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Equivocal tales about identity, racismand the curriculumTansy Jessop a & Anne Williams aa University of Winchester , UKPublished online: 14 Jan 2009.

To cite this article: Tansy Jessop & Anne Williams (2009) Equivocal tales about identity, racism andthe curriculum, Teaching in Higher Education, 14:1, 95-106, DOI: 10.1080/13562510802602681

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Equivocal tales about identity, racism and the curriculum

Tansy Jessop* and Anne Williams

University of Winchester, UK

This paper is based on a small-scale study of the minority ethnic studentexperience at a small mainly ‘white’ university in the south of England. Studentsdescribed their experience as broadly positive but suggested clashes of values insome areas of campus social life. Where the curriculum explored notions ofculture, students valued the space to reflect on and nurture their identity, but mostdescribed the curriculum as patchily diverse. Students were ambiguous aboutracism, giving anecdotal evidence of its existence whilst downplaying itssignificance. The findings suggest that the Higher Education (HE) curriculumis a powerful but under-utilised tool in developing a more inclusive experience forall students. They further suggest that legal and institutional procedures are not astrong enough framework to combat racism, and that campuses with fewminority ethnic students need to take a much more intentional approach totransforming the institutional culture.

Keywords: ‘race’; racism; ethnicity; identity; diversity; curriculum; HigherEducation; student experience

Context

The Race Relations Amendment Act (2000) established a legal duty for institutions

to positively challenge racism, promote equality of opportunity, and nurture good

‘race’ relations. This small-scale study arose in the context of a lack of information

about the black and minority ethnic (BME) student experience relating to

curriculum and pedagogy at our university. The research sought to generate

qualitative data about the lived experience of minority ethnic students on a campus

with a low proportion of BME staff and students. It is part of a modest, but growing

body of research into the experiences of minority ethnic students in higher education,

in the UK and elsewhere (Ball, Reay, and David 2002; Givens and Bennett 2004;

Givens et al. 1999; Osler 1999; Walker 2005).

In comparison to the national average of 13.82% (HESA 2004/5) our university

has a modest intake of BME students (5.62%). It has an even smaller proportion

of minority ethnic staff (2.6%) in relation to the national average (8.3%). Both

percentages are slightly higher than those within the local population. This reflects

the university’s geographical location in a cathedral city in a semi-rural part of

England. The majority of UK universities (60%) have a similarly low proportion of

BME students of less than 10% (Mai Sims 2007), underscoring the importance

of identifying and addressing particular concerns about inclusion in these

universities. Contrastingly, the highest concentration of BME students is in large

*Corresponding author. Email: Tansy.Jessop@winchester.ac.uk

ISSN 1356-2517 print/ISSN 1470-1294 online

# 2009 Taylor & Francis

DOI: 10.1080/13562510802602681

http://www.informaworld.com

Teaching in Higher Education

Vol. 14, No. 1, February 2009, 95�106

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metropolitan areas, with some 60% of all BME students attending London’s new

post-1992 institutions (Mai Sims 2007, 4).

This study provides a qualitative lens into the experiences of BME students on a

small, mainly white campus. Other studies have focused on the BME experience in

large metropolitan universities (see Allen 1996; Osler 1999) or used a large-scale

survey approach (Connor et al. 2004; Hobsons 2004; Richardson 2008). Qualitativedata contribute to a deeper understanding of student experience and particularise

findings of broader studies on the access, participation, retention and achievement of

BME students (Bahra 2007; Connor et al. 2004; Hobsons 2004). They complement

and flesh out the findings of ethnic monitoring data, which institutions are legally

obliged to collect and publish annually. These data are often difficult to interpret,

and do not explain or represent adequately the silence of those who contest either the

definitions or the politics of ethnic monitoring (Cousin 2002). The limitations of

using statistical data to explain the culture and ethos of institutions is recognised

(Cousins 2002; Cousin and Williams 2007; Singh 2007).

The research raised three main themes, which are explored in more detail in the

rest of the paper. The first was that ethnic categories have limited value in shedding

light on the twenty-first century student experience, against the backdrop of a

changing student demography, and the variety of ways in which students self-define �mothers, commuters, residential, mature, working, male, female etc. Paradoxically, a

second theme suggested that ethnicity and ‘race’ remain pertinent where racism

persists. Yet students at a mainly white university were reluctant to take action

against racism, finding the procedures for addressing racism distant from theireveryday realities. Thirdly, there was a perception of the patchiness of cultural

diversity in the curriculum as students experienced it, and a call for a more

consistently diverse, globally relevant, and inclusive curriculum. The findings

indicated that universities with small numbers of BME students need to cultivate

a much more intentional focus on diversity and inclusion in order to foster changes

in the culture and ethos, as the students themselves may be reluctant to press for

changes.

