Educational Toolkits
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
Teaching About Race, Racism, and Police Violence (Teaching Tolerance)
Trauma-Informed Teaching Strategies (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development)
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack
Why Teaching Black Lives Matter Matters (Teaching Tolerance)
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
White Guys On Campus: Racism, White Immunity, and the Myth of "Post-Racial" Higher Education by Nolan Cabrera
"White Immunity: Working Through Some of the Pedagogical Pitfalls of Privilege" by Nolan Cabrera
YouTube Playlist of TED Talks on Racism and Eliminating Racism
Zinn Education Project Teaching Resources
Anya, U. (2011). “Connecting with Communities of Learners and Speakers: Integrative Ideals, Experiences, and Motivations of Successful Black Second Language Learners”. Foreign Language Annals, 44,(3), pp 442-460.
Baldwin, K. (Winter 2000). "Soul Mates". Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies, 9(3), pp. 399-420. (Requires access to Project MUSE).
Baldwin, K. (2002). Beyond the Color Line and the Iron Curtain. Duke University Press.
"Black in the USSR". The Calvert Journal. 2016.
Carew, J.G. (2010). Blacks, Reds, and Russians: Sojourners in Search of the Soviet Promise. Rutgers University Press.
Chang, F.B., and Rucker-Chang, S.T. (2020). Roma Rights and Civil Rights: A Transatlantic Comparison. Cambridge University Press.
Du Bois, W.E.B. "Pushkin".
Fairbank Center Blog. (January 2019). "Teaching China Through Black History".
Garza, T. (2016). "Making Russia Great Again: Language, Dissent, and Critical Pedagogy". Blog of the Slavic and East European Journal.
Gates, Jr. H.L. (2017). "Did Peter the Great Have a Black Son?". The Root.
Gorski, P. (2018). Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty. Teachers College Press.
Gorski, P. and Pothini, S.G. (2018). Case Studies on Diversity and Social Justice Education. 2nd ed. Routledge.
Grollman, E.A. (December 15, 2015). "Invisible Labor". Inside Higher Ed.
Guillory, S. "The Reddest of the Blacks" (Links to YouTube)
Haynes, C. (2017). "Dismantling the White Supremacy Embedded in our Classrooms: White Faculty in Pursuit of More Equitable Educational Outcomes for Racially Minoritized Students". International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 29(1), pp. 87-107. (ERIC).
Jackson, T. (May 2020). "I’m White and I’m Outraged by Ahmaud Arbery’s Murder. Now What?".
Kennan Institute. (February 2020). "The Kennan Institute Honors Black History Month".
Lee, S. (2017). The Ethnic Avant-Garde: Minority Cultures and World Revolution. Columbia University Press.
Lim, S.S. (2013). China and Japan in the Russian Imagination: 1685-1922. Routledge.
Lugo de Fabritz, A. (2013). "Race, Diversity, and Our Students in Russia". Jordan Russia Center, New York University.
Lugo de Fabritz, A. (October 2015). "Teaching Martian". AATSEEL Newsletter, pp. 8-9.
Martinez-Cola, M. (2020). "Collectors, Nightlights, and Allies, Oh My". Understanding and Dismantling Privilege, 10(1), pp. 25-57.
Matusevich, M. (2020). "Antiracism and its Discontents: The Cold War Years". In Alternative Globalizations: Eastern Europe and the Postcolonial World. Indiana University Press.
Morrison, A. (2016). "Russia's Colonial Allergy". Eurasianet.org
Murphy, D. and Lee, S.Y. (2019). "The Gender and Race or Ethnicity of Majors in Languages and Literatures Other Than English in the United States, 2010–14". ADFL Bulletin, 45(2), pp. 43-92.
"Nationalism and the Alt-Right: Another Look at 'Russian Lives Matter'" (Podcast from Meduza)
Nepomnyashchy, C.T. (2006). Under the Sky of my Africa: Alexander Pushkin and Blackness. Northwestern University Press.
