Last year I asked people on this list to contribute suggestions about
how best to address issues of racism in teaching. I collated the
responses, but for some reason (probably some typing error on my
part) they didn't appear on the list. Here is the compilation. Note that
in the absence of explicit permission to repost personal messages I
have taken the liberty of anonymising the messages and rephrasing
them in the third person if appropriate. I've also included a number of
messages that touch on the topic, but which may not have actually
been a reply to my request.
Best wishes
Joe Painter
----------------------------------------
Original Request
Dear Critical Geographers
In the wake of the discussion of the Lawrence Report on this forum I
wonder whether anyone can provide any helpful suggestion about
good resources and techniques for teaching undergraduate
geographers about ethnicity and racism?
Specifically, I will shortly be teaching two classes on the geography of
ethnicity and racism in contemporary Britain to second year
undergraduate geographers (class of about 42 white students). The
classes are part of a full module course on the Geography of
Contemporary Britain. I can access and synthesise the main texts and
academic research materials, but I would welcome helpful suggestions
about how to engage students more directly with the issue of racism,
whiteness, power and politics; and particularly how to get them to
address their own racism without being counter-productive. If anyone
knows of good anti-racism resources (web-sites, training materials,
organisation) that would be suitable for this group it would be great to
hear about them. Also experiences from others who've been in this
position would be very helpful. (This is the first time I've taught the
topic).
In return I'm happy to compile the responses I get and post them to
this list as a public resource. So in the first instance reply privately to
me and I'll sort the material out and repost it as a single document.
Just indicate if for some reason you DON'T want me to send your
comments to the list.
Many thanks in advance,
Joe
--
**********************
Joe Painter, Lecturer in Geography
Department of Geography, University of Durham
Sciences Site, South Road, DURHAM, DH1 3LE, U.K.
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
Fax: 0191 374 2456 (domestic) +44 191 374 2456 (international)
Tel: 0191 374 7306 (domestic) +44 191 374 7306 (international)
*********************
REPLY 1
Peter Jackson wrote a short piece about this in JGHE a long time ago,
reflecting on the difficulties of teaching 'race' issues to a large first year
class where it was impossible to cast the material appropriately for all
the potential views of the audience -- probably true of most topics,
but critically so on 'race' issues. The reference is: Jackson, P.
"Challenging racism through geography teaching", JGHE 13 (1989), 5-
14.
The key point, I think, is to give people an opportunity to say
'unpopular' things (which, with a broadly liberal consensus probably
means voicing views that we might find offensive). It's then a matter
of working with what they say rather than appearing to 'preach' which
will only lead to further alienation. (Easier in small groups than large
classes.)
Another issue is the difficulty of teaching the more subtle 'cultural'
aspects of racism rather than the more crudely biological forms that
most people can agree on. I find visual material useful here --
newspaper headlines on the Brixton 'riots', for example, as covered in
Jacquie Burgess's essay, News from Nowhere (in "Geography, the
Media and Popular Culture", c1985) or the Picture Post material in
"Maps of Meaning".
In the current context, though, I would download some sections from
the Stephen Lawrence report (on 'institutional racism', for example) --
the students should be able to relate to the immediacy of the issue.
REPLY 2
I find the book:
'Teaching for diversity and social justice' by Maurianne Adams, Lee
Ann Bell and Pat Griffin (1997, Routledge)
quite useful. It's a source book for university teachers and has a
series of workshops detailed plus handouts.
There are chapters devoted to social justice, racism, sexism,
heterosexism, antisemitism, ableism, classism, multiple issues, etc.
REPLY 3
A couple of thoughts spring to mind. In my limited dealings with these
issues, I sometimes find it easier to deal with the issues of race and
ethnicity in an all 'white' group (which is usually the case in our
college). I guess this is because I am more uncomfortable in a position
where i might be seen by ethnic minority students to be somehow
speaking on their behalf and appearing to claim some sort of liberal
moral high ground. My position is complicated by the fact that I am
Irish, I am wary of being dismissed by virtue of appearing to represent
a particular ethnic minority. This last point brings up (as you may have
gathered from my comments on the CGF last week) a particular bug-
bear of mine; discussions of racism inevitably seem to reduce to' black
versus white'. The reality is more complex and there are numerous
'white' ethnic minorities in Britain who experience racism first hand.
