Racism in Higher Education research

• Ahmed, S. (2015). Doing diversity work in Higher Education (pp. 3-4). In  Aiming Higher: race, inequality and diversity in the academy. Runnymede Perspectives. [Ahmed sums up her qualitative work exploring the effectiveness of university diversity work].
• Alexander, C., and Arday, J. (Eds). (2015). Aiming Higher: race, inequality and diversity in the academy. Runnymede Perspectives. [The report outlines how, whilst access to UK higher education has increased amongst BME students, inequality still exists in terms of experience and attainment].
• Bhopal, K., Brown, H. & Jackson, J. (2016). BME academic flight from UK to overseas higher education: aspects of marginalisation and exclusion. British Educational Research Journal 42(4), 240-257.  [The paper outlines why BME academics leave UK higher education, highlighting barriers to career progression and lack of coaching and mentoring as well as lack of recognition for their research].
• Clifford, V. & Montgomery, C (2014). Challenging conceptions of Wester higher education and promoting graduates as global citizens. Higher Education Quarterly, 68(1), 28-45. [This work addresses the issue of globalization and the internationalization of the curriculum through academic staff participating in an online course].
• NUS Racism in HE report (2012) http://www.nus.org.uk/PageFiles/12238/NUS_Race_for_Equality_web.pdf [This report includes focus groups and a survey (N = 938) highlighting the impact of whiteness on BME students in UK higher education. The report also includes 13 recommendations: 1) Increase awareness & coordination, 2) Challenge racism & discrimination, 3) Encourage student involvement, 4) The Equality & Human Rights Commission (should support and regulate HE anti-racist action), 5) Degree attainment agenda (should be closed & audited regularly), 6) Funding (access should be made available to BAME students), 7) Info. advice & guidance – services for BAME people considering education should be tailored and responsive to BAME people and “aware of the barriers that Black students may face” (pg. 60), 8) The curriculum, 9) Delivery of teaching & learning – recommends anonymized learning, student involved teaching & learning committees, 10) Diversity of staff & role models – also recommends invited guests/speakers “come from diverse backgrounds”, 11) Social inclusion – especially for BAME international students, 12) Student Union – BAME student officer position should be created, SU staff should be diverse and BAME societies should be supported & 13) NUS – should audit BAME representation across SUs and also provide an activities pack for SUs supporting BAME students.].
• Pilkington, A. (2013). The interacting dynamics of institutional racism in higher education. Race Ethnicity and Education, 16(2), 225-245.  [A brief overview of the article is available here. The article is based upon the Macpherson report which claims that public organisations in British society are characterised by institutional racism and the Parek report which identifies 10 components of institutional racism, the article examines which are present in a Central England university. The paper highlights evidence that BME students are more likely to drop out, gain less good honours degrees, leave with fewer job prospects and exhibit less satisfaction in NSS surveys. This is reflected in academic staffing].

 Anti-Racism in Higher Education Resources

• Turney, L., Law, I., and Phillips, D. (n.d.) Institutional racism in higher education.   Building the anti-racist university: a toolkit [Outlines the findings of a HEFCE funded Innovation project based at the University of Leeds suggesting areas for consideration across the curriculum, teaching and assessment].
• Universities Scotland (2010) Race equality toolkit: learning and teaching http://www.universities-scotland.ac.uk/raceequalitytoolkit/ [Provides practical guidance on ensuring equality across the curriculum, learning and teaching and assessment as well as recommended institutional action].
• ‘Advanced HE (n.d.). What works in approaches to the BME attainment gap’. [Overview and some resources. Significant funds were awarded from the Office for National Students in 2017. The funds were to develop and disseminate best anti-racist HE practice particularly from Kingston University (Nona McDuff led a project tthere to reduce the BAME attainment gap significantly) to other HE institutions. As such this site shares best anti-racist practise including an inclusive curricula guide, better BAME student support and organizational change. Also a guide to present BAME attainment gap in a more contextual and compelling way to HE staff – as a ‘Value Added Score’.).

