Black History Month events 20th to 28th October 2021

There are lots of events going on this week for you to get involved with.

Wednesday 20 October, 3-5pm via Teams

Diverse Cymru, the national leading specialist in Black Mental Health, and the creators of the BME Mental Health Workplace Good Practice Certification Scheme, will be running a two-hour workshop for racially minoritized students to talk about managing good mental health habits, provide you with tools and techniques to support you own mental health and signpost you to appropriate support services.

 Book Club: The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

Thursday 14 October, 2pm, Templeman Library DG01-02

We are looking forward to discussing Part 1, Wide Sargasso Sea, a classic in the literary field by Jean Rhys. The author draws you into a world of entrapment and oppression in colonial Jamaica. She takes you on a journey of exploring complex racial identity dictated by class. The storyline of Part 1 allows sufficient ingredients to discuss colourism, creolisation and post-colonial identity struggles. A free copy of the book is available for the first 15 attendees (note these may be second hand in line with our Sustainability Policy).

 Black Success: Ex–Sabbatical Officer discussion panel

Thursday 21 October, 6pm via Teams

Omolade, Sasha and Aaron are three Ex-union officers who have worked in several different campaigns and worked hard to improve the student experience at Kent. This Black History Month, we welcome back the three Ex-Officers to discuss being black and successful, overcoming challenges, encouraging students to taking up roles in the Union and debunking stereotypes. The panel discussion will last an hour and will take place on teams with a chance to answer any questions at the end.

 Black Intellectuals Talk

Wednesday 27 October, 2-3pm via Teams

Our Black students share their research work on a variety of topics in this mini snapshot conference at the University of Kent

Talk 1:  How is Policing Experienced Intergenerationally by Black Communities in London?  Miss Bisi Akintoye, SSPSSR PhD PG Social Policy

Stop and search and other discretionary police functions are disproportionately experienced by black communities. Rather than exploring the reasons behind these measurable disproportionalities, I am interested in how policing is experienced intergenerationally in black communities. My research will seek to understand the perceptions and experiences of the policing of people racialized as black. Using ethnographic interviews and focus groups with young people, parents and youth organisation workers, my research aims to analyse the intergenerational experiences of policing in London, and how this is mediated by factors such as age, gender, class and immigration histories. In doing so, I hope to explore that black people do not experience policing as a monolith. However, negative experiences of policing across generations have important ramifications for the future relationships between the police and black communities. In this way, the policing and criminalization of black people represents an extension of the status of black people in the UK more broadly.

 Talk 2: Environmental Policymaking and Implementation in Nigeria: The Case of Climate Change Mitigation.  Dr Daisy Emoekabu, SSPSSR PhD PG Environmental Social Sciences

Climate change demands a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and the implementation of climate change mitigation policies is crucial in meeting this goal.  However, the implementation of climate change mitigation policies has been a challenge in many parts of the world, due to political, institutional, social, economic and cultural factors.  Although, the institutional barriers to environmental policy implementation are well documented, the socio-economic constraints, from the resource-poor perspective in low in-come countries like Nigeria, have received little discussion.  This study draws on theories of policy implementation processes, such as the Contextual Interaction Theory, and views from the literature on environmental management and resistance to policy change to develop an original framework through which the socio-economic factors that shape environmental policy implementation in the context of resource-poor people can be explained. Using a mixed research method, with mostly a qualitative approach, which involved 57 semi-structured interviews, 42 survey questionnaires and participants observation, with policymakers, academics and civil society activists, I explore how the implementation of energy and forest management policies is unfolding in Nigeria between 2010 and 2020 and the implication on its 2030 targets.  This study identifies resources, social safeguards and stakeholders’ involvement in policy design and decision-making processes as key factors that promote motivation and feasibility for the sustained adoption of renewable energy, energy efficient, and forest conservation practices amongst the resource-poor population.  However, where these factors are lacking, resistance may occur.

The Digital World of Work workshop

Thursday 28 October, 1-2pm via Teams

This session will expose you to a huge variety of options and opportunities within the digital and technological workplace that you may have never heard of or considered. Listen to snapshot sessions from staff at BJSS, a leading technology and engineering consultancy, on their work as Tech Consultants, Programme Managers, Agile Coaches and Data Scientists. Each individual will give a brief introduction to what their area of work is and the work that they have done, opening your eyes to a world of work opportunities you may never have known was out there! This session is of particular value to students from racially minoritized backgrounds.

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