Blog 3 Racism
I found starting this blog very tricky, as this is something very personal to me and always difficult to get my head around, as this is a conversation which has always changed and evolved through times in my life. In my previous blog I have mentioned about my heritage and my sexuality. These two issues have caused much conflict around the world and continue to do so. I’m hoping to further understand the difference that racism in EDI can make to my teaching practise.
Teaching and talking about racism in studio spaces is something which comes up in students’ projects, giving us a great opportunity to make these conversations relevant to their project. At UAL we are lucky that we have such a diverse student base and teachers’ practitioners, so there is a great basis for exchange, allowing us to learn from and acknowledge peer to peer feedback. In the world today there has been so much conflict and power struggles, that EDI training is more important than ever in the education system, allowing voices to be spoken and heard. The Inclusive Practise Programme set on the Pg-cert has given me a great insight and knowledge base, including more confidence about this subject by seeing how the course members of staff in the workshops facilitate discussions in the room and has helped me to understand how we, as educators, can bring this to our practise.
How do I become something that I do not see` says (Asif Sadiq 2023). This quote is something that I particularly related to – how the education system plays a big part in our lives, the things we see, the things we read and the things we observe. These aspects are the most crucial things that education has to offer us in the way we can tackle racism in the education system is what I believe.
What is it about the things we don’t see, is where my thoughts are going. It’s making me realise my own biases. When I’m teaching, have I paused to observe of all the students in the room, do I understand their needs and how can I help them the best. (Asif Sadiqi 2023) talks about the history and coloniser or the colonised and this is really important to today’s education because when we talk about whitespace, it must include more than the United Kingdom as colonising countries.
In history there were many countries in Europe a part of this as I reflect on India you will find parts of it influence by the British empire then when you move down to south India you will see influences from the Dutch, Portuguese, and French missionaries, changing the religious beliefs, heritage and identities which are still practise in India today. This makes me think about the caste system in India, how we have separately ourselves, before the colonisation. So how do we break biases in racism around the world, maybe we need to look at ourselves first and create a new scaffolding system which allows us to use literature and conversations that we are comfortable with.
The Telegraph interview (Orr, J. (2022). really shows, how important it is that we talk about how the UK government creates documents and award systems for universities as a tick box language and really sitting on the fence about racism. One of the things the interviewer talks about is the schemes: Athena Swan Charter and the Race Equality Charter which universities must meet.
By creating a tick-box system with limit responses, it really shows how we lose the freedom to express ourselves fully, thereby limiting free speech, which is more important than awards as students need to know how to identify the activist within themselves and the consequent choices they make and that it’s still OK to make change in the world as we are working in an arts university. Through history, artists, designers and makers have always taken up the roll of activism through their work, creating change in places like the Royal Academy and education systems, thereby creating new communities and tribes which we are proud of today. A great example of this would be the French Impressionists.
In the Channel 4 video (2020). in which the school tried to end racism, really highlighted the angles of white privilege, how in society it still exists today, even though the video was three years old, but those children will be our future. To me, this showed how important education is in tackling racism and societies’ view. We live in a diverse culture that we should be proud of. It makes me feel even more determined to reflect upon how I can change things in the education system, so that our students receive the knowledge of what is around them. Helping removing these biases from them and encouraging them not to create their own biases through education is something that we all have a responsibility for.
REFERENCE LIST
Sadiq, A. (2023) Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Learning how to get it right. TEDx [Online}. Youtube. 2 March. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR4wz1b54hw Accessed 21st June 2024
Orr, J. (2022) Revealed: The charity turning UK universities woke. The Telegraph [Online]. Youtube. 5 August. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRM6vOPTjuU Accessed 21st June 2024
Channel 4. (2020) The School That Tried to End Racism. [Online}. Youtube. 30 June. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I3wJ7pJUjg Accessed 21st June 2024
Navin, I really enjoyed your reflections on racism in academia as you framed it from a personal lens and related it back to the student experience, which is ultimately what we are aiming to improve in our respective teaching practices. A few things resonated with me, including the quote you used from Asif Sadiq about attempting to be something you cannot see – the idea of who or what is prioritised, showcased and considered to be dominant (and therefore worthy of inclusion) in society is enforced first in education. You make this point really clearly, and it’s evident too from the example of the tick-box approach that some universities adopt, as the Telegraph’s video highlights. Your blog has helped me to reassess how I might approach inclusivity in my own classrooms, in a similar way that you described about meeting the needs of the students in the room. As you say, they are the future.
Hi Navin, enjoyed reading your blog. One thing this part of the PG Cert has highlighted to me is my own positionally and it’s relation to others, something that’s important to be conscious of – and in that respect it shows the importance of the quote: ‘How do I become something that I do not see.’ which is a powerful reminder of the impact representation has in education, something I perhaps have taken for granted. Taking a second to observe the students in the room to better understand their needs and ultimately give them a better experience is such a small but meaningful thing we can all do.