Obviously this is not meant to suggest we start some sort of hierarchy
of racism; just to recognise that it is a very complex, multi-faceted
issue.
REPLY 4
Get them to take a look at this cross section of British opinion (err ...)
http://www.dailytelegraph.co.uk:80/dt?ac=000659276559150&rtmo
=koZ31ZC p&atmo= 777777Ft&pg=/99/3/1/ixdlett.html
REPLY 5
I don't know if this is relevant to the material you want to get across,
or could be adapted in some way, but it is an approach I have used
which was fun and productive.
It was on a theory and methods course for all geography students. As
a lot of students nowadays seem to come to university with very little
understanding of what shapes our knowledge, understanding, or way
of seeing the world, I used to dedicate a couple of tutorials to getting
them to think critically about their own approach to the world. This
then led on to looking at the construction of scientific knowledge,
theory and paradigms.
The first of these started by using spatial stereotyping to explore
where prejudice and hence racism may arise (starting with places
rather than races was intended to get them to see that everybody has
prejudices about places and that this often involves a 'racist' or
'placist' approach to the inhabitants of those places. They were more
likely to admit to not liking a place than to admit to being racist).
I got them to explore their own home areas (luckily I had a mix of
people from Essex, 'the North', Wales, London, America, ...) and to
share their preconceptions about the place of origin of other members
of the group. I encouraged it to start quite light heartedly and even
threw in a couple of remarks to fuel the debate (e.g. 'I was brought up
in Sweden and get a lot of stick', 'Essex girls and handbags', etc.).
This got people admitting to their own stereotyping of places, the
realisation that this often involved what seemed like light hearted
comments about people, but through exploring wider reasons and
implications they began to see the stupidity and danger behind such
attitudes.
This was then developed by exploring key academic debates and
looking at media representations of people and place.
I don't know if this may give you some ideas. Although I partly tricked
my students into admitting that they could be a part of the problem
because of the views they held or the newspapers they read, it was a
sideways route into a topic which is difficult to tackle head on.
REPLY 6
I suspect that many people may have useful tips about how to teach/
sensitise people about racism. I have only one comment.
I have found it useful to speak about how present racial(ised)
categories have evolved over time. Thus, for example, I have
discussed how the labelling of African Americans/ blacks/ negroes/
coloured people has evolved, and the cultural politics of this. [The
entry by Roy Finkenbine in the *Encyclopedia of African-Ametrican
culture and History* provides a useful, brief factual background.] It
seems to me that this sort of historical perspective can be very
effective in underlining the fact that racial categories are culturally
constructed, and of course re-constructed. Kay Anderson's book on
Vancouver's Chinatown, familiar to many on this list I would suppose,
can also be used to provide this type of historical perspective.
REPLY 7
If, as reply 6 says, '"black" and "white" are...social constructions',
then lets deal with the Lawrence case by just redefining Lawrence as
a white man. We can indeed eliminate racism as a whole by calling it
something else.
REPLY 8
You might find some of the stuff that Phil Cohen and his colleagues
have down out of the Centre for New Ethnicities at UEL useful.
Some of it has been design, I think, to be used in schools, but I'm sure
it could be adapted, or at least throw up some interesting thoughts. I
think there is a fair amount of there stuff on the web, but don't have
the precise URL with me. Try http://www.uel.ac.uk/ for starters.
REPLY 9
> Claire Mercer suggested in her email that the debate on racism and
> Eltham 'maybe needs to move away from a rather simplistic focus
> on "place" and to more complex, socially-embedded explanations,
> and how these might differ across space (and time). How can a
> geographical focus on poverty, education, or "social exclusion"
> help to explain the existence of racism?.
