The Pluriversity Podcast of Glasgow University have been in conversation with Dr Barbara Adewumi and Rachel Gefferie to discuss how racism and coloniality are intertwined and how the Diversity Mark Programme works to create a sense of belonging among racially minoritized students at the University of Kent. Crucially, students are engaged in this process as paid staff members who are trained to enter negotiations with course conveners. While Rachel outlines how this process works in practice, Barbara gives insight into Critical Race Theory and how it is used as a conceptual and methodological framework for the programme.
You can listen to the episode here. The authors are: Barbara Adewumi, Rachel Gefferie, Julia Bohlmann, and Aniela Bankowicz.
On the evening of the Pluriversity community of practice Julia introduced Rachel and Barbara with the following statement:
‘We met at the Advance HE conference in Hull and I attended the second iteration of the their presentation because it was so popular that they had to run it twice. I was fascinated by the Diversity Mark programme because it is so embedded in their institution. They really impressed me by how they run things with students particularly learning how to manage power differences. They are prepared very well through role play and I just find their approach amazing.’
The podcast is also being placed on the National Teaching Repository, a database that has recently won OE Awards for Excellence: https://awards.oeglobal.org/awards/2023/open-collaboration/national-teaching-repository/
The Pluriversity Podcast hosts conversations with academics, students, and community practitioners, about exploring, understanding, and expanding our practice of decolonising the curriculum. This podcast is created by the University of Glasgow Decolonising the Curriculum Community of Practice. You can find out more here: https://decolonising.glasgow.ac.uk/
If you ever want to cite the podcast please access this link.
Since the recording of this episode, Barbara has been promoted to Senior Research Fellow.