Category: IPU

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

The numbers attending Church in the UK has been in decline amongst the UK population since the 1950’s, with exceptions like Northern Ireland (and Norfolk, where my parents lived for nearly 30 years and I met many regular Church goers)

Despite this I was surprised to find from the paper that The Church of England has Chaplains at almost every English university (Calhoun Pg.26), UAL being among them

With a student cohort that has rapidly changed in the last 10 years, taking in a larger international body of students, I wonder how appropriate it is for non Christian students to have the sole religious contact a chaplain from the Church of England, even if they are also an interfaith advisor

It can be understood from the paper (2) that whilst Church going numbers are going down, immigrant communities are more likely to have more concern ( and active involvement ?) in religion. Most prominent in the public consciousness are Muslims; for instance, the wearing of hijabs makes Muslim women identifiable and therefore targets of hatred, and sadly the prominence of terror attacks by Islamic fundamentalists since 2001 has meant more negative stories finding prominence in mainstream media, without counter information about the majority of Muslims’ who’s religious practice and views are counter to the terror groups

The resulting Islamaphobia also implicitly implies a racist attitude is also at play in attacks against Muslims, as most Muslims are non white. I can attest to this; I am of South Asian heritage and every time there has been a major Islamic terror attack I have found myself on the receiving end of hostility, both direct and covert. This is especially apparent in rural areas.

It is important to recognize the complexity of racism and how it intersects with religious beliefs, gender, disability age and sexuality. The pervasive racism in this country means alongside their religion Muslims are also targeted because of their race

In this intolerant climate I wonder what it means for students of Faith, particularly Muslim women entering universities and what support is provided for students of Faiths other than Christian

Looking at the UAL arts chaplaincy page I was encouraged to find current Chaplain at CSM, Mark Dean, has a broadly inclusive approach to his work as Chaplain and inter-faith advisor; there was a vast amount of information covering all major religions and faiths with varied approaches and ways to get involved ranging from; making pancakes on Shrove Tuesday at Chelsea, an external award aimed at artists using faith in their work, well-being workshops, a service to commemorate UAL students and staff who died during the pandemic and a video featuring assistant curate Jarel Robinson Brown on how his studies at a French music school shaped his faith and identity as a “Black Queer person”

Jarel Robinson Brown

Working on the Faith and Religion part of the IPU unit made me interrogate the arts chaplaincy at UAL, and I was really encouraged to find the breadth of the work Mark Dean (CSM) is doing. It’s a great resource for both students and staff and I feel staff would definitely benefit from visiting the site to broaden both their / our understanding of different faiths and how we may encourage students in their work around faith moving forward

Mark Dean also has his own website which is worth a visit, and an extra resource to direct students to

https://artschaplaincy.net/author/mark/

References:

Modood, Tariq, and Craig Calhoun. Stimulus Paper. June 2015. https://artschaplaincy.net/author/mark/

 Film about Christine Sun Kim 

As hearing people we probably rarely, if ever, consider that what are deemed ‘acceptable’ boundaries for sound can present as restricting limits to the deaf and hard of hearing. Deafness is one of the more isolating disabilities that a person can experience, where communicating with hearing people can be severely limited. So, it was really interesting to be introduced (and reminded) of the limits and barriers to communicating that deaf people can face in the hearing world. It was also good to be reminded that other artists/people have challenges they face that may not be apparent just by looking at them. I liked how Sun Kim’s practice drew attention to Sound, and the received boundaries to what’s acceptable/polite that surround it and probably apparent only to those who don’t/aren’t able to operate within those boundaries by the circumstance of their hearing ability. I’m supposing that Christine is profoundly deaf and the film made me think of my own experience as being partially deaf in one ear, which unlike Christine, only restricts my hearing in crowded busy environments. I relate to her somatic experience of sound as a physical entity by way of my love of sound systems and very loud bass that is not only heard but felt throughout the entire body

I am a Black woman of mixed race and suffer discrimination on both counts; like mine, Christine’s position is also intersectional, dealing with being Deaf, Asian and a woman so has race, gender and also disability to contend with. The film reminded me of the importance of remaining aware of others outside my positionality, who experience discriminations that are different from my own. It also challenged me to think about how I can broaden my approach to teaching and ensure I am mindful of ways I can be more inclusive.