Curriculum whiteness research & resources

• Finger/ Jezebel (2015)  http://jezebel.com/heres-how-new-texas-public-school-textbooks-write-about-1726786557 [Analysis of Texan school textbooks’ treatment of slavery. Highlights minimization of it].
• Forstorp, P. (2008). Who’s colonizing who? The knowledge society thesis and the global challenges of higher education. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 27(4), 227-236. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11217-007-9072-0  [The concepts of ‘globalization’ and ‘knowledge society’ are expressions of neo-colonialism and assume a Eurocentric bias. Alongside increasing numbers of students from non-western countries attending higher education in the West, the growth of higher education in China and India have started to see a process of ‘outknowing of the West’ leading to the question ‘Who is colonizing who?’]
• Henrich, J., Heine, S. J., & Norenzayan, A. (2010). The weirdest people in the world? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33(2–3), 61–83. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X0999152X [Content analysis of popular social science papers highlighting samples are predominately White & Western].
• UCL Collective (2015). 8 reasons the curriculum is white [Outlines the issue of  ‘race’ as an ideologically constructed social phenomenon and offers eight answers to the question: why is the curriculum white?].
• Long, L. (working paper). ‘Decolonizing’ police education? Exploring anti-racist approaches to police education and professional development. [Extract: “This paper explores the potential for the anti-racist, decolonizing education agenda to extend to other White institutions, specifically the police”. Please email Lisa.Long@leedsbeckett.ac.uk  for a copy].
• Mowatt, R. A., Floyd, M. F. & Hylton, K. (2017)- A Peoples History of Leisure Studies The Philadelphia Negro as a Foundational Text. International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure, 1, 1, 55-73. [An innovate paper that highlights the hidden Western and Whiteness of foundational texts to Leisures studies and argues instead for the inclusion of The Philadelphia Negro and other texts that not only centre BME people’s experiences but also are innovative in other ways. From the text: “Specifically, (1) canonical texts from sociology of Race should be considered for inclusion because they provide insight to the quality of life of populations of color that are not reflected in leisure’s canonical texts; (2) provide more accurate and complete characteristics of social history and context in which the classic movements originated and were initiated in to social life; and, (3) offer a considerable argument for the re-evaluation and restructuring of our historical explanation of the field to future generations of professionals” (pg. 70)]. Full paper here.
• National Union of Students, “Why is my curriculum white?,” [film funded by University College London] accessed May 29, 2019, http://www.dtmh.ucl.ac.uk/videos/curriculum-white/

Decolonial resources and projects specific to other disciplines

• Decolonize Sociology @ Cambridge – project at the University of Cambridge (UK) invested in decolonizing their department and beyond. Organizes lots of fantastic events.
• Decolonizing Science Reading List https://medium.com/@chanda/decolonising-science-reading-list-339fb773d51f#.om5w2ivfq [Compiled by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein]
• Syllabus for White People to Educate Themselves [A list of online readings on contemporary racism particularly related to the US and rise of far right designed for white people. Originally hosted on google drive but removed and so now hosted at beckandbre.com (as of 23/05/19)].
• Kingston University’s Inclusive Curricula Framework – [Framework including 2 animated, short, explainer, videos and key questions a course team can ask themselves in order to develop an inclusive curricula. Led by Nora McDuff who has pioneered work tackling Kingston’s attainment gap (from 29% to 11% over a 5/6 year period). For this project and other work she was awarded an OBE in 2017. Regarding the framework she notes: “It leads to a curriculum that is accessible, reflects students’ backgrounds and prepares them to contribute positively to a global and diverse workplace”.].

General Anti-racism resources/organizations

• The Runnymede Trust [one of the most important and long-runniing British anti-racist organizations. Set up in 1968 the organization has campaigned on anti-racism in Britain over the last 50 years. Writers can blog on the website. Particularly useful for analyzing contemporary British policy and its implications for BAME people and also for understanding the overlap between racism and class].