RACE

IPU: RACE

The Room of Silence is a documentary that explores race, identity and marginalisation at The Rhode Island School of Design in New York State

The film features interviews with Black students and students of Colour who share their experiences of feeling marginalised and isolated on campus due to their Race. ‘Room of Silence’ refers to the experience these students have in group crits and being faced by a ‘wall of silence’ by their White cohort, who seemingly have no feedback to give regarding their work

The film was a painfull reminder of my time at UAL, where I was one of only very few students of colour at the college; I had little or no support from either staff or students and my work around race and identity was met with a reticence to either discuss or give it feedback. Along with other experiences where I felt marginalised, this gave me a sense of isolation and a feeling that I did not belong there

According to Terry Finnigan and Aisha Richards in their paper ‘Retention and Attainment in Art and Design’ (2016) university students from underrepresented groups, such as Black and minority ethnic (BME), were more likely to drop out of art and design courses than their white counterparts. The study identified a range of factors that contributed to the higher dropout rates among BME students, including a lack of cultural diversity in the curriculum, a lack of support from staff, and a sense of isolation and marginalization.

In terms of what is being taught, lack of diversity in the curriculum means Black and BME students don’t see themselves represented, which compounds feelings of not belonging, and for White students, they lose in their appreciation of raced experiences other than their own and the opportunity to challenge their race awareness and so maintains their inability to offer criticism to work outside of their understanding.

In the film “Witness: Unconscious Bias”(University and College Union Members’ Standing Committee Oral History Project 2016) UCU member Josephine Kwhali discusses unconscious bias and how universities, by focusing on diversity only in

terms of gender and ignoring race through said ‘unconscious bias’, it has contributed to the employment of more middle class White women academics and helped ignore the lack of diversity in the teaching cohort. This is due to what CRT defines as Interest Convergence; any progress that is done for race equality is only done as a last resort and has to have some kind of beneficial element for the white majority. If no needs to diversify in terms of race are seen, when interrogated this can be put down to ‘unconscious bias’, which Josephine Kwhali says is far from unconscious but rather a wilful avoidance and in fact a choice

Regarding the findings of Finnigan and Richards paper, their study highlighted the importance of creating a more inclusive and diverse learning environment in art and design courses and recommended a range of strategies to support the retention and attainment of BME students which include; studying a more diverse curriculum and experiencing a more inclusive pedagogy to help succeed at a higher level and reach their full potential. As well as being a representative lecturer of colour, the IPU has helped me to think about ways I can make changes both in the curriculum and in resources to promote and achieve equity for Black students and students of colour. I am currently reviewing the resources I have been using which are mainly examples

of Filmmakers and or Artists who use film in their practice. Following the IPU unit I can see how I have not only been influenced by ‘Whiteness’ in not really understanding what it means and so not challenging it, but also not having the confidence to forefront Black Women in my resources. One way I intend to address this will be building on my library of Artist filmmakers and making it more inclusive and a place where I can actively de-centre ‘Whiteness’

Please find below an explanation of Critical Race Theory and discussion and interrogation of racism in universities from the podcast Surviving Society:

Surviving Society E022: Why is my research group so white?

https://soundcloud.com/user-622675754/e022-why-is-my-research-group-so-white- racisms-in-higher-education