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Testing out a theory

Inclusion pride flag

Our Response to the EHRC Equality Act Report

The recent media attention surrounding the Equality and Human Right Commission report “Separate and single-sex service providers: a guide on the Equality Act sex and gender reassignment provisions” has created some confusion, uncertainty and debate around the interpretation it brings when it comes to the use of facilities such as toilets and changing rooms.

At Kent we recognise that the responses of some institutions are placing our trans, nonbinary and intersex colleagues at an increased risk of harm. We affirm our commitment to members of these communities at Kent, and to our ongoing work to remove discriminatory practices and approaches that place them at risk of harm.

At the University we have our own EDI policy, Dignity at Work policy and Trans Student Support policy but given the press attention, we feel it necessary to clarify our position that we want to work towards an environment where individuals can feel safe and comfortable to use the facilities including toilets and changing rooms, that matches their gender, without fear of harassment or discrimination.

Context

This most recent media attention is situated in an ongoing context, where trans and non-binary people face discrimination and harassment:

  • At work, including from colleagues, managers, customers and clients;
  • In public, including verbal and physical abuse;
  • Online, particularly on social media where targeted harassment, bullying and abusive comments and even attempts to find and share trans people’s previous names and current address are increasingly common;
  • Trans people also face barriers to accessing healthcare, such as long waiting lists for treatment.

We at the University of Kent are committed to fostering a positive working environment where all employees are treated fairly, with dignity, courtesy, respect and consideration. All staff have a responsibility to create an environment that is free from harassment, bullying, unlawful discrimination and victimisation. We do not – and will not – tolerate discrimination and harassment within our institution. We have been pleased to see growing awareness of the diversity of the trans and non-binary community and increased understanding of the breadth of gender identities. Unfortunately, this visibility has come with a rise in hostility towards some members of the trans community.

Harassment reporting

We fully support and encourage all our students and staff to report incidents of harassment and discrimination using existing policies.

Toilet Facilities

We have maps of both our Canterbury and Medway campuses highlighting the location of gender neutral toilets. We want individuals to be comfortable using the facilities that match their gender, without fear of harassment or discrimination.

Join our communities

Access resources

Using the resources available removes the burden of questions, explanations and discussions from members of the LGBTQIA+ community – the links below are an excellent starting point for people wanting to understand more.

Our LGBTQ+ network have a fantastic blog that covers ongoing news, events and challenges – stay up to date with the issues affecting the community.

Mermaids UK and Stonewall have easily accessible resources and Q&A that cover many of the relevant issues.

Rainbow Lanyard

The University of Kent Rainbow Lanyard celebrates and promotes our work around Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. Wearing one shows your commitment to providing a safe and comfortable environment for all of our LGBTQ+ staff and students. It also shows LGBTQ+ people that they can ‘bring their whole selves’ to you without fear of judgement or an unsupportive reaction.

Industrial action

Industrial Action: Local Dispute Ended

From Martin Atkinson | Director of HR & Organisational Development

I am pleased to be able to let you know that the local branch of the UCU has accepted the proposal we made on 23 March and that the local ASOS, including the marking and assessment boycott, has now been brought to an end. You can read our joint statement with UCU for more background on this.

This means that marking and assessment is now resumed as normal, although the national Action Short of a Strike (not including a marking and assessment boycott) remains in place.

Any work that was not assessed during the boycott will now be assessed alongside other work, with Divisions working with their staff to agree on areas to prioritise. We anticipate that all outstanding marking will be completed by Friday 6 May 2022.

We would like to thank our local UCU for their part in the negotiations which have brought the dispute to a close. We would also like to thank those of you who have been providing extra support to students throughout the periods of industrial action.

This year has been particularly difficult for our students, and I want to recognise their patience in the face of the uncertainty and stress caused to them by the ongoing disputes. I sincerely hope that they can now look forward to some stability and certainty as they enter the examination period.

Ongoing negotiations  

I am also conscious of how challenging recent weeks have been for colleagues in Divisions which have been reviewing their activities and which face continued challenges due to national changes in where prospective students’ interests lie.

Whilst no compulsory redundancies have been proposed as part of these reviews and would only ever be considered as a very last resort, we understand that reviews can be unsettling for staff and I hope this agreement will take some of the pressure off while this work continues. I’d also like to thank colleagues for their continued involvement in working collectively on what a positive and sustainable way forward might look like. For the avoidance of any doubt, the commitment made in the joint statement to UCU members also applies to all other staff across the University.

