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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
On 24 March 2014 23:01, Amma Poku <[log in to unmask]> 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
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___
Member of the Emerging Scholars Forum at the Runnymede Trust:
Member of the American Philosophical Association Committee on the Status of Black Philosophers:___
Critical Philosophy of Race: Here and Now
Slaveries old and new: The meaning of freedom
Joint Faculty Institute of Graduate Studies: Friday Forum on 'Race'
Why isn't my professor black?: A panel chaired by Professor Michael Arthur, President and Provost of UCL
Europe enslaved Africans in the Caribbean: A wrong to remember and to repair___
Undergraduate syllabus: The philosophy of anti-slavery
Anthology on the Philosophy of Slavery and EmancipationDate: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 03:14:24 -0700
From: Amma Poku <[log in to unmask]>
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.
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