Blog Post 3: Race

1. Consider how you could use the Shades of Noir (SoN) resource in your practice and answer the questions above.

Before this unit, I did know a little about Shades of Noir, I had worked with some colleagues that have been involved. I had previously visited the website, albeit quite briefly and read a few articles. However, having taken part in the Inclusive Practices unit, I feel I have a much better understanding of what SoN actually is and how it functions.

Resources, articles and events are of course really important to further conversations and drive forward positive change, but it was the advocacy stories I have read, which really illustrate how vital SoN is.

The Safe Space Crits are an excellent resource I have discovered through SoN. I encourage my students to bring themselves and their lived experiences into their work at university. I have my own positionally and lived experience, however, I also acknowledge that I may sometimes not be the best person to discuss with a student work, particularly work that relates to racism or a specific cultural identities. These crits are an incredible resource for students. On the UAL Portfolio Course I lead, a number of the briefs I present the students are very open and allow them to choose a personal direction for their work. Often students focus on aspects of their own life or identity as starting places for these briefs, which is something I actively encourage. It’s a small cohort and we have the opportunity to discuss ideas, and work in some depth, but this year, when the next course begins, I am going to make all students aware of the Safe Space Crits at the start of the course, explaining their purpose and remit.

For my own personal and professional development I intend to keep connected with SoN for a long time after this unit ends. I have found many of the articles interesting and though provoking, and some of them resonated with me, particularly those touching on queer identities and mental health. That’s not to say I intend to cherry pick articles that I feel ‘relate’ to my experiences in some way. During this unit I have valued (and learnt a lot) by hearing and reading about diverse experiences and issues. My intention is to keep listening and reading and learning how to be a better anti-racism ally, as a white woman.

2. Hahn Tapper (2013) ‘A pedagogy of social justice education: social identity, theory and intersectionality’, Pp. 411-417 (and see diagram on p.426) this can be found in the blog PDF within moodle. Discuss two things you learnt from the text. And one question/provocation you have about the text.

What is social justice education: ‘One common, but certainly not ubiquitous, idea is that it explicitly recognizes the disparities in societal opportunities, resources, and long-term outcomes among marginalized groups’ (Shakman et al. 2007, 7).

This statement made me think: ‘Although virtually no one discounts the central role that teachers play in a given classroom, Freire extends this point, expounding on how a teacher’s social identities play as much of a role in a classroom environment as anything else.‘

I’m not sure I place enough significance on my own identity, as a teacher. However, when I think about the teachers I’ve had that have influenced and nurtured my personal and creative, they have often (although not always) been women. I have only ever been taught by one woman of colour, which really hits home how representation among teaching staff is so important for students of colour, so that they see themselves and feel like they belong.

I learnt what social identity theory (SIT) is; ‘Its core premise is that in many social situations people think of themselves and others as group members, rather than as unique individuals’.
I think it’s important to remember intersectionality in this context, that individuals identify with a number of group identities. i.e. class, race, nationality, sexuality, gender identity, religion etc. I can see how this can be distilled down further to a second tier, to relate to employment status or culture and sub-culture identities, i.e. musician, skater, politician, stay at home parent, footballer etc.
A question that arises for me thinking about SIT, is there will be instances where these second tier social identities cut across the first tier identities? Where this happens there could be (in some circumstances) opportunity to bring people who have different top tier social identities together, break down preconceived barriers and reduce power dynamics. If this sounds simplistic, I apologise, but my point is that intersectionality in this case, could in some situations offer opportunities for connection.
For example, youth music studios like this one I know in Peckham: https://www.peckhamstudios.com works with young people

3. Witness: Unconscious Bias, Josephine Kwhali

Josephine Kwhali points out that this explanation (or excuse) of ‘unconscious bias’ doesn’t hold water, especially after all the work, literature and discourse which surely brings it into the conscious. I think she’s right, how can it still be unconscious for so many? It feels like a convenient ‘explanation’ which is devoid of blame or even responsibility, particularly in the case of institutions.

Perhaps if we all as individuals acknowledge and talk about the deceptive function of UB, then it will become harder to institutions to almost hide behind this concept? As an individual I should strive to take responsibility for any bias I may have, educate myself, change myself and my actions. Should institutions not take a similar approach taking collective responsibility?

I went on to watch this related resource that discussed unconscious bias;

Shirley Anne Tate | Whiteliness and institutional racism: Hiding behind unconscious bias

Some of my key takeaways from this video were; Shirley Anne Tate (2018) states that performative innocence being professed through EDI Training. (Equality, Diversity & Inclusion). She states this term is clinged-to in an attempt to diffuse responsibility by individuals and institutions, but it actually maintains white supremacy.

