Race

Witness Unconscious Bias: Josephine Kwahili

• Kwahili speaks about her experience as a black academic and her opinions around unconscious bias. She disagrees that racism is unconscious. What will it take for the unconscious to become conscious?

• This brings into question the countless efforts made by black academics to educate institutions about racism. The emotional labour involved as well as the time spent in such institutions proves a further point to me, which is; the onus is not on black academics to prove that racism exists within institutions, it is the institution’s responsibility to combat the culture of indifference and silence around pressing issues around race and how the disparities manifest within the metrics of the institutions themselves (see awarding gap).

• Kwahili remarks, “I’m not prepared to give that get out of jail card.” This relates to Shirley Anne Tate’s observations that the word (un)conscious supposes unawareness and is often used as an excuse by white people to explain away their racism rather than take responsibility and steps towards adopting an anti racist perspective. 

• “What else do we have to do or say or write and talk about and present on in order for supposedly intelligent people who are educating the next generation of… people, who are spearheading supposedly ground breaking research, to get any consciousness?” For me, this question highlights the absurdity of explaining away racism as unconscious. The fact of the matter is that academics work in the field of research and gathering relevant knowledge to influence the next generation of thinkers so how can they be so ignorant? This brings in the perspective that ignorance is wilful in an age where so much information is at our fingertips, there is simply no excuse for it.

‘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.
• I learnt that The Group for the Equality of Minority Staff (GEMS) was set up to create space for staff of colour to connect and to support one another in predominantly white institutions. Their aims are to “…support the viability and strategic development of both staff and students of colour.” 
• I learnt that we must continue an effort for staff members to implement inclusive practices into their teaching. These reforms to need to take shape and be included within the curriculum and in pedagogy at university level.
• Since the publication of this report, how has the university taken tangible steps to implement the findings of this research? 

A Pedagogy of social justice education: social identity theory and intersectionality. Hahn Tapper (2013)

I learnt that Hahn Tapper’s research into Social Identity Theory and intergroup encounters aimed to unpack the dynamics between what causes conflict between groups and what variables are at play when it comes to how people identify themselves to a larger group identity. 

They unpack Allport’s Contact Hypothesis which is that “individuals identifying with particular groups in conflict interact with one another in a positively structured environment, they have an opportunity to reevaluate their relations with one another” (pp.415) This points towards the reasons why people might aversions towards others are rooted in negative stereotypes. Hahn talks about the (Amir 1969) criticisms of Allport’s Contact hypothesis which found that “relations between groups can actually worsen as a result of contact.” (Pp.416)

Social Identity theory is an alternative to explain how people identify and interact within society. “SIT maintains that human beings are social by virtue of their relation- ships with one another, an existence embedded within a vast web of net- works that are constructed based on identity-based associations. Everyone, to one degree or another, is a member of a multitude of social groups that are shaped in relation to ethnicity, gender, nationality, religion, socioeconomic class, and other categories.” (Pp.418)

Resource I Don’t Want to be a Boring Academic, Nor a Boring Artist. -Anonymous 

The title of this think piece caught my attention because this is a sentiment I share as well. As an artist and as an educator, there is a danger of becoming complacent within the comfort of an institution. Personally, I am and always want to be in and amongst the world, I do not want to slip into a state of vacuousness and insularity which can be the case if you seclude yourself from the world. Or if you only sit with like minded people. I mean, where will the challenges come from? If everyone is agreeable and has a similar taste. It links back to elitism and the institution. What conditions necessitate growth? 

In the article the anonymous writer states: 

“I don’t want to be a boring artist who is proud of perplexing their viewers and who despite everyday experiences, awes and intuitions… I don’t want to partake in proliferating dull pieces of art in art-critic elaborations.”

Art institutions can be a circle jerk of ego stroking, white dominated discussions. I don’t want to be absorbed into this cold culture of stiff upper lipped-ness and “good taste” Instead I want to add some sauce, some seasoning, some flavour to the pale, male and stale environments we make art within. London is a myriad of cultures converging. Why can’t the arts encompass and embody this? 

I resonate with this thought: “ I guess questioning the formalism and foundation of ‘what art is’ is worthy of being documented in human HIStory. But God, am I bored.” Art institutions have a way of excluding an array of people. Not only frequenting the spaces but also it has a way of canonising white artists and heralding them as the pioneers of innovation and creative experts. The emphasis on HIStory is a comment on the white male canon which is often prescribed as the ideal. There needs to be a shift in the way arts education is disseminated. There needs to be a remedy to this.