We are also continuing our talks with UCU on the national issues in the hope that we can build on progress in the areas that we can influence at Kent – bearing in mind that many of the issues on the national ballot are out of our control. I will continue to keep you updated on progress with all these issues and hope we can now all concentrate on preparations for the summer term.

With all good wishes,

Martin

Martin Atkinson | Director of HR & Organisational Development

The Shape of our Academic Year

From Richard Reece| Deputy Vice-Chancellor | Education and Student Experience

At Kent, it is important we continually reflect on our provision and the experience we offer our students. Back in 2016/17, the University began a consultation with staff and students concerning the shape of our academic year. This was delayed by other organisational priorities and, of course, the covid pandemic. However, we are now in a position to continue this important work.

Kent is unusual in the HE sector in not holding a Winter assessment period after Autumn modules. This means our students can have a long period of time between teaching and being assessed on what they have learnt. We have received feedback from both students and Kent Union that this causing significant levels of anxiety. Many staff have also highlighted the challenge of the six-week turnaround of exams in the Summer, which is becoming increasingly difficult to manage with the complexity of our portfolio.

During the last consultation, we received significant feedback from staff and students. This insight has been used to shape the proposals presented to you. We are now asking for staff input in shaping these proposals, to ensure the one we choose provides the best structure for our whole University community.

Please get involved and share your views. Information about the proposed changes can be found on this dedicated SharePoint site. Here you will find further context to the changes as well as the three potential academic year structures. You will find a feedback form online, so you may leave comments and ask questions.

I will be holding a series of webinars, one for each division, during early April. These will be an opportunity for you to find out more about the proposed changes and ask questions relevant to your division and role.

Each Division has already been invited separately to their own dedicated webinar. To attend the Professional Services webinar on Thursday 7 April 13.00 – 14.00, please use this Teams link.

Here’s a schedule of each Divisional webinar:

5 April – 10.00 – 11.00 – Law, Society & Social Justice

5 April – 12.30 – 13.30 – Natural Science

5 April – 16.00 – 17.00 – KBS

6 April – 15.30 – 16.30 – Arts & Humanities

7 April – 9.00 – 10.00 – Computer, Engineering & Mathematical Sciences

7 April – 11.30 – 12.30 – Human & Social Sciences

7 April – 13.00 – 14.00 – Professional Services

It is important we also understand the views of our students and these help shape our decisions. Information on the potential changes will be provided to students through our Your Uni Your Say campaign, allowing them to find out more and ask questions.

Whether to change the structure of our academic year is an important decision that we must take together. I hope you will participate in this consultation and help shape our future at Kent.

Hilary Edridge, Head of Major Campaigns

Support our first-ever Kent Giving Week

From Hilary Edridge | Head of Campaigns and Philanthropy

Fundraising brings people together. By giving us a vision we can share, a common cause to inspire us and goals that we can aim for together, it can build networks and communities that really can help bring about positive change.

That’s been my experience of fundraising for many years now and why I’ve long wanted to launch a dedicated week of fundraising that the whole University can join in and enjoy.

The University’s plans for a new Parkinson’s Centre for Integrated Therapy gives us a perfect opportunity to launch an annual giving week that I hope will help us achieve something truly remarkable. The proposed centre will be the first of its kind in the UK and it promises to transform lives through innovative therapies and interventions for the many thousands of people who are diagnosed with this debilitating disease every year. More than 145,000 people live with Parkinson’s in the UK and it’s more than likely that each one of us knows someone personally who suffers from it.

So today we are launching our fundraising campaign that will build up over the coming days and weeks and culminate in Kent Giving Week, an exciting week of activities between the 9 – 13 May. I hope you’ll all want to take part in some way, big or small.

Each day will feature a theme that corresponds to a Parkinson’s disease symptom and the particular kind of therapy that the new centre will support and promote: Listen (neuro-stimulation); Sing (speech and language therapy, group singing); Move (group exercise and physiotherapy); Learn (nutritional, occupational and mental health advice) and Connect (massage therapy).