In my teaching I can see how this resource could be easily integrated; I teach moving image, and regarding audio I think this film presents a really informative way to introduce different ways to think about using sound in audio and audio visual work, and also what that could mean in terms of inclusion regarding visibility of disabled artists alongside able-bodied artists; it could get students to start considering diversity and difference alongside challenging themselves to work with audio in ways they may not have considered previously.

DEAF MOSAIC

Isolation from wider society, as experienced by deaf people is something that I am often reminded of. In the college where I work there is a deaf unit and as well as it being usual to see people signing around the college, it also makes it more apparent that many deaf people are restricted in communicating with wider hearing society unless people are able to use sign language 

Recently I came across this outdoor exhibition at Granary Square when visiting Central St Martins

To see the full range of pictures and find out more about this exhibition visit

https://deaf-mosaic.com

Firstly I was struck by the location of this exhibition, which I think it hugely benefited from; instead of being hidden in a gallery it’s fore-fronted in a busy public space giving the opportunity for the Deaf community to have their documented lives and lived experience of deafness be visible to thousands of people, most of whom are general members of the public and may or may not be gallery goers. I was surprised to see a colleague as one of the featured people, and looking more closely I saw that the exhibition was done in collaboration with The City Lit, which is where I work.

Despite enjoying this exhibition I was saddened that I had not seen it at the college; perhaps because I have been off work and missed the show in the gallery, but even so it would only have been on show for a week . Necessary exhibitions like this, that broaden the inclusion of marginalised groups into the public sphere, need to be on view for an extended period. Given that The City Lit has such a large Deaf community, surely work like this could find a permanent public area of display, giving more visibility to marginalised groups that currently exist within the institution and actually creating an inclusive and diverse space for all

 ‘Deaf Accessibility for Spoonies : Lessons from touring Eve and Mary are having Coffee’ by Khairani Barokka 

I found it really impressive that Barroka, despite the burden of somewhat having to manage her condition on her own, really considered accessibility to the work beyond the needs of able bodied and ‘hearing’ audience members 

I assume this is partly due to her own disability and the need for her to fight for rights and recognition not only in the field of Arts and Theatre, but also in her everyday lived experience as a Woman of Colour who also has a disability 

I think she conveys well the way in which these things intersect, and how this may have influenced her wider thinking around access and marginalised communities 

It was sad, but not surprising, to hear her reflect on her experiences with the medical profession and the discrimination she has consistently experienced. As a woman of colour suffering with a chronic pain condition I too have experienced having to fight to be believed and been misdiagnosed, despite the condition I have running in my family. 

Barroka strikes me as an extremely brave woman, and despite her struggles produced a work that provides a potential learning tool when considering audiences and who can and cannot access the work. Despite not seeing the work (the link I had didn’t work) I’ve found there is enough in the paper to help me to consider how I could apply this resource in my teaching. She highlights how we may think about disability as something not always apparent, how we could potentially support students whose conditions are hidden even by just asking what support they need and how they are managing, to begin looking at what solutions can be found to upcoming/on-going problems and difficulties for students who are from marginalised groups 

She raised this question for her students, 

“ as a teacher of performance and literature…….I would ask students how, if they lived with chronic pain, they would continue to perform and produce whilst placing an undisputed premium on holistic self care in complex circumstances. Whilst maintaining an artistic practice.” Pg 6 

The question is a direct way I could begin to begin introducing awareness around ability/disability to students. Often we don’t think about the advantages we have in comparison to others and I think Barokka’s work provides real insight on how we may begin to think beyond our own experience and into the difficulties experienced by those from marginalised groups, whether we ourselves are marginalised or not. I was impressed how, as a woman of colour with a disability, she really thought about issues of inclusivity around theatre going for deaf and other dis-abled communities. All when she was in huge amounts of pain. 

In terms of how I could apply this resource to my teaching it made me think of workshops/lessons that would encourage students to become more deeply known to one another in a way that no single group is advantaged and that everyone’s lived experience is valued 

I see this as an ongoing process, not something to get ‘right’ straight away. The role of tutor/teacher is one where you are constantly learning from your students as much as they are learning from you, so their work/research can be constantly gauged to see where attempts to widen understanding and inclusion are working and where the weakness are showing up and continue to amend and improve our approaches