Peterson, D. (2000). Up From Bondage: The Literatures of Russian and African American Soul. Duke University Press.
Pitts, J. (2020). Afropean: Notes from Black Europe. Penguin UK.
Powell, A. (2018). "Black Bread: A look inside the world of black Slavic studies scholars". Trumplandia.
"Race and Russia". Eurasian Enigma podcast with Jennifer Wilson. Davis Center, Harvard University.
Roberts, J. (June 8, 2020). "White Academia: Do Better". Medium.com.
"Russian Lives Matter: How America's New Civil Rights Movement Reverberates in Russia" (Podcast from Meduza)
Sean's Russia Blog Podcast, All Episodes on Ethnicity, Race, and Empire
Shardakova, M. and Pavlenko, A. (2004). “Identity Options in Russian Textbooks”.Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 3(1), pp. 25-46.
SRAS Guide for Minorities Studying Abroad
Starr, T.J.(2017). "The Black Guide to Russia". The Root.
Strong, A.H. (July 21, 2017). "Race and Racism in Kosovo: An Afro-Latina American Woman's Perspective".Prishtina Insight.
Torres, K.S. (October 2015). "Making Russian Matter". AATSEEL Newsletter, pp. 10-11.
Valentine, S. (September 17, 2017). "Russian Studies' Alt-Right Problem". Chronicle of Higher Education. (Requires premium access).
Valentine, S. (Summer 2013). "The Divine Auditor". Prairie Schooner, 87(2). (Requires access to Project MUSE).
Varnon, K.S.J. (February 28, 2020). "Black Skin in the Red Land: African Americans and the Soviet Experiment". The Russia File (blog). Wilson Center.
Varnon, K.S.J. (June 17, 2020). "George Floyd, 'Brat 2', and Russian Depictions of African Americans". The Moscow Times.
Walden, A.C. (October 2015). "I Expected Many Things". AATSEEL Newsletter, p. 9.
Wilson, J. (2014). "Is Slavic Ready for Minorities?" Jordan Russia Center, New York University.
Wilson, J. (2015). "Teaching Race in Russia I: Dispatches from the Harlem Renaissance: From New York to Tashkent". Jordan Russia Center, New York University.
Wilson, J. (2015). "Teaching Race in Russia II: From Harlem to the 'Soviet South'". Jordan Russia Center, New York University.
Wilson, J. (2015). "Teaching Race in Russia III: Sartre, Jazz, and the Cossack Dance". Jordan Russia Center, New York University.
Wilson, J. (2015). "Teaching Race in Russia: Some Conclusions". Jordan Russia Center, New York University.
Wilson, J. (2017). "Queer Harlem, Queer Tashkent". Slavic Review, 76(3), pp. 637-646.
Wilson, J. (May 15, 2018). "The Soviet Anthology of 'Negro Poetry'". The Paris Review.
