Rediscovering The Scientist Documentary Promo

"At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilized races of man will

almost certainly exterminate, and replace the savage races throughout the world."

--Charles Darwin from, "The Descent of Man" 1871

REDISCOVERING THE SCIENTIST

This is a feature-length documentary project exploring diversity in the sciences. It will be geared towards university scientists, as well as a rallying cry for underrepresented students in the sciences. The film is meant to help people rediscover their inner scientist.

Science influences huge portions of our everyday lives. It affects the economy, what we eat, what we wear, how we travel, and how we look at the world as a whole. Yet the average person knows very little about what scientists actually do and where science, as a profession, came from. A portion of this film will unearth the prejudiced history of scientists, and their violent creation of a professional class. From validating colonialism and slavery to instigating witch trials, science has frequently been used as a tool of oppression by imperialist states. Similarly, it will explore how the field of science worked to keep underrepresented groups from becoming scientists by creating an exclusive higher education system and restricting higher education to select groups.

The story line of the film will be carried by a group of students. We will document their transition from the senior year of their undergraduate experience at a HBCU (historically black college or university) into their various graduate experiences. As they face the challenges of their transition we will seek to shed light on the following issues.

How history has impacted current problems concerning diversity in the sciences, and retention rates of underrepresented groups. This will be shown through interviews and discussions with science students, science faculty, and social scientists that specialize in race, gender, class, and/or sexuality. Some of the topics that will be covered include: the culture of no culture, tokenism, and objectivity. It will seek to encourage diversity not just for the sake of being 'good' and 'equal', but will aim to reinforce the fact that a diversity of people in science leads to an increase in new ideas and quicker advancements in research.

Examples of people we are seeking to interview include: Jane Goodall: one of the first women primatologists who started the longest running animal behavior study, tracking the evolution of war and compassion in chimps, Joan Roughgarden: author of 'Evolutions Rainbow' a book that documents a gender spectrum in nature, redefining what is 'natural' in terms of sexuality, and Bruce Bagemihl who has written numerous books on how the biases of western culture get in the way of observing what is happening in nature. We are also looking to hear the stories of some popular quintessential scientists such as David Attenborough, Bill Nye, and Rick Rosenthal.

All of these scientists have worked to inspire others to love science, which is really what this film is about; science is for everyone!

If you would like to contribute to this project please email us: RediscoveringTheScientist@gmail.org

or visit our fundraising site: http://kck.st/fIY14q

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• science
• diversity
• racism
• sexism
• inclusion
• documentary