Anti-Racism: Taking Action

Today, we conclude our mini-series for the 2021 UCU week of Action Against Workplace Racism. Further down this page, you will find additional lists of resources in relation to themes discussed previously and the broader topic of racism and anti-racism in education. This also includes references from the other posts in this series.

As we acknowledged at the beginning, reading will not make anyone anti-racist. Yet an ongoing commitment to reading, learning, and putting learning into action is especially important for those who operate within the education system.

Researchers at Sheffield Hallam University (Austen et al, 2017) found that the best way to effect change was to begin by collaborating with others who recognise the problems and have made their own commitment to work for change. To facilitate that process, our new wall of actions highlights action being taken at Sheffield–using crowd-sourced examples submitted as part of this week’s activities.

Wall of Action

We welcome further recommendations from UCU Members and others about resources that you have found helpful in starting or sustaining an active commitment to anti-racism.

Recommended reads:

Lori D. Patton and Chayla Haynes, Dear White People: Reimagining Whiteness In the Struggle for Racial Equity.

Nadena Doharty (UoS), Manuel Madriaga (SHU) & Remi Joseph-Salisbury (Manchester)’s journal article “The university went to ‘decolonise’ and all they brought back was lousy diversity double-speak! Critical race counter-stories from faculty of colour in ‘decolonial’ times”. Educational Philosophy and Theory. 2020

Further reading: Higher education and university students

Nadena Doharty, 2019, “The ‘angry Black woman’ as intellectual bondage: being strategically emotional on the academic plantation”, Race Ethnicity and Education.

Remi Joseph-Salisbury, 2019, “Institutionalised whiteness, racial microaggressions and black bodies out of place in Higher Education”, Whiteness and Education 4.1.

Shawanda Stockfelt, 2017, “We the minority-of-minorities: a narrative inquiry of black female academics in the United Kingdom”. BJSE 39.7.

Jason Arday 2019, “Understanding Mental Health: What Are the Issues for Black and Ethnic Minority Students at University?” Social Sciences 7.10.

Further reading: what happens before university, race in the school classroom:

Muna Abdi’s “Performing Blackness: Disrupting ‘race’ in the classroom”. (Education and Child Psychology 32.2) Muna Abdi is a Sheffield-based scholar and activist with extended experience in education, research and community engagement. Her educational consultancy provides resources and training for workplaces, individuals and organisations.

David Gillborn’s “Coincidence or conspiracy? Whiteness, policy and the persistence of the Black/White achievement gap”, Educational Review.

Remi Joseph-Salisbury and Laura Connelly, “‘If Your Hair Is Relaxed, White People Are Relaxed. If Your Hair Is Nappy, They’re Not Happy’: Black Hair as a Site of ‘Post-Racial’ Social Control in British Schools”. Social Sciences 7.11.

Derron Wallace’s “The diversity trap? Critical explorations of black male teachers’ negotiations of leadership and learning in London state schools”, Race, Ethnicity and Education 23.2.

Further References

Abdi, M. (2015) `Performing Blackness: Disrupting ‘race’ in the classroom´, Education & Child Psychology, 32(2), pp. 57-66.

Abdi, M. (2020) White Allies MUST be Antiracist too.

Adelaine, A. et al. (2021) Knowledge Equity, 2020: Discussions with UKRI facilitated by Ladders4Action.

AdvanceHE (2018) Equality in higher education: statistical report.

Ahmed, Sara (2006) “The nonperformativity of antiracism.” Meridians 7.1: 104-126

Arday, J. (2018) `Understanding Mental Health: What Are the Issues for Black and Ethnic Minority Students at University?´, Social Sciences, 7(10), pp.196-220.

Arday, J., Mirza, H.S. eds. (2018) Dismantling Race in Higher Education: Racism, Whiteness and Decolonising the Academy. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.

Austen, L., Heaton, C., Jones-Devitt, S., Pickering, N. (2017) ‘Why is the BME attainment gap such a wicked problem?’ The Journal of Educational Innovation, Partnership and Change, 3(1).

Bei, Z. (2020) Reading up on racism is ‘cool’ for people now, but what else will you do?

Bilge, S. 2013. “Intersectionality Undone: Saving Intersectionality from Feminist Intersectionality Studies”. Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race, (Carbado, Crenshaw, Mays & Tomlinson, eds), Intersectionality special issue, Cambridge Journals, 10(2): 405-424.

