Category Archives: challenging racism

Students take over the Tate Exchange

Students from the School of Politics and International Relations took over Tate Exchange at Tate Modern, last weekend (March 16/17), with a series of inventive and inspiring projects aimed at engaging the public in the idea of movement and resistance.

Activities included transforming big business advertising into origami birds; film work on borders, mental health and how people have responded to racism in sport; interactive image work on media representations of gender and politics, body positivity, the meaning of change, the relationship between art, politics, education and Brexit, and the nature of disagreement and conflict; performance work on identity politics; and an immersive experience in a pod exploring the connection between choice and resistance. There were also 2,000 dominoes used to create some amazing constructions and, with some effort, the word ‘move’ in the form of a domino run.

This is the third year of the School’s involvement in the Tate Exchange project but the first time the whole floor – Level 5 of the Blavatnik Building – has been activated and animated entirely by the students. With over 1,000 visitors in two days, the students had a wonderful range of conversations with members of the public. As one visitor put it, ‘this is great, such amazing work!’

The students came from undergraduate module, How to a Start a Revolution, and the Postgraduate module, Resistance in Practice.

Decolonising the curriculum expert is University of Kent inspirational speaker

The Founder and Director of Black British Academics is the inspirational speaker for a University of Kent workshop in Medway that will reflect on the decolonisation, democratisation and diversification of the UK curriculum.

Dr Deborah Gabriel will lead the 3D Pedagogy Workshop on Wednesday 27 February 2019 from 14.00-15.30 in the Rochester Building at the University’s Medway campus.
Dr Gabriel, a senior lecturer at Bournemouth University, has carried out extensive research into the experiences of black academics and the challenges of decolonising the curriculum. She is well known for her expertise on racial inequality in higher education and disparities in pay and progression.

The event aims to equip participants with a basic understanding of critical race pedagogy (a theoretical took applied to understand racism impacts on teaching), social justice pedagogy and critical reflective practice, enhancing educational practice by increasing cultural competence.
The event is part of the Student Success Strategy in the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences (SSES). Head of the School, Professor Claire Peppiatt-Wildman, said: ‘This is a fantastic opportunity to hear from Dr Gabriel. Our focus in on inclusive teaching and by targeting education practice, we enhance the outcomes for students of colour and enrich the learning process for students of all ethnic backgrounds.’

The event is free and open to all. To book please visit the event’s dedicated booking page here.

Student Success Seminar on Critical Race Theory – New dates

The student success staff seminar on ‘Reframing the gap: Bridging ‘deficit’ readings and critical race theory to understand everyday racial inequities in UK universities’ has been rescheduled for May 2018.

Originally scheduled for March, it will now take place on:

Wednesday 16 May 2018, Canterbury Campus, Woolf College, Seminar Room 5, 13.00-14.00

Friday 18 May 2018, Medway Campus, Pilkington Building, Room 104, 13.00-14.00

The seminar will give an overview of Critical Race Theory and the important questions. Delivered by Dr Alex Hensby, the seminar will be challenging and thought-provoking and the team highly recommends that staff with student-facing roles attend and engage in the debate around race and university.

The past two decades have seen UK universities increase access for students from non-traditional backgrounds, as well as enhance their provision of academic and welfare support, yet across the sector the white-BME attainment gap shows no sign of significantly narrowing. This raises important questions about how racial inequities continue to be reproduced in higher education. Proponents of critical race theory (CRT) offer a direct challenge to longstanding analyses and intervention strategies on the grounds that they take a ‘deficit’ reading of the white-BME attainment gap. Instead, they advocate shifting the onus onto how universities unwittingly reproduce racism and racial inequities structurally and in everyday life.

To book a place on any staff seminar simply email studentsuccessproject@kent.ac.uk

More information on this and all the staff seminars can be found on the Student Success website.

A recording of the BTEC seminar and Prof Karen Cox’s Inspirational Speaker Talk can be found on the staff only section of the SSP website.

Exploring the Student Experience and Belonging in HE – Black History Month lecture

Professor Kevin Hylton, the first Black Professor of Sports and Exercise Science and Head of the Centre for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Leeds Beckett University, will be speaking at Medway campus on Wednesday 4 October.

Professor Hylton’s presentation, titled ‘Exploring the Student Experience and Belonging in Higher Education’, is a key part of the University’s Black History Month Events 2017. His research focuses on the nature and extent of ‘race’, racism and racialisation in sport, leisure and education.

The presentation, in association with our School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Kent Afro-Caribbean Society and the Student Success (EDI) Project, will take place from 17.00 in The Deep End Mezzanine. It will include live spoken word performances by Kwame Osei Owusu (ACS Medway President) and Esere KJ.

Admission is free, but please secure your place by emailing studentsuccessproject@kent.ac.uk

Other events taking place at the University during Black History Month include a lecture on the ‘Contribution of Black and Asian Soldiers to the First World War’ on 18 October and an art exhibition, themed ‘Celebrating Black Professors in Kent’s Universities’, at the Historic Dockyard Chatham from 1-31 October. For further information, see the Student Success Project webpages.