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Blacks and Racism in the Dietetics Field: From Diet Related Health Disparities to Racial MicroaggressionsThe impact of racism on the field of nutrition and dietetics is pervasive and manifests itself in a variety of ways. The national context of police brutality against Black people has shed light on other aspects of structural and systemic racism in this country. These include inequities in our education system, income inequality, affordability and quality of housing. Those directly relevant to the field of nutrition and dietetics are disparities in access to affordable and healthy foods and issues of food insecurity. Related to these inequities, African Americans are disproportionately impacted by diet-related diseases, such as obesity, heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes (1). Lack of diversity in the field of nutrition and dietetics is also arguably an artifact of systemic racism in this country. African Americans/Blacks represent only 2.6% of the dietitians in the U.S and between 1998-2016, the percentage of African American dietetic students declined by 11.6% (2). Rooted in systemic racism, much of the decline of African American dietitians stems from the closing of nutrition and dietetics program at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and declines in funding for HBCUs since the 1970s, leaving publicly funded HBCUs at the mercy of these policy changes. Several of these programs transitioned to hospitality programs and restaurant management, ultimately shutting off African American students to the dietetics profession. The financial cost of the 10-12 month unpaid dietetic internship is also a barrier to entry in the field for Black students. As a result of lack of diversity in the field, race based microaggressions are also commonplace in the dietetics profession. As the field of dietetics is actively working on enhancing efforts around diversity, inclusion and equity especially in the wake of national protests around the death of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many others, it will be essential to actively and critically discuss the impact of racism within the dietetics and nutrition field. This special issue of Critical Dietetics aims to capture the impact of individual, interpersonal and systemic racism against Blacks in the dietetics profession in the U.S. We want to expose how this influences the prevalence and treatment of diet-related diseases among these groups, the diversity in the dietetics field, and how Black dietitians are treated within the profession. Categories of articles accepted include:Original research (including qualitative)Commentary/OpinionSystematic reviewHistorical commentary Potential areas for exploration include but are not limited to:Historical context of the role of HBCU dietetics internship programs played in the education of Black dietitiansQualitative research of race-based microaggressions in the dietetics professionThe impact of COVID-19 on Black communities and its diet-related underpinning Systemic racism and its impact in diversity in the field Disparities in diet related diseases among Blacks and the role of social determinants of health that are rooted in racism and social inequities History and stories of African Americans in the dietetics professionCurrent experiences, barrier, and concerns of Black students and the pathways to RDInterested authors should submit a 300-500 word proposal to Jill White (jwhite@dom.edu) and Alison Brown (alison.g.m.brown@) including the category type, the aims, scope, content and theoretical perspectives for your paper. Research, reflexive, and discussion papers will also be considered. The (relatively tight) timeline for publication is proposed as follows:August 1: share CFP via journal readership and social mediaSeptember 1: abstract due to Jill White and Alison BrownSeptember 30: notification to authors about abstractNovember 15: full paper due, submit for peer reviewDecember 15: peer review complete and reviews submitted to authorsJanuary 15: revisions complete and submitted to layout editor for PDF proofFebruary 1: publicationPlease also indicate in your submission if you are interested in presenting your work at a virtual Tribunal on Racism and Dietetics in November as part of the World Critical Dietetics Conference.If you have any further questions about the special issue, please contact Jill White (jwhite@dom.edu) and Alison Brown (alison.g.m.brown@), Guest Co-Editors. If you have any questions about the Journal, please contact Jacqui Gingras (jgingras@ryerson.ca) or Debbie Maclellan (maclellan@upei.ca), Co-Editors, the Journal of Critical Dietetics.References Cunningham, T. J., Croft, J. B., Liu, Y., Lu, H., Eke, P. I., & Giles, W. H. (2017). Vital signs: racial disparities in age-specific mortality among blacks or African Americans—United States, 1999–2015.?MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report,?66(17), 444.Burt, K. G., Delgado, K., Chen, M., & Paul, R. (2019). Strategies and recommendations to increase diversity in dietetics.?Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics,?119(5), 737-738. ................
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