An explanation for attainment and staff employment inequalities.

Unconscious bias has its roots in Social Psychology and is normalised in institutions, often through EDI training in UK Higher Ed.

The ‘acceptable’ face of racism in UK institutions.

UB is often absorbed into institutions EDI Training in Universities that proclaim to be liberal, post-race or anti-racist. A ‘quick shot’ which doesn’t appear to actually change attainment levels or staff employment inequalities.

Often EDI training includes a ‘test’ at the end of the course, it can simply be repeated time and again, until the person learns the correct responses. She points out that this of course offers no evidence of a shift in understanding, belief or cognition.

Shirley Anne Tate, states that unconscious bias has become the acceptable ‘term’ and explanation for racism practices which lead to statistical attainment differences.

Whiteliness: a racial reality for white people, seen as natural or normal. White normative practices keep the system of white supremacy in place.

White Fragility: White people don’t have to tolerate ‘race based stress’, and as such are often very uncomfortable with it. (Robin DiAngelo)

4. Review ‘Retention and attainment in the disciplines: Art and Design’ Finnigan and Richards 2016. Discuss two things you learnt from the text. And one question/provocation you have about the text.

The significant fact I learnt was that 31% of Black British Carribbean and Black British African students gain an upper degree in comparison to 64% of White students (Woodfield 2014, pp. 63-4). This attainment gap of 33% is massive and although I was aware of an attainment gap it shocked me how large the gap was.

Another point that struck me was, although many tutors, including myself believe that they encourage students to work with their identity and own their practice, students may often not agree. ‘They perceive that some tutors’ preferences have a large role to play when it comes to getting a good grade’.( Finnigan and Richards 2016) We can’t be fully aware of how our behaviour is being perceived and the subtle messages we are giving to students, often non verbal. It’s only when asking students about their experiences do we discover how our teaching has been perceived. I will certainly be more aware of this moving forward and consider my responses more consciously as a result of reading this.

One question that came up for me relates to the the implicit ‘pedagogy of ambiguity’ present in Arts education and the difficulty this poses for many students, especially in their first year of a degree course. This is something I’ve witnessed first hand as an AL. The focus on process and creative exploration rather than identifying a clear process to follow or outcome to produce can very very unfamiliar, stressful and disorientating for many students. While I recognise this, and in the first year briefs I write I try to offer a structure and steps to follow, without being too prescriptive. But this does raise the crucial question, if exploration and being led by process is an important skill or method in design, (which I believe it is) how can we best introduce students to this way of working, without alienating them and confusing them?

‘not only does class work as a barrier, but socioeconomic privilege works to thicken and complicate the barriers of age, disability, gender, race and sexuality’. (Bhagat and O’Neil 2011a, p. 21)

5. Read the terms of reference from SoN around Race and choose an article to reflect on. Please consider the context of the article and respond to the questions above.

Article by Linda Stupart, (pp16-21)

I found this article by Linda Stupart very interesting and at times it made me feel uncomfortable. But I probably chose it because she, like me, am a white woman working in higher education, learning about and developing a better (albeit limited though my white privilege) understanding of the inherent racism that exists within society and institutions, even those outwardly liberal and ‘active’ institutions that have acknowledged on some levels, institutional racism, such as UAL.

She herself acknowledges close to the beginning of the article; ‘I feel extremely awkward wring this, that is why I agreed to write it’.

She approaches this article with reflexivity, declaring her own positionally and her lack of ‘skin in the game’. It felt very appropriate that she starts by asking questions… in doing this she places herself in a position of wanting to learn, seek, understand how she can exist and be useful to the cause of anti-racism, while acknowledging that she is, or has been complicit in the systems of racism.

Although I feel I have a certain understanding of my own white privilege, the very fact that it’s a privilege that I am used to, means that it is easy to not see it clearly for what it is. This article hit home the forms of day to day privilege that I too experience as a white woman. While I feel this can be uncomfortable, (a form of white fragility I’m sure) I feel that even over the 4 months of this IP unit, I feel less uncomfortable and more accepting of this, which most importantly allows me to move quicker onto the questions about what can I do to help change things? I hope that makes sense and doesn’t sound like I’m making this all about me. I actually mean that I feel I can move past the me stuff much easier to ask those important questions (some of which Linda Stupart asks) and move towards taking forms of positive action.

One such positive action, could in a small way, be the redesigning of the research activity artefact that I am working on, as part of this unit, but more importantly as part of my evolving teaching practice, where inclusivity and anti-racism is a core consideration of my practice.