ASEEES Committee for the Advocacy of Diversity and Inclusion
Black Lives Matter
Center for Anti-Racist Research
College Language Association
Embracing Equity
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
National Association for Multicultural Education
National Museum of African American History and Culture
RaceWorks (Stanford Center for Comparative Studies on Race and Ethnicity)
Teaching Tolerance
Zinn Education Project
#BlackLivesMatter
#BlackintheIvory
#racisminRussianStudies
Understanding Systemic Racism, Inequity, and Privilege
An African American and Latinx History of the United States by Paul Ortiz"It's Time to Decolonize That Syllabus" by Yvette Dechavez (Los Angeles Times)
"What I Want to Say When You Ask: 'How Are You Today?'" by Lash Nolen
"Pushing Back Against Racism and Homophobia On Campuses" by MarYam Hamedani, Hazel Rose Markus, and Paula Moya
"Institutionalized Racism: A Syllabus" by Catherine Halley (JSTOR Daily)
Antiracist Educator Self-Examination Questionnaire and Rubric
Antiracist Student Self-Examination Questionnaire
Anti-Racism Resource Collection (Resource Sharing Project)
Eloquent Rage by Britney Cooper
Five Tips for Being an Ally (Links to YouTube)
Funds of Knowledge (Washington Office of Public Instruction)
Harvard Implicit Bias Test
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Jewish Racial Justice Resources (Jewish Social Justice)
The Lens of Systemic Oppression (National Equity Project)
Racial Equity Learning Modules (Racial Equity Tools)
Seeing White (Duke University)
Talking to Kids about Racism and Justice (Oakland Public Library)
Showing Up for Racial Justice Educational Toolkits
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
Teaching About Race, Racism, and Police Violence (Teaching Tolerance)
Trauma-Informed Teaching Strategies (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development)
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack
Why Teaching Black Lives Matter Matters (Teaching Tolerance)
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
White Guys On Campus: Racism, White Immunity, and the Myth of "Post-Racial" Higher Education by Nolan Cabrera
"White Immunity: Working Through Some of the Pedagogical Pitfalls of Privilege" by Nolan Cabrera
YouTube Playlist of TED Talks on Racism and Eliminating Racism
Zinn Education Project Teaching Resources
DEAI and Race Research and Resources Relevant to or by Scholars in the Slavic Field
Alexandrov, V. (2014). The Black Russian. Grove Paperback.Anya, U. (2011). “Connecting with Communities of Learners and Speakers: Integrative Ideals, Experiences, and Motivations of Successful Black Second Language Learners”. Foreign Language Annals, 44,(3), pp 442-460.
Baldwin, K. (Winter 2000). "Soul Mates". Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies, 9(3), pp. 399-420. (Requires access to Project MUSE).
Baldwin, K. (2002). Beyond the Color Line and the Iron Curtain. Duke University Press.
"Black in the USSR". The Calvert Journal. 2016.
Carew, J.G. (2010). Blacks, Reds, and Russians: Sojourners in Search of the Soviet Promise. Rutgers University Press.
Chang, F.B., and Rucker-Chang, S.T. (2020). Roma Rights and Civil Rights: A Transatlantic Comparison. Cambridge University Press.
Du Bois, W.E.B. "Pushkin".
Fairbank Center Blog. (January 2019). "Teaching China Through Black History".
Garza, T. (2016). "Making Russia Great Again: Language, Dissent, and Critical Pedagogy". Blog of the Slavic and East European Journal.
Gates, Jr. H.L. (2017). "Did Peter the Great Have a Black Son?". The Root.
Gorski, P. (2018). Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty. Teachers College Press.
Gorski, P. and Pothini, S.G. (2018). Case Studies on Diversity and Social Justice Education. 2nd ed. Routledge.
Grollman, E.A. (December 15, 2015). "Invisible Labor". Inside Higher Ed.
Guillory, S. "The Reddest of the Blacks" (Links to YouTube)
Haynes, C. (2017). "Dismantling the White Supremacy Embedded in our Classrooms: White Faculty in Pursuit of More Equitable Educational Outcomes for Racially Minoritized Students". International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 29(1), pp. 87-107. (ERIC).
Jackson, T. (May 2020). "I’m White and I’m Outraged by Ahmaud Arbery’s Murder. Now What?".
Kennan Institute. (February 2020). "The Kennan Institute Honors Black History Month".
Lee, S. (2017). The Ethnic Avant-Garde: Minority Cultures and World Revolution. Columbia University Press.
Lim, S.S. (2013). China and Japan in the Russian Imagination: 1685-1922. Routledge.
Lugo de Fabritz, A. (2013). "Race, Diversity, and Our Students in Russia". Jordan Russia Center, New York University.
Lugo de Fabritz, A. (October 2015). "Teaching Martian". AATSEEL Newsletter, pp. 8-9.
Martinez-Cola, M. (2020). "Collectors, Nightlights, and Allies, Oh My". Understanding and Dismantling Privilege, 10(1), pp. 25-57.
Matusevich, M. (2020). "Antiracism and its Discontents: The Cold War Years". In Alternative Globalizations: Eastern Europe and the Postcolonial World. Indiana University Press.