Byrne, B., C. Alexander, O. Khan, J. Nazroo and W. Shankley, 2020. Ethnicity, Race and Inequality in the UK: State of the Nation. See in particular chapter 5 ‘Ethnic inequalities in the state education system in England’ by Claire Alexander and William Shankley.

Campbell, E.R.A. (2011) `A Critique of the Occupy Movement from a Black Occupier´, The Black Scholar, 41(4), pp.42-51.

Cargle, R. (2018) When Feminism is White Supremacy in Heels.

Centre for Ethnicity & Racism Studies 2002. Institutional Racism in Higher Education, Building the anti-racist university: a toolkit

Davis, M. (2009), Comrade or Brother? A History of the British Labour Movement. London: Pluto Press.

Doharty, N. (2020) `The `angry Black woman` as intellectual bondage: being strategically emotional on the academic plantation`, Race Ethnicity and Education, 23(4), pp.548-562.

Doharty, N., Madriaga, M. and Joseph-Salisbury, R. (2020) `The university went to ‘decolonise’ and all they brought back was lousy diversity double-speak! Critical race counter-stories from faculty of colour in ‘decolonial’ times´, Educational Philosophy and Theory, DOI: 10.1080/00131857.2020.1769601.

Ervin, L.K. (2017) The Progressive Plantation: racism inside white radical social change groups.

Gillborn, D. (2008) `Coincidence or conspiracy? Whiteness, policy and the persistence of the Black/White achievement gap´, Educational Review, 60(3), pp.229-248.

Gilroy, P. (2005) Why Harry’s disoriented about empire.

Jefferys, S. (2006), Ambiguous messages: The gap between European trade union policies and the challenge of racism and xenophobia at the workplace. London Metropolitan University: WLRI.

Joseph-Salisbury, R. (2016) We can do better than the racist, repugnant, chemical weapon-supporting Churchill on our £5 notes.

Joseph-Salisbury R. and Connelly L. (2018) `‘If Your Hair Is Relaxed, White People Are Relaxed. If Your Hair Is Nappy, They’re Not Happy’: Black Hair as a Site of ‘Post-Racial’ Social Control in British Schools´, Social Sciences 7(219), pp.1-13.

Joseph-Salisbury, R. (2019) `Institutionalised whiteness, racial microaggressions and black bodies out of place in Higher Education`, Whiteness and Education, 4(1), pp.1-17.

Joseph-Salisbury, R. (2019) `‘Does anybody really care what a racist says?’ Anti-racism in ‘post racial’ times´, The Sociological Review, 67(1), pp.63-78.

Kwakye, C., Ogunbiyi, O. (2019) Taking Up Space: The Black Girl’s Manifesto for Change. London: Merky Books.

Ortega, M. (2006) `Being Lovingly, Knowingly Ignorant: White Feminism and Women of Colour´, Hypatia, 21(3), p.56-74.

Ouali, N. and Jefferys S. (2015), ‘Hard times for trade union anti-racism workplace strategies’, Transfer, Vol. 21(1) 99–113 DOI: 10.1177/1024258914561419

Patton, L.D., Haynes, C. (2020) `Dear White People: Reimagining Whiteness In the Struggle for Racial Equity´, Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 52(2), pp.41-45.

Stockfelt, S. (2018) `We the minority-of-minorities: a narrative inquiry of black female academics in the United Kingdom´, British Journal of Sociology of Education, 39(7), pp.1012-1029.

Rollock, N. (2020) It’s time for white people to step up for black colleagues.

Stockfelt, S. (2018) `We the minority-of-minorities: a narrative inquiry of black female academics in the United Kingdom´, British Journal of Sociology of Education, 39(7), pp.1012-1029.

Sweetman, J. (2018) ‘When Similarities are More Important than Differences: “Politically Black” Union Members’ Experiences of Racism and Participation in Union Leadership’, Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 74, No. 2, pp. 244-264, doi: 10.1111/josi.12267

Tate, S.A., and D. Page. (2018) “Whiteliness and institutional racism: Hiding behind (un) conscious bias.” Ethics and Education 13.1: 141-155.

Wallace, D. (2020) ‘The diversity trap? Critical explorations of black male teachers’ negotiations of leadership and learning in London state schools’, Race Ethnicity and Education, 3, pp.345-366.

Williams, M.T. (2019) How White Feminists Oppress Black Women: When Feminism Functions as White Supremacy.

Witness – the lived experiences of UCU Black Members (2017)

Tackling workplace racism– a UCU bargaining guide for branches (2016)