Research methodology

This research was a qualitative inquiry based on some of the principles of grounded

theory (Glaser and Strauss 1967), and underpinned by feminist and narrative

methodological principles (Mirza 1995). Most notable of these was the concept ofderiving theory from the data, and acknowledging that interpretation is filtered

through the lens of the researcher, and therefore represents ‘a view from somewhere’

(Diversi 1998).

The sample used purposive sampling, in that we were sampling with a ‘specific

predetermined group in mind’, deliberately targeting minority ethnic students

(Trochim 2006). This form of sampling is commonly used in qualitative research

and does not focus on being proportional or representative of the group. The

purpose of the sample is to collect data which sheds light on and deepens knowledge

and understanding of human experience through exploring particular cases, and

elucidating themes from them (Ely 2001; Lincoln and Guba 1985). Lecturers from

each faculty helped to identify potential interview candidates. About 20 students

were contacted, eight of whom consented to interview. Six of the students consented

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to their data being published more widely. All students in the sample signed ethical

consent forms, which included provisions about confidentiality, anonymity and the

right to withdraw.

Research data were collected through a process of semi-structured interview

conversations. Interviews ranged over biography, ethnicity, history, culture, religious

beliefs, curriculum, pedagogy and the social and working lives of students. The

interviewer allowed conversations to roam on the principle that how studentsconstructed their stories was more valuable than comparable data. With the consent

of the participants, interviews were transcribed, and returned electronically for

checking by the participants. One researcher conducted all the interviews and coded

the data, looking for emerging themes and contradictory cases. The process of data

analysis was both descriptive and explanatory in trying to identify theories to

elucidate respondents’ narratives.

A second researcher engaged in an iterative dialogue with the data and the

interviewing researcher, playing the role of a critical friend. This has helped to ensure

that the outcomes are ‘trustworthy’, a term proposed by Lincoln and Guba (1985) as

an alternative to reliability and validity, two concepts acknowledged as problematic

in qualitative research. The research credibility was further strengthened by soliciting

comment on the final draft from both the participants and an institutional steering

group.

Approaches to ‘race’, identity and ethnicity

The concept of ‘race’ has its origins in biological classification. It is used here in

inverted commas to underline the contested and political use of the term, which has

been described as ‘a mode of oppression’ in contrast to ethnicity which has been

defined as a ‘mode of being’ (Gaine 1995, 25). Ethnicity is commonly regarded as

being about how people define themselves in relation to others and in relation to

shared histories, cultural backgrounds, religion and language, in addition to ‘less

definable characteristics associated with marriage, food and the like’ (Gaine 1995,

25). Cousin (2002) questions hard and fast ethnic categories against contemporary

social science theory which underlines the instability of identities. She argues that

ethnicity is a complex and contested construct, with minorities often described as

ethnic and majorities seen as the norm:

For some, ethnicity is an elective, at times defensive, form of identity, for others it is animposed and racialised one; for many it is an interplay of the two. For those positionedwithin privileged majorities, ethnicity is often about others. (Cousin 2002, 43)

Our research has drawn on recent writing on identity formation and ethnicity in

modern Britain (McGrew et al. 1992; Malik 2007; Modood 1994). Modood portrays

ethnicity as ‘a plastic and changing badge of membership’ in the context of

competing aspects of identity in post-war Britain (Modood 1994, 119). Malik (2007)

cautions against regarding minority groups as homogeneous entities, and stresses

that, like the rest of the population, ‘they are divided by issues of class, sex, age,

geographical location, and so on’, arguing that ‘these factors often shape individuals’

lives far more than do race, ethnicity and culture’ (Malik 2007, 6).

The changing nature of identity in relation to how human beings engage with the

social context in which they find themselves was central to our conception of how

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minority students might navigate university life. The interplay between changing

identities and static categories like ethnicity was a tension framing our research.

While the study did not seek to explicate cultural theories of identity, as researchers

we were aware of the complexity of identity, its changing nature in relation to society,

history and circumstance, and wanted to underline that we did not perceive it as

static.

The students

In 2005, a small number of BME students from across the three faculties were

interviewed. Data from six students are represented here. Table 1 shows a brief

overview of the students’ biographical details, using pseudonyms.

