Diversity, Equity and Inclusion - College of Letters & Science

Diversity Statement for the College of Letters and Science

As the largest center for education and research at Montana State University, the College of Letters and Science knows diversity is our strength. We are proud to enact our land-grant mandate to welcome all students, staff, and faculty, with a commitment to support people of color and others who have been historically underserved. Montana State University is located on the original homelands of Native peoples. We commit to acknowledging this rich history, learning from the past, and being good stewards for the future. We commit to caring for and nurturing the human, economic, physical, and environmental resources entrusted to us.We respect and celebrate the diverse dimensions of people’s identities in order to best achieve an inclusive environment of excellence in learning, teaching, and research.

Who are we?

Find out who is on the CLS Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee.

CLS Initiatives

Learn about what we are working on and what we are working towards.

Resources

Find resources that will help you learn more about DEI in general and on the MSU campus.

DEI Works

Read about the people working for, the research about, and the events celebrating DEI work in CLS.

December Faculty Spotlight

Our faculty spotlight this month is on Jelani Mahiri. Jelani holds a PhD in Sociocultural Anthropology from UC Berkeley and teaches Introduction to Africana Studies: LS194D, the first course offered in the proposed Africana Studies program. He has structured the introductory around the themes of “Blackness and Modernity.” Jelani notes, “The transatlantic slave trade and European colonialism beginning in the 15th  century have greatly shaped our contemporary lives in the ways we think about race, for example, but also in the ways that we imagine progress, use science, and live in nation-state territories.” Jelani believes the “lives of Africans in the diaspora really are about working toward human liberation. This is a foundational value of our nation, and a value worth struggling toward over and over again.”

Jelani came to Bozeman in 2007 and has been here as a Visiting Professor since 2009. He has developed a strong community both in and outside the University and enjoys spending time with his son. A truly multifaceted individual, Jelani has a wide range of life experiences. His undergraduate degrees are in Physics and Spanish, and his PhD is in Sociocultural Anthropology. A worldwide traveler, he has learned to speak, read and write in Brazilian Portuguese. When beginning his graduate work, he worked with pre-eminent folklorist Professor Alan Dundes, who was also Jelani’s dissertation advisor before suddenly passed away in 2005. He is a photographer, has learned Afro-Cuban dance and taught salsa dancing, and has been learning to play Afro-Cuban percussion, mainly focused on congas. It has primarily been self-study, though YouTube and the internet offers a lot of information and instruction from so many dedicated percussion teachers. Playing congas has led me to perform in musical bands in Bozeman and to compose my own music. In the summers Jelani works in landscaping, which has led to his planting at least 1,000 trees in Bozeman and throughout the Gallatin Valley. 

As a non-tenure track faculty member, Jelani primarily teaches CLS 101: Knowledge and Community, and ANTY 101D: Introduction to Anthropology along with LS 194D: Introduction to Africana Studies.  He has also taught courses on Brazilian History and Culture; Latin American Popular Music and Dance; Violence in Latin America; Cuba: Race and Revolution; Myth, Ritual and Religion (anthropology); Culture and Society (ANTY 225); and the Honors College first-year sequence courses. In the Spring 2022, he will be teaching SOCI448: Society and Sport. In addition to his teaching, Jelani is a volunteer DJ at KGLT.
    
In the classroom, Jelani tries to reinforce the importance of the work we are doing in class for our shared humanity, and ideally for our love for each other. Jelani notes that “[t]his is not about romantic love, but about respect and care. And learning about human evolution and culture in anthropology, about “blackness and modernity” and the struggles for liberation throughout the African diaspora in Africana – LS 194D, or about deliberate listening and presentation skills in CLS or LS 101 courses I believe can help us be better humans in the contemporary world we live in. I aim to give them confidence in being human, in all of our human failings and triumphs, and hopefully to realize that being alive, as a human, is an amazing and beautiful thing. Let’s keep learning together!” 

When asked about his hopes for the Africana Studies program, Jelani wrote, "The lives of Africans in the diaspora really are about working toward human liberation. This is a foundational value of our nation and a value worth struggling toward repeatedly. I believe Africana studies at MSU helps to acknowledge that we should all learn as much as we can about the history and contemporary US, even in a place like Montana that is predominantly White. We should be questioning things and enacting change to live up to our national values and really set an example for the US and the world. We all have so much to give and gain from learning from each other and about each other. I believe that this type of learning and giving and gaining are the first steps toward reaching some of MSU's core goals of creating global leaders who are effective communicators and creative problem-solvers. Moreover, these are important steps to building the skills, alliances, and even spaces for healing to address the larger looming questions around our physical environments and climate change as well."

Have a comment or suggestion or just want to learn more? Contact the CLS Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee at [email protected] or use the form below.

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CLS Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Diversity Statement for the College of Letters and Science

Who are we?

CLS Initiatives

Resources

DEI Works

December Faculty Spotlight

Have a comment or suggestion or just want to learn more? Contact the CLS Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee at [email protected] or use the form below.

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