As a white middle-class Londoner who enjoyed history but has not studied it formally beyond GCE A level, perhaps the fact that because of my researches I have been invited to the USA with fares and accommodation paid might be attractive to those students who know of no benefit. Also I have participated in radio and television programmes.
A degree in history does not have to lead to a career in history. Publishing, journalism, commerce, and sales use people with a knowledge of history and there are script writers and novelists too.

Jeff Green

========================================
Message Received: Mar 27 2014, 11:15 AM
From: "hakim adi" 
To: [log in to unmask]
Cc: 
Subject: Re: Only three black applicants win places to train as history teachers | Education | The Observer

A head of history in a Hackney school has just written to day that BME students view history 'as a white middle-class pursuit'




> On 27 Mar 2014, at 10:39, "Fabian Tompsett"  wrote:
> 
> It is good to here some practical initiatives emerging from this
> discussion. However I would like to make two points:
> 
> a) We need to look at this in a global context. Higher education is
> becomong increasingly globalised. This has been accompanied by the
> destruction of much of the infrastructure of the African universities
> during the eighties and nineties There has also been a division of labour,
> whereby the sort of work that African scholars get is more basic research,
> while "scholars" associated with the very organisations who destoyed
> African Higher Education - such as the World Bank - have moved into key
> positions in mediating various discourses.
> 
> b) We need to appreciate the key role that history plays in various
> transdisciplinary areas of scholarly endeavour. These areas have been
> increasing, partly as a consequence of universities being turned into
> businesses and providing research to fit the agenda's of various
> corporations.
> 
> I would not wish these issues to dilute the focus of the conference that
> Hakim is thinking about, but rather provide a broader context for the
> conference and to highlight the importance that history has in shaping the
> future.
> 
> all the best
> Fabian
> 
>> If anyone is in touch with history undergrads, those training to be
>> teachers or those who are currently teachers who happen to be of
>> African/Caribbeanorigin can they put me in touch. We are thinking of
>> organising a conference on this issue in the future
>> 
>> Hakim
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> On 27 Mar 2014, at 10:08, "Watley George"
>>>  wrote:
>>> 
>>> To add my piece on this subject, in all the historical conferences I
>>> have attended in the UK, except for BASA I have been the only
>>> British-based person of African origin attending any of these
>>> conferences. It is also notable that in my fourth year searching for an
>>> academic position, most of the positive responses towards my
>>> applications have come from American colleges and university,
>>> particularly HCBUs. On a broader scale, history as it is taught in
>>> schools in Britain turns off anyone that is anti-traditionalist, which
>>> works as a filtering process to effectively perpetuate traditional views
>>> of history through such processes as taught in schools; leading to
>>> history departments mostly having students that believe in
>>> British-centric and/or Euro-centric views of history at the expense of a
>>> greater development of historical knowledge and understanding outside of
>>> these centricities.
>>> 
>>> As far as 'not getting applications from ethnic minority applicants', if
>>> history departments and universities know this is a problem then they
>>> should take some actions to help solve this problem. If history
>>> departments in British universities were not extremely Euro-centric,
>>> this would help attract not only more ethnic minority students, but also
>>> those generally that would enjoy learning more about history but would
>>> not study it at university because of its emphasis on tradition and
>>> glorifying 'tradition'.
>>> 
>>> I do not like to say this, but Britain is about 40 years or more behind
>>> America in terms of hiring ethnic minority lecturers, as well as
>>> incorporating the contributions of various ethnic groups within the
>>> taught and accepted history of the country. To use an example, in the US
>>> state of Georgia, approximately 25 percent of professors in its colleges
>>> and universities are African-American. Also, African-American Studies
>>> departments are in surprising universities like University of Wyoming (1
>>> percent African-American population in Wyoming), University of North
>>> Dakota (less than 1 percent African-American population in North Dakota)
>>> and University of Nebraska-Omaha (4.5 percent African-American
>>> population in Nebraska). If it can be done there, inclusion of the
>>> contributions of people of African and Asian origin within history
>>> departments can happen in Britain if there is a will to do so.
