Rice University’s Scientia Institute hosted its first lecture of the fall semester Sept. 26 to explore the concept of resilience through different fields of study. Scientia is a faculty-led institute at Rice that promotes multidisciplinary engagement to benefit the university community and Houston.
Resilience was selected as the topic for this semester’s series as a way to discuss how humanity can handle increasing natural and human-made disasters and challenges — from climate change to social inequity.
Nancy Niedzielski, associate professor of linguistics and department chair, opened the lecture with her presentation on the connection between sociolinguistics and social perception and the consequences of these perceptions.
She explained how African American English has remained distinct from European American English — a linguistic anomaly unique to the U.S. For instance, court reporters have about a 25% accuracy rate in transcribing and accurately understanding the meaning of Black people’s testimony, she said. This in turn hinders juries, who depend on court transcriptions during deliberations, from accurately understanding testimony. Niedzielski also explained how young students who use African American English’s syntax and morphology tend to be labeled as speech disabled while in school.
Jim Elliot, professor of sociology and department chair, discussed how data shows that Black Americans typically live in places that are more exposed to natural disasters but receive less support and resources than white Americans.
“Social inequalities are cracks in our social structure in terms of disaster resilience,” Elliot said.
Elliot pointed out Harris County is participating in a FEMA program to test new Community Disaster Resilience Zones. The federal initiative aims to act before disaster strikes — to identify areas with a high risk of flooding, link it back to areas of high social disadvantage and funnel money into the community to aid resilience.
The next Scientia lecture will be Nov. 14 and features Moshe Vardi, University Professor and professor of electrical and computer engineering and computer science, and Thomas Miller, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology.