Source Notes
(Blog submission below notes)
Alice Bradbury for Race, Ethnicity and Education (2020)
Keys terms:
- Critical Race Theory
- Policy Sociology
- Meritocracy
- Education Policy
“…to re-centre the issue of ‘race’ in studies of policy, at a time when it is too frequently an ‘absent presence” – Bradbury, 2020, pp242
This paper, written for an online journal, looks to offer a new framework for the analysis of education policy, which includes Critical Race Theory, alongside Policy Sociology in order to address existing gaps in policy analysis, which result in “white dominance while appearing neutral and meritocratic” (Bradbury 2020).
“Success (or more importantly, failure)” is seen as and held up to be “individual or cultural rather than structural” ( Leonardo, 2007, pp265, via Bradbury, 2020, pp245) by policies, and the production of policies created through a the status quo lens, which is white, consumerist, colonial, and capitalist.
Bradbury utilises PS alongside CRT to create a tool which asks probing questions around policy influence, production, and practice in relation to white supremacy, in order to analyse policy. This tool could be used to redress glaringly racist policies in educational institutions, and their production.
Bradbury (2020) paraphrases Ladson-Billings (2004) in saying “…many wonder what CRT is doing in a ‘nice field’ like early years education” pp245. This part of the text was of particular interest in relation to channel 4 documentary excerpt (2020), which explicitly brings the notion of white supremacy into the primary school. Bradbury stresses how CRT is evidently integral to this stage of education, as this is where children’s “trajectories are established” pp245.
Rhianna Garrett for Globalisation, Societies and Education (2024)
Key terms:
- Critical Race Theory
- Racialised minority
- Individual idenitity
- Assimilation
- Web of whiteness
- Individualism
- Imagined futures
“Academia appears to be stripping racialised minority academics of their intersectional identities to fit into colonial practices, and serve neolib- eral, individualistic needs.” – Garrett, 2024, pp11
This paper uses CRT, intersectionality, and 22 qualitative interviews to investigate the ways in which racialised minority PhD’s experience higher education, and academia, and how this affects their imagined career prospects. It is written with a view to work towards “reducing the significant underrepresentation of racialised minority ethnic academics” (pp1, Garrett, 2024) in UK higher education, and the consequential perpetuation of racist values, structures, and cycles beyond it. It encourages “institutions to make a more nuanced approach to intersectional cultural institutional change that goes beyond optical diversity” (pp3).
The interviews are long, and allow for the conversation to be partly led by the interviewee’s, who are also enabled to self-identify, line with a CRT approach to research.
The paper concludes that the whiteness of academic space is perpetuated by the lack of passive observation of racialised minority academics, and an expectation for racialised minorities to strip away their individual intersectional identity in order to fit into the colonial, neo-liberal expectation of ‘what academia is’.
This makes me think back to the conversation we collectively had in one of the workshops, looking at a particularly academic piece of writing, that we all struggled to engage with. Amberleé suggested that it might feel necessary to write in this style when you are of an identity which is intersectionally marginalised and stereotyped, and you are trying to prove that your work is valid and worthy to those holding the power – in this case, Mirza, as a black woman (Mirza, 2018). This makes me think about bel hooks, who rails against this idea, which I think speaks to the approach to academia that this paper suggests is needed.
Asif Sadiq for TED X Croydon (2023)
Asif Sadiq, an award winning, MBE holding D&I leader, critiques the historical approach to DI training, and suggests that it undermines itself in the way it is built on stereotypes and assumptions. He proposes an alternative approach, which I would argue is the approach of critical pedagogy, in that it offers multiple lenses.
Sadiq uses his own personal experiences at university, and his experience with his son, who has ADHD, as a way to express his frustration at the status quo, which is that we must conform to the narrow ideals we hold up societally about ways of teaching and learning. He suggests an intersectional, empathetic approach to education, which recognises individuality, and listens to a broad variety of voices within marginalised groups.
He critiques the dominant perspectives of the UK and US, which presume the same understanding of diversity across the globe, which is narrow and limiting. In diversity training he advocates for localised, diverse content which uses human storytelling, as well as the creation of lived experience. Asif suggests that this must extend these principles into our individual lives, and diversity the people we interact with day to day.
James Orr for The Telegraph (2022)
This film is presented by James Orr, a white male professor at Cambridge, for conservative broadsheet newspaper The Telegraph, in 2022, and discusses the work of Advance HE in relation to its work to “wire into the fabric of its institutions…a vision of society which vast swathes of the general public would reject…”.
Colloquially known as the Torygraph, the readership, and therefore the lens through which this film has been made must considered. The use of ‘woke’ in the title, which is often used by right wing activists as a derogatory term, is revealing. The language throughout the piece vilifies the aims of Advance HE, using works like ‘restricting’, ‘imposing’, and ‘scheme’. The way in which Advance HE is presented as a “democratically unaccountable quango” is explicitly pejorative and panders to the fear mongering narrative which favours the preservation of the status quo, and consequently of racist, white privilege in education.