>
> I think she is correct. There is surely nothing unique about
> racism in Eltham, although as a place it may well embody a number
> of characteristics which are common to other, similar, areas. It
> is only necessary to look at Chris Husbands work on racism,the
> National Front and the East End of London in the 1980s to realise
> that Eltham is not unique. It has simply come to forefront of
> public awareness because of the Lawrence case. We only need to
> look back to attitudes to the Jewish immigrants in the East End in
> the 1890s so see that Eltham is not unique, either in place or
> time. Or see Deborah Phillips work on racism and housing
> allocation to Bangladeshi's in Tower Hamlets.
>
> Arguably, some key characteristics of areas where racism is
> explicit are (1)a long established local white working class
> culture, combined with (2) sustained poverty and/ or economic
> decline (i.e. the Docks), and (3) substantial immigration and/or
> ethnic minority residence into the immediate area or the
> traditional white working class areas from which people have moved
> out. The three characteristics may combine to create strong
> feelings of hostility to migrants or ethnic minority groups based,
> in part, on perceptions that the precarious or marginal position
> of the local white population is 'under threat' from ethnic
> minorities. In other words, racism may be related to economic,
> social and political marginality, though it is obviously not
> linked to these factors alone as middle class racism indicates.
>
> Gary Robson (sociology University East London) has recently
> completed a PhD at Goldsmiths on white working class identity,
> particularly focusing on Milwall football fans, many of whom have
> migrated out to outer SE London or Kent. The thesis is called
> 'They don't like us, we don't care' (Apparently the Milwall fans
> favourite terrace chant)
>
REPLY 10
A number of suggestions about teaching about racism:
(1) Why not get students to look at their experiences of geography at
school - they may have old textbooks that they could analyse/read for
inclusion and exclusion. In the early 1980s there was much
controversy over the alleged racism of the curriculum - see issues of
journal Contemporary Issues in geography and education
(2) R. Hewitt's 'Routes of Racism' , Trentham books 1996 is a short
(64 pages) account of patterns of racism in South east London and
extracts from it could lead to much discussion, as would parts of
dialogue taken from Les Back (1995) New Ethnicities and Urban
Culture, UCL Press.
REPLY 11
In the days when i used to teach face to face i found Ingrid Pollard's
images of the whiteness of the British countryside a nice way in to
discussing the racism of landscape etc. white students did respond in
a constructive way to the notion that they tend to not realise how they
see blackness as confined to specific spheres of social life (ie cities
and not countryside) - and this usually led into a more open discussion
of where these unexplored ideas came from may be of some use
REPLY 12
It is interesting to note that only a week after the British press were
proclaiming a new awareness of and sensitivity to issues of race and
racism, reporting of the tourist killings in Uganda has been drawn
upon the old reservoir of racist imagery. The Hutu rebels have been
widely depicted as 'primitive savages' governed by the 'law of the
jungle' and prone to cannibalism etc. Pictures of Hutu rebels alongside
gorillas etc.
The horrific nature of the crimes committed means that such a critique
is not really heard, yet the issue highlights the enormity of the challenge
facing institutions and individuals in recognising and eliminating racism.
REPLY 13
Have you seen Ruth Frankenberg's Growing Up White? It was
originally in Feminist Review in 1995, and Linda McDowell and Jo
Sharp included an extract in their reader. I think it's great for teaching
esp in groups who do not consider that their lives have been shaped in
any way by race issues--she shows how whiteness is constructed by
the exclusion of others. It is done through cases of different women,
and is easy to apply to students' own biogs.
REPLY 14
Reply 7 suggests that an overly deconstructionist view of 'black' and
'white' identities may be politically disabling (if not downright
offensive) for those who live the consequences of racism, Stephen
Lawrence as one such case. This is a common problem with our new
fangled approaches to identity. I think this is because strong feelings of
anger aren't very easily accomodated into theory - we seem to need a
target, preferably an embodied one.