Activities will link to the themes so that you can do a 5k route around campus whilst wearing silent disco headphones (Listen); take part in our static bike ride (Move); come to a concert with the fantastic East Kent Rock Choir (Sing); come to some interesting and inspiring ‘TED’ Talks as well as hearing PhD students presenting their research at Bright Minds (Learn) and connect with others from around the globe from the comfort of your home in the Big Finale Livestream (Connect).

Alongside the week of activities we have The Moving Challenge where up until 13 May you can do a sponsored walk, run, swim or cycle to help us reach our collective goal of 5,000km. Whether you attend an event, take part in The Moving Challenge or support us in reaching our £25,000 goal, there really is something for everyone.

Students, local businesses, alumni and the local community are going to be joining in too. Learning about Parkinson’s is going to be a key objective of the campaign so that we both learn from our activities and understand better how the Centre will help those who need it most.

Do think about how you can sign up to support the activities, perhaps with your team and immediate colleagues, or support others in doing so. It’s going to be great fun!

For more information visit our about Kent Giving Week website.

Thank you.

Hilary Edridge

BAME Staff Network – All Staff Survey Report 2022

From Georgina Randsley de Moura | Professor of Social & Organisational Psychology
Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic Strategy, Planning, and Performance

I am delighted that this report is now available in full and would like to thank, both personally and on behalf of Kent, the authors for their exceptional work on this. This report would not have been possible without significant investment of time and emotional labour by the BAME staff network chairs, and the many survey respondents and I thank all of you who have played a part in this.

Understanding the lived experience of our colleagues and students is key to ensuring the continual change needed to address the structural marginalisation they encounter on a daily basis. I encourage all members of our community to read this report and reflect on the changes that can be made within each of our areas of influence to create a more inclusive culture at Kent.

Alongside the aims and recommendations of this report, our antiracism strategy and Race Equality Charter work, we will work together to challenge accepted thinking and ways of working and to bring change across Kent.

The BAME staff network all staff survey research sought to understand the culture of the University of Kent, in order to advance race equality and improve career progression and staff development. A key priority for the network was to launch an all-staff survey to learn about the experiences and views regarding the university’s EDI practices and policies. The survey was designed and launched by the Co-Chairs in 2020-21 and was entitled ‘BAME Staff Network All Staff Survey 2020’. This report documents the findings from the survey and the report can be found here.

Worktribe ‘Going Live’

What is Worktribe?

Worktribe, the leading platform for higher education research management, is a Cloud-based platform that enables the effective and efficient management of research and innovation (R&I) grant applications and award data.

Why?

Research and Innovation Services (RIS) and the academic Divisions jointly recognised the urgent need for a more efficient and effective research and innovation grant application management system to support researchers and research managers across the University. Investment in the Worktribe Pre-award and Reporting modules will provide a more transparent, robust, and efficient way of processing grant applications and awards, supporting Divisions to achieve their research and innovation income targets. Worktribe offers depth of functionality with an intuitive, user-friendly interface. Its modular nature means that it can be incrementally expanded to support other R&I activities and workflows in due course.

Benefits

The key message is that Worktribe will provide a unified platform to enable researchers and research administrators to collaborate on the development, costing and approval of research and innovation projects. It will thus help to:

  • Increase efficiency and transparency of information.
  • Allow more time to be devoted to research and innovation activity.
  • Enable Divisions to track and report on research and innovation data more effectively.

Specific benefits for academics will include:

  • Greater control and visibility of their projects.
  • Easily accessible information on how many applications they have been working on and how many projects have secured funding.

Professor Shane Weller, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation, who approved the purchase of Worktribe for Kent on 2 September 2021, says: “I am absolutely delighted that we have been able to secure Worktribe for the University of Kent, since it will enable our researchers and research administrators and managers to benefit from an industry-leading tool to support research and innovation funding applications. Worktribe will play a major role in enabling us to support the world-class research being undertaken by our staff across the institution. The implementation of Worktribe is proceeding very well, and we are now progressing to the early adopter stage.”

Early adopters

We are delighted to be working with the Division of Natural Sciences (NATS) as early adopters of the Worktribe system. Academics and professional services staff within this Division will have the opportunity to benefit from the system from 1st May 2022.

Timeline

A story of migration: From north India to the West Midlands

This blog post forms part of a series exploring identity, culture and heritage as part of the University of Kent’s South Asian Heritage Week.

