Racism in Higher Education
Project
My research on institutional racism in British universities (See: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030142834 ) critically investigates the processes and practices that continue to marginalise and exclude academics of colour. I conducted 20 in-depth interviews with female and male academics, from different racial, ethnic, religious and international backgrounds, based at Russell Group and Post-92 universities across the country. They ranged from early career, mid-career, and advanced career academics, working either as lecturers or researchers, on permanent, part-time or fixed-term contracts.
All of my respondents expressed feelings of isolation against a landscape structured by whiteness, which they reported contributed experiences of otherness, marginality, and white discomfort around difference. Racism in universities was felt to be more subtle and covert in nature, meaning that the daily realities of racial discrimination were obscured and difficult to pin-down, as white staff members are unable to conceive of themselves as perpetrators of racism.
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Day to day microaggressions included white staff members mistaking my respondents with the only other academic of colour in the department; mispronouncing their names; excluding them from particular opportunities; subjecting them to scrutiny and surveillance; and failure to invest in their development. Furthermore, the lack of other minorities within the institution made those few present feel highly exposed, leading to alienation and vulnerability. In terms of career advancement, my respondents all felt that they had been unsupported in applications for promotion, in addition to this, they all spoke of a lack of mentoring, as well as their achievements being constantly undervalued.
My research argues that racism in universities can longer be simply ignored, treated as an individual phenomenon, or merely framed as a series of isolated experiences. Instead, it has to be understood as that which sits within wider, structural, discriminatory contexts, underpinned by the logics of whiteness. Race equality needs to be practiced, not just preached. There needs to be a clear and obvious commitment to dismantling systems of racism that currently shape the academy. Only then can the vision of an anti-racist university be actualized. In times of growing insecurities and xenophobia, universities should be focused on challenging racism, rather than reinforcing it.In the classroom setting, respondents shared experiences of frequently being challenged by their white students, who assumed they lacked authority and credibility. There was a clear student backlash against subjects being taught related to racism, colonialism and Islamophobia, whereby white guilt and resentment were manifested through hostility towards academics of colour. For my respondents such reactions were symptomatic of the lack of engagement around decolonizing the curriculum, which they felt should be a priority in universities as a way to ensure the cultivation of inclusive, critical spaces through the teaching of diverse knowledge.
Impact
On 9th Sept 2019, this research was presented to 11 Labour MPs including:
Angela Rayner MP: Shadow Secretary of State for Education
Diane Abbott MP: Shadow Home Secretary
Richard Burgon MP: Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
Naz Shah MP: Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
Marsha de Cordova MP: Shadow Minister for Disabled People
Yasmin Qureshi MP: Shadow Justice Minister
Imran Hussain MP: Shadow Justice Minister
Fabian Hamilton MP: Shadow Minister for Peace and Disarmament
Afzal Khan: Shadow Immigration Minister
Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi MP
Emma Dent Coad MP
Click here for report summary: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YAMWbsmlpudaYKJmQaFy7C3qH19GWNml/view
My research was also debated in the House of Lords during the Universities: Racism debate (Volume 798: July 10 2019)
Race Equality Audit: From July 2020 – Jan 2021 myself, professor Iyiola Solanke, and Tanya Loretta Dee, were commissioned by the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA) to conduct an external audit of institutionalised racism, following reports and complaints of systemic racism. By engaging with faculty, staff, students and graduates in sustained reflection, we were able to investigate racist practices and develop new policy and teaching that enabled the school, and hopefully the industry, to move forward into a future that works constantly to tackle and remove racism.
Full report here: https://alra.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/FINAL-ALRA-Race-Equality-Audit-April-2020-updated.pdf
Using critical auto-ethnography alongside rich qualitative interview data, Sian's work provides a new and important addition to the growing international literature on the experiences of BME academics in universities. View the published version here.
Interview with Dr Katy Sian
Contact Details
Senior Lecturer
Department of Sociology
University of York