However, if we don't follow the social constructionist path we tend to
end up with politically disabling (if not downright offensive) acccounts
of other groups, in this case 'white working class cultures', where x, y
and z combine to 'produce' racism. The 'white working class racist'
who embodies and gives voice to a racist society becomes the target.
Unfortunately it really is too easy to say this is about 'black' and
'white': identity is a process of becoming, where the social, economic,
cultural and political conditions in which we become who we are, are
usually not of our own making. Once we stop reminding ourselves of
this, we're at a stand-off, where refrains like 'They don't like us and
we don't care' start to make sense to a lot of people. What would
happen if we did start to like 'them' a little bit more?
REPLY 15
Ian Cook (1996) _Empowerment through journal writing? Border
pedagogy at work_ Falmer: University of Sussex Working Papers in
Geography, No. 26 (4 quid)
REPLY 16
Following Alistair's timely observation re the racist imagery of the
Hutu.
There are a number of other very disturbing aspects of the reporting
of this event in the NZ Press (2 of the 'murdered tourists' were kiwis)
including the following:
There are no questions being asked about the presence of white
tourists in the national park in the first place. The right of tourists to go
everywhere, see everything, be safe, regardless of the tortured politics
of the countries they are visiting has remained intact. The discourses of
'tourism - as - natural - right' appear to be enhanced rather than
trammeled by event such as this.
There are few reminders being offered on our press about the 100s of
thousands of Rwandan/Ugandan lives that have been lost through
brutal 'civil' wars in the last 10 years or how these events might quite
'rationally' be connected to a 'distaste' for foreigners (tourists or
otherwise).
There is no analysis of the nature of the racialised representation of the
either the 'rebels' or the Ugandan government - the latter is
paradoxically represented as civilised for endorsing the killing of 15
'suspected' Hutu ...
etc etc and yes, it is a terrible thing that 8 people are killed
unexpectedly - but at least 8 people are killed without warning on our
roads every few months and the discourses invoked to express
outrage and despair about such events is quite different. What
happens in 'darkest Africa' continues to be the presented and
represented as anathema to the 'culture and civilisation' of the 'West".
The PM of NZ does not seem to have much idea of anything other
than "Africa" when she sputters on radio news the 'the Africans'
involved in the killing must be brought to justice ...etc etc
So excuse me but I have to go now and make a booking to go visit
some cute guerillas in Africa
REPLY 17
Just a few comments on the on-going discussion on racism and media
reporting. Other contributors have noted the dubious coverage of the
murders of tourists in Uganda. ITN reports in Britain have been awful.
Yesterday's coverage of the events provided absolutely no context to
what is occurring. Certainly it failed to rise very much above the
'Africa' is a dangerous place inhabited by 'dangerous people' sort of
nonsense. The tragic deaths of tourists is a consequence of complex
political problems stemming out of political-ethnic tensions in the
region and deserves better coverage than they are getting. As another
contributor pointed out these conflicts are claiming many more lives in
Rwanda, Burundi and Congo than just those of western tourists. The
appallingly narrow perspective adopted was summed up in ITN's
listing of African countries deemed unsafe for tourists - as though this
was the most important element to be considered; there was no
attempt to explain why they were dangerous. Contributors in Britain
will be aware that tonight sees the end of ITN's traditional 10pm news
bulletin 'News at Ten'. The revamping of their news schedules has
provoked considerable debate with many people lamenting the
change. Goodness know why! News at Ten has long ago ceased to
be a serious news programme - it now presents a combination of
sensationalism and 'human interest' pieces generally devoid of any
meaningful analysis. The controversy over its re-scheduling serves to
reflect the dominance of style over substance and the medium over the
message. Meanwhile the US continues to bomb Iraq with the Air
Force now allowed more leeway in what they can target. How many
people died in Iraq yesterday? 'News at Ten' did not deem it worthy
of coverage.
