Tila Neguse is a personification of the word “diversity.” An eclectic mixture of backgrounds and experiences, Neguse is Eritrean but also, a Memphisonian [born and raised in Memphis Tennessee]. She’s an activist, a poet and the associate director of Washington University’s new Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity {CRE2)].
“It not only changed my perspective, but it also made me step into my identity and realize the type of work I would like to be doing out in the world.” – Tila Neguse, associate director of Washington University’s Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity on her undergraduate experience and education in Ghana.
Neguse’s father is from Eritrea. Her mother is from Memphis. She and her little sister were raised immersed in both African and American cultures. On special occasions they wore the traditional lush and flowing gowns, zuriyas as well as the bobby socks and jumpers, popular in the South.
The family ate Eritrean cuisine such as tsebhi, flatbreads and stews made from lentils and fava beans as well as barbecue, fried chicken, and other soul food delicacies. Neguse grew up listening to traditional Eritrean music as well as southern Blues, gospel, jazz, R&B and Hip-hop.
It’s little wonder that the word “diversity” has a multitude of meanings for Neguse.
“I understand diversity as a range of differences within a given setting. An individual cannot be diverse but a team, or an experience, can be. A lot of times people think diversity in action only means bringing Black or brown people into white spaces. That, to me, is not true diversity.”
Neguse is excited to be part of a center where academics are dedicated to studying how race and ethnicity are integral to the most complex and challenging issues of our time. Washington University’s recently announced CRE2 creates opportunities for campus-wide projects that collates “field-defining research, innovative learning, and strategic engagement” aimed at transforming scholarship, policy, and clinical interventions centered around race and ethnicity.
“This is a centralized place at Wash. U. for research on race & ethnicity,” Neguse explained. “Which means we’ll have an academic center where all the work being done by those studying race and ethnicity is collated in one place.”
As a one stop information center, CRE2 provides faculty, students, local and national media outlets, global citizens, and world leaders the ability to access pertinent race-related information. Considering we live in an environment where “race” has become a politicized weapon to beat back immigration, Black studies, voting rights and much more, CRE2 will serve as a valuable resource to combat ignorance and hatred.
The center will “speak to the urgency of our times,” Neguse said. “It’s a way for the university to acknowledge the political landscape of these times.”
In a way, CRE2 was born out of social justice. Campus activism and robust dialogue after the 2014 police killing of Michael Brown led to the formation of Washington University’s Commission on Diversity and Inclusion. The committee produced 19 reports containing recommendations for improving diversity and inclusion at the university. One of the directives from the commission led to the creation of a center dedicated to providing academic research on race, ethnicity, and equity.
The 2022 academic goals of CRE2 are categorized as “themes.” They include Innovations in Understanding & Improving Health Equity; Race and the Future of Democracy; Global Migratory Representations, Histories, and Crises; Visualizing Race and Ethnicity: Algorithms, Discourses, and Design and Legal, Spatial, and Political Justice.
The center, Neguse stressed, is still in its infancy but she’s excited about the “themes” her colleagues will pursue. While elaborating on “diversity,” Neguse said the CRE2 theme, “Global Migratory Representations, Histories, and Crises” speaks to the true meaning of the word.
“Our center has a global perspective, beyond a St. Louis or United States-only focused lens.”
To emphasize the importance of perspective and accurate, enlightening, and in-depth information, Neguse recalled an experience she had studying abroad in Ghana for a semester as an undergraduate student.
“While there, I realized how I was denied access to so much information because of my Eurocentric education. The program I attended focused on the Atlantic slave trade, and I was learning things that I never learned in my US primary, secondary and post-secondary education. It was just so eye-opening…it was like hearing the real story for the first time. It not only changed my perspective, but it also made me step into my identity and realize the type of work I would like to be doing out in the world.”
Neguse has worked in the arena of “race” since coming to St. Louis in 2010. Her first job after graduating from Kenyon College in Ohio, was as an educational interpreter at the Missouri History Museum for the American Anthropological Association’s exhibit, “Race: Why are we so Different.” She then became a Washington DC lobbyist advocating for funds for anti-poverty programs and efforts aimed at reducing mass incarceration. In 2015, she was hired as project coordinator for Washington University’s “Divided City: An Urban Humanities Initiative,” a four-year project that analyzed how segregation continues to impact individuals, cities, neighborhoods and much more.
When I think about it, I really have always been an administrator working either directly or tangentially on social justice issues,” Neguse said. “I consider myself an activist, so I am attracted to this type of work.”
In addition to her CRE2 duties, Neguse, just started a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing at the Warren Wilson College, MFA Program for Writers. She’s also an accomplished poet. Poetry has served as a cathartic means to give voice, retrospect, and balance to Neguse’s unique past and current passions.
“Simply put, my poetry often deals with what it’s like to be a Black woman in the diaspora,” Neguse said. “In my work, that surfaces via experiences from a multiplicity of angles: being both a Black American and African.
Neguse relishes her role in helping aggregate information that dissects the “multiplicity of angles” inherent in race and ethnicity work now and in the future. For example, she mentioned the CRE2 programmatic theme of Visualizing Race and Ethnicity and how artificial intelligence (A.I.) can inform bias.
“One area of research and programming you will see highlighted this year at CRE2 is on A.I. and Bias,” Neguse said. “How can algorithms, whether that’s facial recognition software or a chat box on a healthcare site, contribute to bias? It’s a whole new frontier and we hope we can call attention to some of the exciting research being done in this area.”
Last year, the ACLU released a report detailing how Al can deepen racial and economic inequities, noting how the data used to train AI technicians “is often discriminatory or unrepresentative for people of color, women, or other marginalized groups and is inherent throughout “AI’s design, development, implementation, and use.”
In addition to CRE2 as a valuable local resource, Neguse sees the center as a way to cement an even more valuable relationship between the university and the community.
“I see the center as extremely important to not only Wash U but also to the broader St. Louis community. It’s a way to establish trust between the university and the St. Louis community” Neguse elaborated, adding: “CRE2 is a university wide center, across all seven campuses and we have an amazing community of faculty, graduates and other scholars working on research that examines race and ethnicity.
“This, I believe, shows a commitment from the University to the study of race and ethnicity and to diversity and inclusion.”
Sylvester Brown Jr. is The St. Louis American’s inaugural Deaconess Fellow.