Morrison, A. (2016). "Russia's Colonial Allergy". Eurasianet.org
Murphy, D. and Lee, S.Y. (2019). "The Gender and Race or Ethnicity of Majors in Languages and Literatures Other Than English in the United States, 2010–14". ADFL Bulletin, 45(2), pp. 43-92.
"Nationalism and the Alt-Right: Another Look at 'Russian Lives Matter'" (Podcast from Meduza)
Nepomnyashchy, C.T. (2006). Under the Sky of my Africa: Alexander Pushkin and Blackness. Northwestern University Press.
Peterson, D. (2000). Up From Bondage: The Literatures of Russian and African American Soul. Duke University Press.
Pitts, J. (2020). Afropean: Notes from Black Europe. Penguin UK.
Powell, A. (2018). "Black Bread: A look inside the world of black Slavic studies scholars". Trumplandia.
"Race and Russia". Eurasian Enigma podcast with Jennifer Wilson. Davis Center, Harvard University.
Roberts, J. (June 8, 2020). "White Academia: Do Better". Medium.com.
"Russian Lives Matter: How America's New Civil Rights Movement Reverberates in Russia" (Podcast from Meduza)
Sean's Russia Blog Podcast, All Episodes on Ethnicity, Race, and Empire
Shardakova, M. and Pavlenko, A. (2004). “Identity Options in Russian Textbooks”.Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 3(1), pp. 25-46.
SRAS Guide for Minorities Studying Abroad
Starr, T.J.(2017). "The Black Guide to Russia". The Root.
Strong, A.H. (July 21, 2017). "Race and Racism in Kosovo: An Afro-Latina American Woman's Perspective".Prishtina Insight.
Torres, K.S. (October 2015). "Making Russian Matter". AATSEEL Newsletter, pp. 10-11.
Valentine, S. (September 17, 2017). "Russian Studies' Alt-Right Problem". Chronicle of Higher Education. (Requires premium access).
Valentine, S. (Summer 2013). "The Divine Auditor". Prairie Schooner, 87(2). (Requires access to Project MUSE).
Varnon, K.S.J. (February 28, 2020). "Black Skin in the Red Land: African Americans and the Soviet Experiment". The Russia File (blog). Wilson Center.
Varnon, K.S.J. (June 17, 2020). "George Floyd, 'Brat 2', and Russian Depictions of African Americans". The Moscow Times.
Walden, A.C. (October 2015). "I Expected Many Things". AATSEEL Newsletter, p. 9.
Wilson, J. (2014). "Is Slavic Ready for Minorities?" Jordan Russia Center, New York University.
Wilson, J. (2015). "Teaching Race in Russia I: Dispatches from the Harlem Renaissance: From New York to Tashkent". Jordan Russia Center, New York University.
Wilson, J. (2015). "Teaching Race in Russia II: From Harlem to the 'Soviet South'". Jordan Russia Center, New York University.
Wilson, J. (2015). "Teaching Race in Russia III: Sartre, Jazz, and the Cossack Dance". Jordan Russia Center, New York University.
Wilson, J. (2015). "Teaching Race in Russia: Some Conclusions". Jordan Russia Center, New York University.
Wilson, J. (2017). "Queer Harlem, Queer Tashkent". Slavic Review, 76(3), pp. 637-646.
Wilson, J. (May 15, 2018). "The Soviet Anthology of 'Negro Poetry'". The Paris Review.
Advocacy Organizations and Hashtags for Additional Resources, Following, Joining, and/or Donating
Anti-Defamation LeagueASEEES Committee for the Advocacy of Diversity and Inclusion
Black Lives Matter
Center for Anti-Racist Research
College Language Association
Embracing Equity
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
National Association for Multicultural Education
National Museum of African American History and Culture
RaceWorks (Stanford Center for Comparative Studies on Race and Ethnicity)
Teaching Tolerance
Zinn Education Project
#BlackLivesMatter
#BlackintheIvory
#racisminRussianStudies