Dr. Ashley Reis is a JEDI scholar. The force may be with her, but in this case “JEDI” stands for justice, equity, diversity and inclusion. Reis focuses on the ways in which these concepts and values play out for people in the outdoors.
Most recently, she was a professor at the State University of New York at Potsdam where Reis taught her students, among other things, about the ways in which marginalized populations have long been displaced from outdoor spaces. But these same folks, people of color, Indigenous populations, members of the LGBTQ community, are finding ways to reclaim the outdoors and regain control of their narratives. One way they’re doing this? Social media. And that happens to be the subject of a recent article by Reis: #EquityOutdoors—Public Lands and the Decolonial Mediascape.
A part-time Jackson resident, Reis joins us in the studio to discuss that article and some of the misconceptions surrounding what it means to strive for justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in the outdoors. She says the reason she took this focus in her work is because of a responsibility she felt to her students.
Listen above for more.
