Dear All

The question of 'ethnic monitoring' is a highly problematic one - and
confusing! This has generated quite a debate re the national censuses of 1991
and 2001, and it's not resolved. Interesting to hear/read these different
experiences/responses.

Harry Goulbourne

"Saltus-Blackwood R (SoCS)" wrote:

> Dear Members,
>
> I have posted below part of a discussion re.Ethnic monitoring taken from
> the archives-nra listserv. What's your take? I can post any replies from
> this listserv back to archives nra. Roiyah
>
> Date: Fri, 12 Jul 2002 01:01:15 -0700
> From: "Boardman, Carl - Cultural Services"
> <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Ethnic monitoring
>
> In Oxfordshire we are being asked to show the relevance of our services to
> ethnic minorities by (inter al) reference to the number of ethnic minority
> users who visit the Record Office. This is leaving us with a problem on how
> we measure such a thing. To ask everyone who enters the Office to tell us
> their ethnic group is potentially insulting, and at best sounds like
> something out of the darker days of the European dictatorships - we might
> have the best of intentions, but I could understand anyone from a background
> which has experienced racial harassment getting very edgy about it. If we
> make it voluntary, any statistics will be meaningless. There are even Data
> Protection issues involved - for what practical purpose do we need this
> information, how are we going to use it, and when are we going to destroy
> it?
>
> Has anyone else faced this question, and if so how did they tackle it?
>
> Incidentally, I have suggested that different cultures have different
> attitudes towards history, and to expect a culture to conform to the
> intellectual justifications behind a record office network is in itself
> suspect - you can make available, as we have tried to do by printing
> leaflets in various languages, but have to be careful this doesn't spill
> into pressurising. Certain self-proclaimed proponents of racial equality
> seem to have difficulty with this one.
>
> Carl Boardman
> Oxfordshire Record Office
>
> Oxfordshire Record Office is a section of Cultural Services in Oxfordshire
> County Council. This message is intended only for the addressee, and OCC can
> take no responsibility for the accuracy of the information contained
> therein, nor should the message be held as having any legal validity.
>
> Date: Fri, 12 Jul 2002 11:02:59 +0100
> From: Leonard Mcdonald <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: Ethnic monitoring
>
> Be careful of this one. Hospitals use a set of questions like this. I enjoy
> confusing them by describing myself as White, African, 'cos that's where I
> was born and grew up. I think I faced a similar quandary in the Census
> question.
> Len McDonald
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Fri, 12 Jul 2002 08:32:49 -0700
> From: "Boardman, Carl - Cultural Services"
> <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Ethnic Monitoring: the summary
>
> Thanks to those who replied to my query this morning - further responses are
> still welcomed.
>
> This is an issue which is causing concern; others have been told to do
> something similar and have identical problems with it. Two respondents
> pointed out that the PSQG survey picks up on the ethnic issue, but not too
> systematically - covering a very short period, being voluntary, and seeking
> information on what everyone seems agreed is a very small user group, all it
> needs is to be based on the wrong fortnight and it could easily miss every
> ethnic minority user in an Office. It was suggested I flag up the issue to
> the Data Protection list for feedback in that area, which I have done, but
> without result so far. But a strong viewpoint was that the whole business is
> getting out of hand; that it is not acceptable to ask people that sort of
> question, that you couldn't guarantee they wouldn't amuse themselves at your
> expense anyway, and that record office users are going to be those people
> for whom the contents of the Office have some meaning - which in our case is
> neither a recent immigrant from the Middle East, nor yet a family historian
> whose family for the past three centuries have all lived in Lancashire.
> True, there are issues surrounding the acquisition of sources reflecting the
> changing ethnic makeup of the county, and the matter of ensuring that no one
> is actively excluded from use of the service, but neither of these is
> addressed by simple "bean-counting".
>
> The problem remains that we and others are being asked to do something which
> is (a) largely impossible in itself, and (b) unsuitable for purpose -
> assuming the purpose is to prevent discrimination - in that the number of
> people of any type walking through the door is not going to reflect how much
> the Office welcomes them but how far the Office can provide what they
> require. First acquire the material of interest, then ask whether people are
> coming to use it - but of course that requires much greater resources which
> our employers are not always willing to provide than simply counting heads.
>
> Carl Boardman
> Oxfordshire Record Office
>
> Oxfordshire Record Office is a section of Cultural Services in Oxfordshire
> County Council. This message is intended only for the addressee, and OCC can
> take no responsibility for the accuracy of the information contained
> therein, nor should the message be held as having any legal validity.