>>> Unfortunately this will does not exist, nor can it reasonably be
>>> foreseen in the near future in the political environment we currently
>>> live within. If Scotland becomes independent, the rest of the UK moves
>>> further right and the chances of including the contributions of people
>>> of African and Asian origin within British history moves further south.
>>> 
>>> George
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> From: The Black and Asian Studies Association [[log in to unmask]] on
>>> behalf of Tayo Aluko [[log in to unmask]]
>>> Sent: 26 March 2014 14:30
>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>> Subject: Re: Only three black applicants win places to train as history
>>> teachers | Education | The Observer
>>> 
>>> Greetings,
>>> Not being a historian, and not being a teacher, I thought it might be a
>>> little unfair to write down the first thought that came to my mind when
>>> I saw this posting, but I will anyway.
>>> I regularly attend lectures at Liverpool University's Centre for the
>>> Study for International Slavery, hosted by they University's History
>>> Department and the International Slavery Museum. I have remarked
>>> privately to the lecturers there on more than one occasion that it is
>>> interesting that there are no Black lecturers in their department,
>>> especially teaching African History. I am also trying to remember (and
>>> still failing) any of the guest lecturers being Black, but then I
>>> haven't attended all the lectures. The irony of the situation is
>>> obvious to all, I am sure.
>>> On the other hand, I have just come back from attending march and rally
>>> organised by the NUT in support of their strike action today. For quite
>>> a while, it looked to me as if, at the rally itself, held in a Liverpool
>>> hotel, I was the only Black person. I later noticed another whom I know,
>>> and like me, he isn't a teacher, but a long-time local activist. I know
>>> that he understands that whatever rights that teachers, other workers
>>> enjoy today and seek to protect, were won by others who went before, and
>>> that this kind of history is one of the many things that the
>>> powers-that-be wish to keep young people ignorant of. And that of course
>>> goes for Black History.
>>> I guess this raises a number of issues. Yes, institutional racism is
>>> undeniable. Yes, the race of a teacher matters to a certain extent,
>>> especially when one bears in mind the attitudes embodied in the interest
>>> in and dissemination of what constitutes "history". Yes, the age-old
>>> argument or excuse that one hears all the time: "we just don't get the
>>> applications from Black people" may have little or no validity. I am
>>> pretty sure that isn't true, but what does it say to an interested
>>> outsider to the profession like me when one goes to a teachers' trade
>>> union rally and sees not one Black teacher there??
>>> I would like to think that this was not replicated at rallies in other
>>> cities, but to me it says, "Liverpool, we have a problem"
>>> 
>>> Tayo
>>> 
>>> www.callmrrobeson.com
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> On 24 March 2014 23:01, Amma Poku  wrote:
>>>> Nathaniel
>>>> 
>>>> I could write a book about my thoughts and experience of history
>>>> teaching, and would probably widen it out to teaching as a whole.
>>>> Focusing on history teaching though my memory from over 30 years ago
>>>> when I was taught is that it was very uninspiring. My memory from about
>>>> 4-5 years ago when my youngest child left secondary education is that
>>>> the teaching of history is still pretty much uninspiring and amazingly
>>>> repetitive!
>>>> 
>>>> My thoughts, as someone who has contributed to making history and now
>>>> loves it with a passion is that teaching it needs more than an
>>>> injection of inspiration!
>>>> 
>>>> Hakim
>>>> 
>>>> Your personal experience is a valuable share, so thanks.
>>>> 
>>>> Best wishes
>>>> 
>>>> Amma
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> On Monday, 24 March 2014, 8:03, hakim adi 
>>>> wrote:
>>>> The issue here is surely wider than who teaches History. What is of
>>>> concern here is the 'institutional racism' that prevents even those
>>>> black applicants who apply apply for teacher training from being
>>>> accepted. It reminds me of the difficulties I had when I left
>>>> university over 35 years ago. I wanted to be a history teacher too and
>>>> was turned town by every teacher training college I applied to
>>>> including the Intitute of Education. But then perhaps we also need to
>>>> look at how few black students apply to study History at university in
>>>> the first place. Isn't History the least popular subject for black
>>>> undergraduates apart from Agricultural Studies and Veterinary Science?