By Vanisha Jassal, Senior Lecturer, School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research

My story starts – the point at which I am able to recount it anyway – during the 1947 partition which divided my country of origin, India, into two nations: India and Pakistan.  My father, Amar Chand Mahay, was 13 years old; the age my son is today.  Sadly my dad is no longer with us, but he had showered me and my siblings with stories during our childhood, about the struggle he, his 6 siblings and his mum and dad, experienced as they were forced to flee their home and move from what overnight, became Pakistan. The flippancy with which the British Raj demarcated the divisional line between the two countries was narrated to me frequently by uncles and aunties who had all faced similar trauma from this exodus, and images of my extended family’s experience have always stayed with me. I am reminded of them each time I hear of any refugee crisis, as being suffered now by the people of Ukraine.

My day, Amar Chand Mahay, as a young man who migrated to the UK in the 1960s with, I’m sure, new aspirations and dreams.

My dad’s pride in being Indian is engrained in me, and I soaked up the Punjabi and Hindi languages growing up through attending language classes on a Saturday, but mainly through watching hours of Indian cinema. These movies infiltrated our lives with colour, fun, music and dance – they still do. Although our Christmases have always been very British, with a large Turkey (meat and tofu versions!) adorning the dining table, there’s always room to break out into some Bollywood karaoke. The children in our families today, roll their eyes as if to say, ‘here they go again’, but what is beautiful is that they love it too. They may not recall the movies, or even watch any themselves, but they enjoy the rhythms and beats – just as much as we did all those years ago.

I thank my father for instilling in me the capacity to own both one’s culture and that of the country in which you live.  He was very proud to own a British passport, loved shopping in Marks and Spencers and was an active Labour party supporter. He mingled with local politicians and opened the first temple of our faith in the UK. He graduated in English and was one of the few Indian graduates across the West Midlands region to where he migrated in the 1960s.  However, he soon discovered that it was the manual jobs which were plentiful for immigrants and he worked for decades as a factory worker, continuing to engage in scholarly works in his personal time – including studying the ‘Short Oxford Dictionary’ – the title always making my siblings and I laugh as it was anything but short and pretty humongous.

Dad loved being surrounded by his family and is shown here with his twin grandsons, retiring from work to help raise them.  

Looking across the decades, from my father’s first entry to the UK and to my life today, I see experiences which are worlds apart.  However, I am pleased and proud that there is still so much in my life today which remains the same; mainly a strong sense of pride in my own heritage and identity, whilst embracing and being interested in the identities and cultures of all those who come into my life.

I wish I had asked my dad more questions about this major episode and how it shaped his world view and his character. I urge anyone who has, within their family network, members who have experienced significant life events, to be curious about these, enquire more, and document their stories. Luckily for me, my dad was a wonderful storyteller, and he and his younger brother, the last surviving member of that family of nine, would sit all of us children down and tell us about how their parents had to rebuild their life in a new village; how difficult it was to just cook the daily meals; how tirelessly the women and men worked to survive.

A most wonderful recent memory is my husband and I arriving home to find my 16 year old daughter and her two friends blasting Hindi music from her room. An utter delight. Her generation embraces Britishness more than mine did – simply because it is easier to do so growing up being a person of colour today.  However, what is lovely for me is that my children also continue to engage with their Indian heritage – the fashion, the food, the ceremonies – simply because it is so rich and offers them such a strong foundation upon which to build their own lives.

This blog post forms part of a series exploring identity, culture and heritage as part of the University of Kent’s South Asian Heritage Week. This week runs from the 28 March -1 April 2022 and invites exploration of the identities, history and heritage of British South Asians.

For more events and activities please see Kent Union’s South Asian Heritage Week website.

Announcing iCCi Advisory Board – 31 March 2022

The Institute of Cultural and Creative Industries (iCCi) is proud to announce the formation of our inaugural Advisory Board. It brings together a diverse range of experts from across the creative industries, including representatives from our ART31 programme and the student body here at Kent.

Launched in September 2021, iCCi provides an innovative new approach to creativity at Kent. It aims to bring together everything cultural and creative Kent does on and off campus – connecting the University’s nationally recognised arts programme with its internationally recognised research and teaching.

It also forges new relationships with the expanding range of creative businesses in Kent.

iCCi is already playing a key role in the region, as lead partner in Creative Estuary, a £4.3m Cultural Development Project running until 2023.

