Professor Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou and Professor Davide Rodogno of the Graduate Institute Department of International History and Politics have recently led a project on racism for Google.
Designed for Google professionals working globally, the Anti-Racism Education Initiative aims at enhancing these professionals’ critical ability to understand and analyse cogently the question of racism in its temporal and international geographic fullness, at many comparative and conceptual levels and in a forward-looking practical perspective.
Spanning eight modules, the project covered the nature, variety, politics, values, economics, security, knowledge, representation and globalisation dimensions of the question of racism.
The issues were addressed historically and comparatively, within a hands-on approach identifying practical institutional, community and individual solutions to the problem of discrimination.
“I am delighted Google took the initiative to support this project given their global impact, and I commend them for doing so”, said Professor Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou. “Beyond the timeliness of the issues, this question has by and large been under-addressed in the corporate world, and within organisations more generally, and the deep dive we took with the Google team and partners allowed for a rich, honest and creative examination of a complex and enduring challenge”.
Professor Davide Rodogno remarked: “I hope our contribution with these pre-recorded sessions will help Google professionals examine and take a proactive stance when it comes to racism, within and beyond their professional environment. We did our best to connect history with present-day issues and problems, since we believe that the conditions for a better future can only exist if we consider the origins and persistence of a problem over time. This is particular to racism and racisms as this pernicious problem manifests itself differently in many places around the globe.”
Dominique Mungin, Inclusive Learning Design Manager at Google, said, “I am thrilled to bring the scholarship of Professors Mohamedou and Rodogno to our employees. This thorough lecture series is a unique opportunity for Googlers to re-enter the classroom and learn from internationally-acclaimed experts on a vitally important topic.”
The professors’ project for Google involved collaboration with the Culver City, California-based Left Field Labs, which offered technology-driven strategy and innovative approaches to unpack the research material developed by Professor Mohamedou and Professor Rodogno in the course of the project during the spring and summer 2021.