Findings

The research findings are outlined in two themes. The first examines how students

described their identities, in relation to their backgrounds, life on campus, and the

curriculum. The second examines their experiences of racism on campus, and

responses to it.

Equivocal ethnic identities

Students answered wide-ranging questions about identity and self-definition. In this

study second and third generation BME students expressed feelings of ambivalence

or distance from their historical and cultural roots.

One student described herself as ‘cut off’ from her roots:

Sometimes I feel like maybe I don’t have an identity . . .sometimes I forget, at some stage,

I forget that I’m Asian. I mean sometimes I question how ‘other’ I am, to be honest.Um, I don’t know, sometimes I feel like I’m cut off from my culture, because I don’tspeak the language, I, I, don’t partake in particular Indian traditions, I don’t do that.I’ve only been to India once. I’m living ‘out’ at uni. (Rosalia 2005)

Table 1. Summary of the students’ biographical details.

Ethnicity Religion Age Nationality Faculty

Rosalia Asian British

Indian

Christian 20 British Arts

Angie Black British

Caribbean

Not specified Mature British Arts

Lizzie Black British

African

Not specified Mature Born in Botswana,

naturalised

Arts

Gita Asian British

Indian

Sikh Mature British Education

Jodie Mixed race Catholic 20 British Arts

Michael Black African Christian Mature Ghanaian Social sciences

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Another positioned herself in both cultures, while being critical of newcomers who

stand out, and do not readily assimilate:

As a British Indian, I’m English in many ways, however deep down I’m very traditional.We’re very English, we celebrate Christmas and all the English festivals. Our definingreligion is Sikhism. We grew up to respect British customs and religion . . . I feel I’m aBritish Indian but I do see where problems arise where people come from these foreigncountries and wear their costumes . . . . (Gita 2005)

A mixed-race student described herself as having ‘two cultural backgrounds’:

(My grandfather) was black but we don’t know what his origin was. My mother’s side ofthe family are all from Ireland and they came over here and started a family here. I’vegot the two cultural backgrounds and we all met in England. But as for the dark side,that origin I don’t know, but we think it’s Jamaican. Over the years we’ve kind of losttouch with our religion . . . . (Jodie 2005)

Cultural symbols like language, family customs and traditions, food, religion and

dress, and past times such as the ‘return’ trip ‘home’, were quite remote from these

students’ experience. It was more difficult getting a sense of home culture among

second and third generation BME students, who described their roots in equivocal

terms, in contrast to recently naturalised or newly arrived students, who framed their

identities in their countries of origin, but also in more explicit national, linguistic,

and ethnic terms, as in this example:

I’m a Ghanaian by birth. I’m from the Ashanti tribe, so um, I’m Christian. My motherwas a Christian so I’m very much rooted in the Christian religion . . . I’m very fluent inEnglish, my local language and a little bit of French. (Michael 2005)

Being the same: stories of belonging

Most students reported feeling a strong sense of belonging on campus. Affiliations

were built up around friendships, shared accommodation, their academic studies,

and some social spaces. Both the smallness of the campus and the disproportionately

small minority ethnic population gave an impetus to belonging and joining in on

campus. This contrasted with Allen (1996) and Osler’s (1999) studies at large

metropolitan universities, where black students were a significant proportion of the

student body, and sought out separate political and social spaces.

Students indicated that they had more in common with ethnically different

friends, than with ethnically similar students. Their experience challenged the view

of ‘race’ and ethnicity as a primary modality, and resonated with contemporary

theories of identity as being heterogeneous, complex and changing. Students

described friendships in this way:

Our best friends are English; we find that most of our good friends are English. So theydon’t see we are different, and we don’t see they are . . . . (Gita 2005)

My best friends were white, funnily enough . . . . (Angie 2005)

I suppose because I’m easy-going a lot of my friends are white and if I do meet blackstudents on campus, I would nod but I wouldn’t go out of my way to choose tonecessarily socialise with them. (Lizzie 2005)

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One mature student with children felt that studying was frowned upon in her home

community, leading her to choose to study away from home, at a more mono-

cultural university. A recent study has demonstrated that family and community

resistance to mature women studying in higher education is fairly common (Spencer

and De Sousa 2005). In this case, it was described through ethnic lenses:

. . . this may sound rather bizarre but I felt more confident because I view the English asrespecting, if a mature student particularly, like myself, goes out to better themselvesthere’s more respect and a greater pat on the back. If I’d gone to an institution wherethere were more Asians I would have felt a little more intimidated because of my age:‘Gosh, why do you want to be at uni? You’ve got a lovely family, good husband, whatelse do you want in life?’ (Gita 2005)

In social contexts, students generally felt at home and at ease, a feeling epitomised by

one student ‘I feel like this is home . . . I love it as a place and I love the people here’.