Ambitious new projects include The Docking Station, the conversion of a listed building at Chatham Historic Dockyard into a unique creative facility including a state-of-the-art immersive digital studio, co-working space and artist studios, due to open in 2025.

Professor Catherine Richardson, Director of iCCi says:

“I am really delighted to have in place a Board with experience, talent, authority and such a diverse range of interests from across the creative industries. I know that they will support and challenge us to make a hugely positive and lasting impact on the cultural sector in Kent and beyond.”

Announced on 31 March 2022, the board will hold their first formal meeting on 12 April 2022.

Board Members

Chair: Lizzie Hodgson

Lizzie is a consultant and strategist, founder of ThinkNation and Nile and Chair of RE: Generation 2031. She works within creative industries, global corporations, the public sector, government, and charities. She helps to identify purpose and vision, delivering impact and growth primarily through strategic communications.

Vice Chair: Mel Alcock

Mel is an experienced Chairman & Executive Director drawing upon experience garnered in Senior Executive roles at Fremantle, Disney, Sky, i-Crossing, and Curzon. Mel is currently Chairman of the British Board of Film Classification, Mentor at Ascension Ventures, Vice Chairman of Cement Fields and Owner of the Complete Circle Consultancy Ltd.

Aisha Dosanjh

Aisha is President of Kent Union, the student body for University of Kent. She studied Psychology at Kent, has been involved with a range of student societies, and as Uniion President is committed to working with students and enabling them to get involved with and lead campaigns on issues they are concerned about.

Ray Mia

An Immersive audio producer for Music, TV, Film & Audio Drama. Ray founded RECHORD.XYZ, is former Executive Vice President at UMG – the world’s largest music company and owner of Liverpool based record label JACARANDA RECORDS. A graduate of University of Kent, Ray is a supporter of creativity in the county, sitting on numerous boards including The Marlowe Theatre, The Thames Estuary Growth Board and Kent Music.

Conrad Murray

Conrad is Director at the BAC Beatbox Academy. He is a multi award-winning theatre-maker, writer, director, rapper, beatboxer, live looper and singer. He uses his Anglo-Indian working-class background to address issues such as class, race and heritage. He was listed as one of the Top 100 in The Stage newspaper’s annual industry list in 2021 and was named in The Observer’s top ten theatre shows of the year in 2020 for his work as musical director and composer on Pilot Theatre’s Crongton Knights.

Sonia Nayyar

Sonia Nayyar is the Project Manager for Cohesion Plus, a local diverse led arts organisation based in North Kent. Cohesion Plus is an Arts Council England recognised National Portfolio Organisation and delivers culturally diverse events and outdoor festivals across Kent. The aim of the organisation is to showcase culturally diverse arts and promote community cohesion, celebrating shared values.

Jo Nolan

Jo is Managing Director at Screen South, a Kent based Cultural Development Agency. She has extensive experience in independent film production, having developed her skills through Production Management, AD Department and Art Direction. Her contribution has been integral to the success of several award-winning talents from the UK independent film scene and she has delivered over 250 productions including features, award winning shorts and music promos.

Imogen Robertson

Imogen is a creative producer and consultant based in Medway and the South East. Having worked as a producer and general manager in theatre and the museum sector, Imogen returned to Medway, where she grew up, as Bid Director for Medway’s UK City of Culture bid. She has produced work for The National Trust, Madame Tussauds, Pussy Riot, Toyota and Stella Artois and has a particular interest in interactive and digitally innovative arts and work that engages audiences in contemporary issues and historic contexts in new ways.

Sacha Wares

Sacha Wares is a critically acclaimed theatre director, who has worked for more than twenty years at the forefront of British new writing. She is the founder of Trial and Error, a new creative studio producing drama and documentary using immersive technologies. She is associate artist at the Donmar Warehouse, innovation associate at English Touring Theatre and associate director at the National Theatre’s Immersive Storytelling Studio.

Nick Willis

Nick Willis is an artist and student who is passionate about arts opportunities for young people across Kent. He’s written and directed a short film with iCCi and BBC New Creatives, as well as currently working as a BFI Film Academy Young Programmer in London. Having been a part of ART31 and its Youth Board Generate for a number of years now, he is looking forward to assist iCCi in their exciting and ambitious plans to grow.

