The Emerging Technologies Consortium and Women in Technology were proud to present 1,000 Cut Journey by Assistant Professor Dr. Courtney D. Cogburn.
During this experience, the viewer becomes Michael Sterling, a black man, encountering racism as a young child, adolescent, and young adult. 1,000 Cut Journey highlights the social realities of racism, for understanding racism is the essential first step in promoting effective, collective social action and achieving racial justice. 1,000 Cut Journey premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2018 and is now exploring the use of the VR experience in affecting empathy, racial bias, structural competence, and behavior.
Dr. Cogburn spoke on her research, discoveries, and next steps after creating 1,000 Cut Journey:
The Problem: There is a diminishment and denial that racism exists in spite of the evidence that it exists.
- Diversity doesn’t fix racism and we often have sterilized conversations about racism.
- The cultural context of biases needs to come into play when talking about racism (aka our cultural norms) and understanding the cultural structure of racism is important - structural racism
- How do we move those who acknowledge racism to be more proactive?
Next steps:
Data visualization and structural racism using VR
