Re: [dinosaur] Prehistoric Road Trip,Tiny Teeth, Fearsome Beasts

[David Fastovsky <defastov@uri.edu>]

It is true that there are not many personsÂof color in general, and in particular African-Americans, in the geosciencesÂ(including vertebrate paleontology). That said, I am not at all comfortable withÂstatements like:

"...or various reasons African-Americans are not prone towards entering non-practical sciences like paleo, and they may remain the same for a long time. And dinosaurs are not the kind of hip item they are likely to be attracted to."Â

I am inclined to be more circumspect about what "they" like and why "they" like it. For a more thoughtful consideration of this subject, may I suggest Carolyn Finnney's Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the RelationshipÂof African Americans to the Great OutdoorsÂ(North Carolina University Press, 2014)?

On Sat, Jul 18, 2020 at 6:29 PM Thomas Richard Holtz <tholtz@umd.edu> wrote:

Oh, grow up.

Having talked with Emily Graslie before, during, and after the filming of this, there was indeed a conscious choice of representation in this show. And the idea was that after fifty years of paleo-documentaries on TV, maybe having ONE that doesn't heavily feature white men from big institutions is okay. Just one. You may have missed the fact that she tried to focus on research not by the AMNH or Smithsonian or so forth. The MOR and the ROM were the biggest institutions represented, and she tried to make sure many smaller ones were featured as well (the Tate, Carter County, etc.).

Obviously this is more than your sweet little self can handle.

Additionally, Graslie states the premise from the beginning: it is to show something of process of discovery being made and the people making it in the places she grew up. Full stop. Never claimed that this was a remake of Walking with Dinosaurs or Lost Worlds, Vanished Lives or whatever. Those already exist. This was supposed to be a different kind of story.

And her attitude is a big feature on SciShow. Some people might like it, others don't. Your mileage may vary.

On Sat, Jul 18, 2020 at 6:18 PM aviva <aviva@gmx.us> wrote:

On 7/18/20 5:00 PM, Gregory Paul wrote:
> I am working on an article on paleoracism for Prehistoric Times.



please don't. White men bad... we all know. I saved you the trouble now.

--

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Email:Âtholtz@umd.eduÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ Phone: 301-405-4084
Principal Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology

Office: Geology 4106, 8000 Regents Dr., College Park MD 20742

Dept. of Geology, University of Maryland
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Mailing Address:ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
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--

David E. Fastovsky, Ph.D.,

Professor andÂScience Editor, GeosphereÂ

Department of Geosciences

University of Rhode Island

9 East Alumni Ave.,

Kingston, RIÂÂ 02881Â USA
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