My Cultural Self: Reflections on my British and Sri Lankan upbringing

This blog post forms part of a series exploring identity, culture and heritage as part of the University of Kent’s South Asian Heritage Week.

By Anne Alwis, Senior Lecturer in Classical and Archaeological Studies

When I was six weeks old and my sister was 11, our family emigrated from Sri Lanka to England. Ethnic conflict between the minority Tamil and the majority Sinhalese populations had been flaring for decades. In 1974, my mother, a Tamil Christian, and my father, a Sinhalese Buddhist, sat under a banyan tree and made the momentous decision to leave their country. Casting horoscopes and palm readings were part of their inherited culture and they recalled that a palm reader had told my father that he would have another child and emigrate. They had politely thanked him and afterwards, laughed, reflecting on the waste of money. My sister was ten, they had no plans for another child, and they were happy.

But now, a year later, the situation had changed. I had indeed unexpectedly arrived. Moreover, conflict was escalating and they were afraid. Although their love marriage had always been controversial given their divisive backgrounds, real danger now lurked. My father, who was a Station Master in the age of the steam train, was being escorted home every night by an armed guard for protection. So, they decided on England, where two of my mother’s sisters had lived since the 1960s. Sri Lanka had been occupied by the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the British but it was the latter who arguably made the most impact, probably because they were the most recent colonists and had settled the longest (from 1818-1948). My parents viewed England with complex feelings; respect and resentment intertwined in a comfortable alliance. My father could resent the ‘Britishers’, as he called them, yet I am partly named after Princess Anne.

I entered England as an infant smuggler. At Colombo airport, the guards ordered my mother to remove her gold bangles and give them to her brother who was saying goodbye. My resourceful uncle asked to give me one more hug. As he embraced me, he slipped the bangles into my blanket. With one last kiss, he passed me back to my mother and we all entered England safely. My father was 50 and my mother was 38.

Our first home was with aunt Grace, my mother’s youngest sister, who then lived in Frimley. Our two Surrey years were particularly fraught for my sister because she experienced her first, but unfortunately not her last, encounters with racism. Apart from my aunt, we were the only Asians in the neighbourhood. My sister then spoke English with an accent (she is trilingual in Sinhalese, Tamil, and English), and her name is Nalini, which was unpronounceable in those days. Strangers rubbing her skin to see if the brown would come off was the least of her traumas. Another issue were my father’s names: Kadigamuwa Giragamage. He became George. My mother had no problem because her Hindu ancestors were converted by missionaries a generation earlier. Consequently, she and her siblings have the most Methodist names possible: Florence, Wesley, Kingsley, Violet and Grace.

Nursing was the only career available to my parents at that time. After they had left school at 18, they had no relevant UK qualifications. My mother had been a housewife. Because the jobs were in London, and aunt Violet lived in Tooting Broadway, that was our next destination and the place I think of as home. If I had to describe myself, ‘South Londoner’ would be my instinctive first choice. From when I was two until I was four, we lived in a cramped room in aunt Violet’s house. The room was so small that my sister had to sleep on a camp bed in my aunt and uncle’s room whilst I nestled between my parents in their bed.

Living in one room was obviously not ideal and my parents saved hard. Eventually, they were able to rent nursing quarters for a reduced rate at St Benedicts, in Tooting, our first real home. Thanks to my parents’ frugal lifestyle, we bought our first house when I was about 6 and we moved to our final home when I was 8. Our last move was dictated by more racial bullying – stones were being thrown at my sister’s bedroom window.

It transpired that my mother was a born nurse but my father absolutely hated the job. He had loved being a Station Master. However, to support our family, he had no choice. He detested it all his life but, as a very decent and hardworking man, he never took his frustrations out on us, and looking back, I am amazed. All their lives they worked opposite shifts so that someone could be at home with me and my sister, which meant that since we ate as a family, most nights, we had supper around 9 pm. My father, who loved food, learned to cook and it became his main hobby: food shopping in Tooting at the local market and halal shops, cooking – always cooking – borrowing recipe books from Tooting Library, and spending endless hours copying and annotating recipes. Today, I have 16 A4 folders of his opus in my office.

