Movement through Racial Healing and Justice (2021-2022)

Reckoning with racism at Duke and beyond requires a movement and transformation in individual beliefs and behaviors, as well as in relational networks. For instance, the national Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) movement in the U.S. has thus far led to the establishment of nearly 60 campus centers and numerous community collaborations. This movement includes expanding a relational network across higher education institutions and communities. 

The Duke Center for Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation is leading Rx Racial HealingTM Circles (RxRHCs) to dismantle deeply rooted beliefs in racial hierarchies. RxRHCs foster empathy, encourage perspective-taking and expands the circles of those willing to confront racism. 

In this project, team members examined the phenomenon of movement within and beyond RxRHCs by addressing three core questions: 

  1. Who are RxRHC participants? Team members sought to better understand “who” participates in RxRHCs by identifying demographic characteristics of individuals who choose to participate. Students extracted data and conducted descriptive analyses to identify differences in RxRHC participants by sex and ethnic/racial identity.
  2. What is the short-term impact of particiation in RxRHCs? Do RxRHC participants experience changes in feeling states before and after participating?  Team members assessed the potential short-term impact of participation in RxRHCs by coding the emotional valence of participants’ reported feeling states before and after participation in RxRHCs.  Study results revealed that participants reported more positive feeling states after participation as compared to just prior to participation.
  3. What is the long-term impact of participation in RxRHCs? Do RxRHC participants’ relationships expand and deepen beyond the RxRHC? Team members were interested in understanding the potential long-term impact of participation in RxRHCs. To this end, students developed and programmed in Qualtrics a questionnaire to assess how social networks of RxRHC participants might change as a function of participation. Students submitted the study protocol to Duke Campus IRB for review and approval.

Timing

Fall 2021 – Summer 2022 

Team Outputs

Duke TRHT Center website

Rx Racial Healing Circles: Participation, Emotional Response and Transformation (poster by Lorayna Hinton, Laura Navarro, Violet Wang and Anders Liman, presented at 2022 Fortin Foundation Bass Connections Showcase, April 13, 2022)

This Team in the News

How Did Political Polarization Begin, and Where Does it End?

This project team was originally part of the Education & Human Development theme of Bass Connections, which ended in 2022.  

Movement through Racial Healing and Justice.

Team Leaders

  • Alison Adcock, School of Medicine-Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
  • Patricia Garrett-Peters, Social Science Research Institute
  • Jayne Ifekwunigwe, Social Science Research Institute
  • James Moody, Arts & Sciences-Sociology
  • Charmaine Royal, Arts & Sciences-African and African American Studies
  • Lorrie Schmid, Social Science Research Institute

/graduate Team Members

  • Anders Liman, Bioethics and Sci Policy - AM
  • Joseph Quinn, Sociology-PHD, Sociology-PHD

/undergraduate Team Members

  • Ashley Bae, Public Policy Studies (AB)
  • Lorayna Hinton, Psychology (AB)
  • Zhaozhi Li, DKU Interdisciplinary Studies (BS)
  • Laura Navarro, DKU Interdisciplinary Studies (BA)
  • Bella Nowroozi, DKU Interdisciplinary Studies (BA)
  • Violet Wang, Public Policy Studies (AB)

/yfaculty/staff Team Members

  • Eric Monson, Duke Libraries
  • Jessica Sperling Smokoski, Social Science Research Institute