Spaces also take shape by being orientated around some bodies, more than others… After all, institutions provide collective or public spaces. When we describe institutions as ‘being’ white (institutional whiteness), we are pointing to how institutional spaces are shaped by the proximity of some bodies and not others: white bodies gather, and cohere to form the edges of such spaces.
Ahmed, 2007
Sara Ahmed’s concept of ‘institutional whiteness’ is an interesting lens to view the invisible yet perceivable boundaries that define and shape who does-or-does-not-belong within academic spaces.
A cold climate
Higher education institutions, typically celebrated as spaces that provide knowledge and progress, are also spaces that perpetuate a ‘cold climate’ that hinders the success of BPOC students. This climate is ’caused by institutional racism and racism micro-aggressions’ (Tate, 2019). This cold climate, Shirley Ann Tate suggests, contributes to the attainment gap which means that students cannot go on to postgraduate study which in turn ‘continues to reproduce academia as white.’ This sentiment is echoed in Rhianna Garret’s article, where two interviewed PhD students saw academia as a space ‘that failed to support their intersectional identities as students’ (Garrett, 8).
Academic spaces don’t physically displace subjugated groups and bodies, but they perpetuate the systemic manner in which educational policies, practices and processes privilege certain groups at the expense of others.
Reproducing structural inequalities
One of these educational policies is the Baseline Assessment highlighted in Alice Bradbury’s article. Bradbury analyses this policy using critical race theory as a framework to identify how this policy (which on the surface seems unproblematic and not-disadvantageous) disproportionately disadvantages bilingual learners (often from ‘minoritised groups’) by failing to account for their linguistic diversity and thereby contributing to a ‘tacit intentionality’ that perpetuates white dominance at the very start of a child’s schooling experience.
A proposed idea that stood out to me from Bradbury’s article was that educational policies tend to romanticise bilingualism when it involves European languages, but not when they are seen as immigrant languages, thereby perpetuating ‘the dominance of the English-speaking (mainly white) majority, through the under-assessment of the marginalised linguistic (and often racialised) Other. (Bradbury, 2020). The idea that there are certain identity traits (socio, linguistic or cultural) that are seen as ‘safe’ by a dominant majority is captured well in this video from Goodness Gracious Me, which I remember watching with my parents who immigrated to the UK in the 1970s. Sanjeev Bhaskar’s character looks down on the immigrant character, but will never be seen as equal to the white British character, an inequality he internalises in his attitude towards his former compatriot.
Change beyond performance
Inclusive teaching and learning is more than including diverse perspectives in the curriculum. It demands structural changes in teaching methods so that we create environments that genuinely value and incorporate lived experiences. (Sadiq, 2023). The challenge lies in ensuring that we create psychologically safe environments where students can integrate their lived experience without fear of their identity being displaced by the bodies that seek to de-voice anyone posing a ‘threat’ at the periphery of ‘institutional whiteness.’, a scenario exemplified by former LCF student, Romero Bryan:
I wanted to explore my culture, in terms of reggae music and the dancehall scene, being I am originally Jamaican, with links to Cuba also. Unfortunately, it was frowned upon by the tutors. I guess they were scared they couldn’t relate to my experiences… It was very much a Western approach to the subject areas you were allowed to explore. Anything outside of that was a no-go zone.
Romero Bryan, Shades of Noir, 2020
Conclusion
By recognising how spaces are orientated around certain bodies, we can begin to dismantle the barriers that exclude others. As Ibram X. Kendi states, the ‘only way to undo racism is to consistently identify and describe it—and then dismantle it.’ The journey towards a truly inclusive education system is exactly that, a journey. It requires persistent commitment to embracing the discomfort that comes with deep, meaningful change. Only then can we create educational spaces where all bodies feel they belong, and more importantly, that they matter.
(545 words)
Blogs commented on:
References
Ahmed, S. (2007) Queer Phenomenology : Orientations, Objects, Others. Erscheinungsort Nicht Ermittelbar: Duke University Press.
Bradbury, A. (2019) ‘A critical race theory framework for education policy analysis: the case of bilingual learners and assessment policy in England’, Race Ethnicity and Education, 23(2), pp. 1–20. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2019.1599338.
Channel 4. (2020) The School That Tried to End Racism. [Online}. Youtube. 30 June. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I3wJ7pJUjg
Garrett, R. (2024) ‘Racism shapes careers: career trajectories and imagined futures of racialised minority PhDs in UK higher education’, Globalisation, Societies and Education, pp. 1–15. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2024.2307886.
Inclusive Practice: Alchemy – Transformation in Social Justice Teaching. (2020) Shades Of Noir. Available at: https://shadesofnoir.org.uk/journals/inclusive-practice/ (Accessed: 21 June 2024).
Kendi, I.X. (2023) How to Be an Antiracist. One World.
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
Tate, S.A. (2018) Tackling the ‘BPOC’ Attainment Gap in UK Universities [Online]. Youtube. TEDx/Re:Act, Royal School of Speech & Drama. October. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPMuuJrfawQ
Hi Yasi,
Thank you for writing such a meaningful and passionate blog post on the subject matter of racism within the higher education sector. It is clear you understand the problem from a systemic and holistic lens, which is what is required to break down the barriers we have explored through the PgCert.