My sister went to the local comprehensive and was effectively miserable for years until she could leave school. Racist bulling was part of her everyday experience but she never told our parents. She felt they would be unable to help and they were always working or looking after me. I, on the other hand, was part of the next generation, which was increasingly diverse. Whilst I had my share of racism – typically being called the ‘P’ word, for example – it happened far less often to me, probably because I grew up in a more mixed environment, with friends from India, Jamaica, Pakistan, the Caribbean, China and Cyprus – Christian, Sikh, Hindu, and Muslim alike – so diversity was my norm.

My parents were very anxious people, endlessly worrying that something ‘bad’ could, or would, happen to us: ‘be careful’ was the mantra of my childhood. But I don’t know if this was naturally part of their characters (both their mothers had died when they were young), a result of their moving, or both. In addition, politeness and obedience were qualities that were ingrained in them, and us, culturally. But most importantly for them, as immigrants, and indeed, as Sri Lankans, my parents’ focus lay on education, working hard, and achievement, which meant high marks. For them, as for many immigrants, these were the only ways by which security and success could be measured. Distraction from schoolwork was strictly frowned upon so my sister and I were not allowed to socialise with friends unless it was our birthday. It was also practically difficult to do so since we did not have a car. My parents wouldn’t let us travel by ourselves in case something bad happened, nor did they themselves have much free time to take us anywhere since they worked so hard to obtain financial security.

Our main social circle was our UK family. Particularly memorable were our boisterous get-togethers for birthdays and Christmases, with a very small group of family friends, all of whom were Sri Lankan Tamils. Every Sunday, my mother would also take us to the local church. Unknown to her, most nights my father would get me to pray to his statue of Lord Buddha.

So how does our story end? My parents emigrated, as millions do, to give their family a better chance in life, and they succeeded. They were genuinely very happily married for 49 years. My sister became a high-flying tax accountant in the City and married a Malaysian Hindu. They have two children. I got a PhD in Classics and am now a lecturer. I eventually married a lapsed Catholic from Argentina and we have one daughter. What my parents wanted for us – their versions of security and happiness – did happen; “touchwood”, as they would say.

 

This blog post forms part of a series exploring identity, culture and heritage as part of the University of Kent’s South Asian Heritage Week. This week runs from the 28 March -1 April 2022 and invites exploration of the identities, history and heritage of British South Asians.

For more events and activities please see Kent Union’s South Asian Heritage Week website.

Marking Ramadan 2022

Article by the Talent and Organisational Development team 

Ramadan begins on the evening of  Saturday 2 April and ends on the evening of Sunday 1 May 2022.

Muslims follow the lunar calendar, so the exact start and end dates depend on the sighting of the moon so these dates can vary slightly.

Ramadan is followed by the festival of  Eid al-Fitr  which for the year 2022 is celebrated/ observed on sundown of Monday 2 May ending at sundown on Tuesday 3 May.

What is Ramadan?

Ramadan is the name of the ninth month of the Islamic calendar.

Muslims believe it is the month during which the Qur’an was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) over 1400 years ago. Ramadan is the holiest month of the year for Muslims and it is considered that the reward of good deeds during this month are multiplied several fold.

During Ramadan, from dawn until sunset, Muslims are obliged to abstain from all forms of food, drink (including water), smoking and sexual activity. Most Muslims will wake before dawn for a meal before the start of their fast (also known as Suhoor), and break their fast (also known as Iftar) with dates and water at sunset, and then a meal.

This year, fasts in the UK will last around 14-15 hours. The start and end times vary as the month progresses.

Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam. The overall purpose of the fast is to gain Taqwa (which means to gain piety or God consciousness). This is achieved through an increase in prayers, reading the Qur’an, self-reflection and self-discipline.

What is Eid al-Fitr?

Eid al-Fitr is celebrated on the first day of the month of Shawwal, which follows Ramadan as the 10th month of the lunar-based Islamic calendar.

Its name comes from an Arabic term which translates as the “feast of breaking the fast” and, although not a public holiday in the UK, it is for many Muslim countries.

It marks the end of Ramadan and was originated by the prophet Muhammad. It is one of two global festivals celebrated by Muslims every year, the other being Eid al-Adha, which falls later in the summer and honours Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son to Allah.

Eid al-Fitr is celebrated for one to three days, depending on the country. Fasting is forbidden on the Day of Eid, in contrast to the 30 days that came before.

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