REPLY 18
Those who have been following the debate on racism and have asked
for suitable teaching resources, (and who are based in Britain), may
be interested in the programme 'Beyond black and white' to be
broadcast on Radio Four today (5 March 1999) It will apparently
consider the relevance, or otherwise, of these descriptions in
contemporary British society.
REPLY 19
On a very local scale, people might have read about some
Birmingham city councillors complaining about having to much "ethnic
fare" at city council meetings. The reporting of the event (in the
national and regional press) deemed "samosas, masalas and curries"
to be "ethnic", whilst beef stroganoff (also on the menu) was not.
Meanwhile, the notion of "traditional" English food was represented
unproblematically by fish and chips (the product of the culinary tastes
of earlier Jewish and French migrant communities). The reports
strongly legitimated the [white] councillors claims that being offered
curry was pandering to the desires of the city's minority ethinc
councillors. It was left to quotes from Asian councillors
(quote:"whose Sparkhill ward is home to hundreds of Balti
restaurants") to balance the debate even slightly. One got the last
word however - suggesting that the white councillors should count
themselves lucky - at least they don't get curry at home too.
A very small, but striking example of 'unwitting racism' in the local
press.
REPLY 20
As someone who grew up in the Birmingham area, and for whom, as
a child, fish and chips and curry were both treats, I have a question
and two comments about 'ethnic fare'.
(i) I would like to know more about the ethnic provenance of fish and
chips. Is it indeed of Jewish and/or French origin, and how do we
know?
(ii) In one sense it doesn't matter who originated fish and chips. It
would be just as ethnic if it was invented by those pesky Angles and
Saxons.
(iii) Historical distance matters. There is a difference in culturai
meaning between those cuisines which are relatively recent in a
particular place (eg. Balti) and those that have been around for a long
time (eg. haddock and chips). We might challenge the idea that one is
ethnic and the other one isn't, but clearly their meaning differs. To
some people the more recent is 'trendy', 'exotic', and therefore
appealing; to others it is 'trendy', 'exotic', and therefore unappealing!
Either way, a difference is being made. The question is how that
difference is constructed.
REPLY 21
Absolutely. I agree entirely with your points/questions. Of course all
food is "ethnic", and we could barely begin (even if we wanted to) to
work out what came from where, but none of this is recognised in a
debate which deems curries ethnic because Bham has a relatively
large Asian population. My point was precisely that all the food we
eat (music we listen to, books we read etc. etc. etc.) comes from
somewhere but that only certain foods are labelled "ethnic" (and hence
exotic) and seen to be the foods of 'other' people. A recognition of
the politics (and history) of that labelling was completely absent from
the reporting of the incident (probably not surprisingly).
REPLY 22
There's a piece in today's (5th March 1999) THES on institutional
racism in UK universities - might be useful for teaching.
REPLY 23
There is an excellent paper by ex-Ecologist editor, Nick Hildyard,
published by the independent Cornerhouse centre on the very limited
understanding of the popular western media of the Rwanda / Burundi /
Uganda situation, amongst other misconceptions about 'race' and
conflict.
http://www.icaap.org/Cornerhouse/
to download it.
REPLY 24
Re: resources on racism and teaching:
One edited collection I have found insightful for the conceptual and
pragmatic contributions it contains is McCarthy and Crichlow [eds]
Race Identity and Representation In Education Routledge 1993,
....which is not to say it makes it any easier in the classroom, you just
have a better idea of where some of the mines are in the minefield...
REPLY 25
If you have a social work departmnent in your university you will
probably find that they teach ant-discriminatory practice.
END
--
**********************
Joe Painter, Lecturer in Geography
Department of Geography, University of Durham
Sciences Site, South Road, DURHAM, DH1 3LE, U.K.
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
Fax: 0191 374 2456 (domestic) +44 191 374 2456 (international)
Tel: 0191 374 7306 (domestic) +44 191 374 7306 (international)
*********************
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