>>>> As Amma says young people of African descent at being turned off
>>>> History. It would be good to look at the grades awarded to black
>>>> history undergraduates too. How many of them go on to become historians
>>>> or gain History PhDs? When I studied African History at a well-known
>>>> university there were no Africans teaching and I don't remember reading
>>>> books by many Africans either. The recent protests by students at SOAS
>>>> and other universities suggests that nothing much as changed. The stats
>>>> regarding history teachers are part of a wider problem of Eurocentrism
>>>> in the education system that must be brought to an end.
>>>> 
>>>> Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 06:03:04 +0000
>>>> From: [log in to unmask]
>>>> Subject: Only three black applicants win places to train as history
>>>> teachers | Education | The Observer
>>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>>> 
>>>> Amma,
>>>> 
>>>> Could you say a little more, please, about 'how it is taught'?
>>>> 
>>>> In what you wrote, you didn't quite explain why the racial status of
>>>> the teacher of History matters. (In fact, you didn't refer to the
>>>> 'teachers' at all!)
>>>> 
>>>> I have found, even among the Historians in my university, great
>>>> resistance to the idea that the racial status of the teacher of History
>>>> matters. For this reason, as tiresome as it is, we need to spell out
>>>> the argument in excruciating detail. May I, please, invite you to do
>>>> that?
>>>> 
>>>> Nathaniel
>>>> 
>>>> Nathaniel Adam Tobias Coleman, PhD
>>>> 
>>>> Research Associate in the Philosophy of 'Race'
>>>> Department of Philosophy, University College London
>>>> Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, www.ucl.ac.uk/philosophy
>>>> ___
>>>> 
>>>> Member of the Emerging Scholars Forum at the Runnymede Trust:
>>>> http://www.runnymedetrust.org.gridhosted.co.uk/projects-and-publications/academic-forum.html
>>>> 
>>>> Member of the American Philosophical Association Committee on the
>>>> Status of Black Philosophers:
>>>> http://www.apaonline.org/members/group.aspx?id=110427
>>>> ___
>>>> 
>>>> Critical Philosophy of Race: Here and Now
>>>> http://www.ucl.ac.uk/jfigs/figs-events-publication/philosophy-of-race-here-and-now
>>>> 
>>>> Slaveries old and new: The meaning of freedom
>>>> http://www.britac.ac.uk/events/2014/Slaveries_Old_and_New_The_Meaning_of_Freedom.cfm
>>>> 
>>>> Joint Faculty Institute of Graduate Studies: Friday Forum on 'Race'
>>>> http://www.ucl.ac.uk/jfigs/figs-friday-forum/race
>>>> 
>>>> Why isn't my professor black?: A panel chaired by Professor Michael
>>>> Arthur, President and Provost of UCL
>>>> http://uclequalities.wordpress.com/events-list/9070083865/
>>>> 
>>>> Europe enslaved Africans in the Caribbean: A wrong to remember and to
>>>> repair
>>>> http://www.ucl.ac.uk/european-institute/events/2013-14/if-ucl-memory
>>>> ___
>>>> 
>>>> Undergraduate syllabus: The philosophy of anti-slavery
>>>> http://www.academia.edu/2377578/The_philosophy_of_anti-slavery
>>>> 
>>>> Anthology on the Philosophy of Slavery and Emancipation
>>>> http://www.academia.edu/4775678/Call_for_Papers_Anthology_on_the_Philosophy_of_Slavery_and_Emancipation
>>>> 
>>>> On 24 Mar 2014, at 00:03, "BASA automatic digest system"
>>>> 
wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 03:14:24 -0700
>>>> From: Amma Poku 
>>>> Subject: Re: Only three black applicants win places to train as history
>>>> teachers | Education | The Observer
>>>> 
>>>> Thanks for sharing this. I know so many young people of African descent
>>>> who are "turn off" history in school because of what and how it is
>>>> taught, who later can get "turn on" if and when they learn that history
>>>> isn't just about European Kings (and the odd Queen) and that their
>>>> ancestors, as much as anyone elses have made history.
>>>> 
>>>> I personally hated history at school and dropped it as soon as I could,
>>>> whilst at the same time searching for information and books by and
>>>> about people of African descent.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> --
>>> www.callmrrobeson.com
>>