Orr speaks to Arif Ahmed, another Cambridge professor, who has the view that Advance HE programmes restrict free speech and waste staff time, claiming that it’s incentives often result in training that is “at best a waste of money”. Orr then asks some students on campus for their opinions on free speech within the university environment. The questions are leading, and attempt to pull out a view that Advance HE’s encouragement of inclusive practices limits free speech.
What is missing here, is an in depth, oppositional view that inclusivity can enable free speech, and empower people to speak their minds. It is possible to invite and hold multiple opinions within a space safely, although it requires skill, shared principles of empathy, willingness from everyone, and a critical pedagogic approach.
This reminds me of the principles that Amberleé and Miriam set out at the start of the unit. Agreeing to behave in line with these principles, allow us to have open, free, sometimes difficult discussions in which we may have different opinions, but are able to respect one another, and sustain phycological safety.
The School That Tried to End Racism, for Channel 4 (2020)
This clip, which was put on youtube three years ago (aired in 2020) shows school age children doing ‘The Privilege Walk’, led by two teachers, in a playing field, in order to provide starting positions for a running race across the field. As the walk progresses, the children start to notice the differences between their positions. Part way through, one black child points out to his friend, “none of us are white, it’s unfair”, as the division across the field starts to become clear. When the same child is asked how he feels, he awkwardly replies “I kind of feel a bit alone”. Others at the back express their frustration, and immediately draw a comparison to the way in which wider society is unequal, with a defeated tone. The white child at the very front of the field, when asked the same question answers “it feels a bit weird, because if you think about it, all of us should be at the same point”.
Intended to highlight inequalities, and clarify who/what white privilege is, all of the kids agree that the resulting starting positions aren’t fair. While this incredibly affecting exercise is effective, and emotionally impactful, I would question the ethics of it for the same reasons. These kids have obviously not been prepped or briefed, and the emotional, internal and social consequences for each child may be detrimental to their sense of identity and lasting.
This exercise is particularly poignant because of the innocence and straightforwardness of these children’s understanding of the world, which makes for more emotionally impactful television – which has hopefully has a lasting effect on the people that view it. However, it also uses the children’s vulnerability for impact, drama and ultimately entertainment. I would hope that there has been lots of pre and post exercise care and support for these children, but this is not made clear in the clip. This may also undermine the things it seeks to do – to educate people, and these children, about white privilege, and highlight racism.
Perhaps this exercise could be re-designed for this aged group/generally re-designed, as it is quite a blunt, and potentially very exposing and harmful tool.
IP Blog 3, Race
Recurring Themes
These sources highlight the profound way in which policy can uphold existing structures of white supremacy and dominance, and others radicalised minorities, problematising the individual, rather than the failing in the structure (Garret, 2024).
In my teaching context and going forwards
With this understanding, an in direct response to Garret’s paper (2024), I would be interested to revisit UAL’s inclusivity policies, and consider the way in which I approach anti-racism. It would be interesting to better acquaint myself with, and utilise the principles of Critical Race Theory to frame any new policy, action, design, or plan (including my intervention) as well as to re-asses any existing tools, resources, and processes already in place.
In direct relation to, or alongside this, I find myself thinking about Friere (1970) and critical pedagogy again, and how this holds or can be used to reflect upon many of the principles explored in these sources. The idea that the foundations of education and pedagogy, including policy, need to be questioned, is central is made clear by Garrett (2024), Bradbury (2020) and Sadiq (Tedx Talks, 2023). The defensive responses to this questioning, as is made clear in the Telegraph video, also need addressing. The importance of a person-centred approach, and valuing of care that critical pedagogy can also bring to the table, is made apparent in both the Channel 4 programme (2020), and Sadiq’s ted talk (2023).
It feels important, reflecting on these sources, to create, offer, and protect space and time for marginalised, individual, intersectional lenses to be platformed, heard, understood and considered. This aim can be carried through everything I do at CSM – from the way I understand and interrogate the effect of policies, to the way I interact with students, to the way I question my own assumptions around knowledge, the status quo, and academic environments.
(w/c 306)
References
Bradbury, A. (2020) 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.241-260
Channel 4. (2020) ‘The School That Tried to End Racism’ [Online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I3wJ7pJUjg (Accessed 14 June 2024)
Freire, P. (1970) Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Bloomsbury Academic
Garrett, R. (2024) ‘Racism shapes careers: career trajectories and imagined futures of racialised minority PhDs in UK higher education’, Globalisation, Societies and Education, Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2024.2307886 (Accessed: 5 July 2024)
Mirza, H. S. (2018) ‘Black Bodies ‘Out of Place’ in Academic Spaces: Gender, Race, Faith and Culture in Post-race Times’. In Dismantling Race in Higher Education, Eds. Arday, J. and Mirza, H. S. Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. pp 175-195.
TedX Talks. (2023) ‘Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Learning how to get it right. Asif Sadiq. TEDxCroydon’ [Online]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR4wz1b54hw (Accessed 14 June 2024)
The Telegraph (2022) Revealed: The charity turning UK universities woke’ [Online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRM6vOPTjuU (Accessed 14 June 2024)