The Census Projects asked students, faculty, and staff at Cosumnes River College to answer the race/ethnicity and sex questions on historic censuses and to choose how they would have been identified by the government at that time. The goal of the Census Projects is to educate and provoke discussion that labels not only matter, but that they influence the very government support undercounted communities need. We hope in the future to see census categories that are more expansive, intersectional, and frankly, humane. Given the choice, how would you like to be counted? The Census Projects are a collaboration across different departments including Anthropology, English, History, and Photography. Thank you to Kathryn Mayo for creating the portraits, Anastasia Panagakos for conceptualizing the project, José Alfaro for outreach to the LGBTQ community, and Diana Reed for providing historical context. These projects are a variation of an exhibit of the Race Project first created by the American Anthropological Association (AAA). These projects received funding from the Cultural Competency and Equity Committee. Finally, a special thank you to all in our campus community who posed for these portraits!