I found the quote you included by Romero Bryan to Shades of Noir upsetting. It is a stark reminder of the consequences for students when there isn’t enough ethnic and racial diversity amongst academic staff. His words resonate with the comment our peer made during an earlier workshop about a fashion student who didn’t receive enough support for their ideas because the tutors couldn’t understand their culture.
Like you mentioned in your blog, the attainment gap has a ripple effect in the higher education sector because it limits the potential of students of colour to progress into academic roles and be part of the change they want to see.
Thank you for a thought provoking blog.
Best wishes,
Dayna
Thanks so much for your comment Dayna! Yes, Romero’s quote also reminded me of the one our peer made about a very similar situation!
Your point about the cyclical nature of the problem is very pertinent – the attainment gap limits opportunities for students of colour to become academics, perpetuating the lack of diversity. I found this resonates also with the Shirley Ann Tate talk we had to watch for Workshops 5 and 6 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPMuuJrfawQ where she mentions the racist myth about ‘there are few BPOC academics because BPOC students all want to do law, medicine and dentists. No, there are few BPOC academics because of the BPOC attainment gap. Students cannot go onto postgraduate study, they cannot get PhDs, they cannot become academics. The BPOC attainment gap continues to produce academia as white.’
Thanks Dayna for all of your comments on my blogs for this unit, I’ve really enjoyed reading your blogs and your comments also. Cheers!
Thank you for posting your Blog on race, really liked the way you have analysed the reading material and shown the issues that students face in education.
With reference to Sara Ahmed’s article, I agree with you that it is an interesting ‘lens’ to view institutional whiteness and the perceivable boundaries that it erects against racial minorities, and people of colour with all the intersectionality of languages, culture, religious faith, wealth, privilege, society, Eurocentric ideologies etc.-that may occur within a student community and the impact on their education.
You intersect the (Tate, 2019) and Shirley Ann Tate-in how institutional racism and ‘targeted’ (this my phrasing) micro aggressions, that creates a ‘climate’ that can stymied a student’s progression through education and prevent them achieve career goals in higher academia. Maintaining the ‘outward looking face’ of the elite academia community is made up of white professional tutors.
Question: How do we recognise these micro aggressions and have systems in our spheres of influence and in our teaching practice to combat this type of prejudice at the University of Arts London? Are we prepared to listen to our students and make the changes that allows them to develop confidence and not to doubt in their learning abilities. Are we brave enough to challenge a fellow colleague who is directing micro aggression on students?
Students (of all races/colour) should not be discouraged by the ethnicity of the academic teaching staff-that may deter them from higher attainment in educational institution.
These are some of the questions that I feel we will have to face and find methods to combat these behaviours. I believe this unit and the material that we are reading is making us aware of these injustices but is it requesting from us and our fellow colleagues that we must act for the benefit of inclusivity and speak out and confront these institutions for their actions and attitudes towards students and acknowledge the harm they are causing.
This is a great Blog
Kind regards
Michael
Hi Yasi,
Thank you for your blog post on race it’s really thought-provoking as always.
The introductory point by Ahmed (2007) that ‘white bodies gather’ and make an institution white is really interesting to think about – the physicality of what makes a space unequal.
Yasi points out the ‘cold climate’ in Universities ’caused by institutional racism and racism micro-aggressions’ (Tate, 2019) and rightly highlights the attainment gap and what it means for BIPOC students being unable to progress to Postgraduate study. Working in Academic Support I quite often encounter students of colour who have failed – this is a direct encounter with the effects of the attainment gap: UAL is letting down its students of colour. In this, I agree with Yasi’s point about ‘the systemic manner in which educational policies, practices and processes privilege certain groups at the expense of others.’
Bradbury’s highlighting of the ‘Baseline Assessment’ and Yasi’s point that, a ‘tacit intentionality’ is created ‘that perpetuates white dominance at the very start of a child’s schooling experience’ is quite stark in how it shows that an assessment like this can serve to perpetuate inequalities between students. The point, from Bradbury’s article, that ‘educational policies tend to romanticise bilingualism when it involves European languages’ is interesting in how it frames an exclusionary environment that affects people whose language does not fit the Eurocentric model. The ‘Goodness Gracious Me’ clip does suggest enduring inequalities between how different people are treated and relate to each other based on their proximity to a perceived sense of belong in Britain.
I agree that inclusive teaching and learning as stated by Yasi based on Sadiq (2023), ‘demands structural changes in teaching methods so that we create environments that genuinely value and incorporate lived experiences.’ The student Romero Bryan’s exclusionary experience of study at LCF shows the effects of institutional whiteness as Yasi says.
It is interesting to think of spaces as physically defined, as framing bodies, particularly those of white people and how that creates unequal spaces. Ibram X. Kendi’s point that, the ‘only way to undo racism is to consistently identify and describe it—and then dismantle it’ is compelling and refers to the persistent anti-racist work that is required to undo personal, social and institutional forms of racism; the need for all bodies to feel like they belong is an urgent task.
Best wishes,
Sid