(Jodie 2005)

Being different: stories of being ‘other’

Students’ first encounters with the university described how visible they felt in the

beginning, and how starkly ‘white’ the campus and city had first appeared. As one

recalled:

I got off the train station, walked by the cemetery, funnily enough as I was walkingthrough the cemetery, I thought, wow, this is quiet here. It was a good feeling. One of myfirst observations after a few hours on campus was to see if I could find a couple of, afew black students or minorities. I saw none (laughs). I saw none. On the way back, Iwas still looking around to see if I could see any minorities, and I saw none. (Michael2005)

Another shared a similar feeling with her father:

Then I remember when I walked through town, when I came through with my dad goingthrough the town centre, when we were on the drive home, my dad saying ‘I hardlynoticed any Asian people there’, and I thought, ‘I know, neither did I’. I thought this isvery weird, you know. (Rosalia 2005)

All six students felt that they had integrated relatively easily, although one or two

described ongoing tensions. These students expressed difficulties with the drinking

and clubbing culture associated with the Student Union, resonating with recent

research (Hobsons 2004; Mai Sims 2007). One described leaving home against the

advice of her father, joining in with the partying culture, and finally, returning to her

own deeply held values. Her story unfolded in this way:

My dad didn’t really want me to come though. He didn’t want me to go to Uni at all. Hesaid, ‘I want to keep my girls close to me’ . . . um, in some ways I think he worries aboutme because I’m a girl and um . . . suddenly he just said, ‘Why don’t you go into somework . . . I mean why can’t you just get a job right now?

The first year, I got to be really good friends with all my housemates. I mean I feltincredibly close to them. We are almost like a little family. Um, we tend to go out a lot inthe first year. It probably wasn’t healthy for me. I um gave up alcohol towards the end ofthe summer last year . . . I felt I shouldn’t be drinking. I wouldn’t always get incredibly

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drunk, but there was one time when I was rather intoxicated. I kind of felt I was indanger of compromising.

There was a time when I felt uncomfortable talking about it or even letting people knowbecause I felt I was the outsider and everyone would be doing their typical student thingand I was not doing it, and does that make me weird? I found finally I had the courageto talk to my group and say ‘Well these are my beliefs, these are my values. This is whatvalue I put on sex’ and suddenly they seemed grateful that I’d contributed something.One of my lecturers, you can see he’s very proud of his heritage from the way he dresses.I remember for one of his modules, I was very quiet in his classes, and for one of hispieces, I had to write an article, and I ended up writing about chastity among youngBritish Asian females, and I think he liked that I put myself into it a lot more and it wassomething I could write about. I thought in some ways it helped knowing that he couldunderstand in some way on a cultural level. (Rosalia 2005)

The curriculum and presence of a lecturer from a minority were both important in

helping the student to articulate her values. Choosing a module with space for

exploring values, and supported by a tutor who came from a similar cultural

background, enabled her to discuss what she valued in a safe space, without the fear

of ridicule. Bird (1996) underlines the importance of having black academic staff to

help students overcome the barriers of discrimination and isolation they may face,

while Gay (2002) advocates drawing on students’ cultural backgrounds in order to

make teaching culturally responsive.

The influence of curriculum

Students suggested an interplay between cultural rediscovery and curriculum. One

student described how film studies opened up avenues for cultural exploration, a

drama student joined a gospel choir for the same reason, while another found

travelling to East Africa for a field trip helped her to reflect on her roots. These

findings suggest that ‘culturally responsive teaching’ which advocates contextualising

the curriculum to allow issues of race, class, ethnicity and gender to surface is

important as ‘we come to value what is present, and devalue what is absent’ (Gay

2002, 106).These students used the curriculum as a vehicle to explore the meaning and

history of their ethnic identities. In most cases, students focused on the content

dimension of curriculum, ignoring aspects of delivery, assessment, interaction and

support for learning. Bird (1996) argues for a broad view of curriculum, and for

teaching which goes beyond multiculturalism to explore the structural dynamics of

race and racism, and calls for student experience and histories to be built into

courses (Bird 1996, 72�3).

Students identified gaps in the curriculum, including very few modules dealing

with Africa and Asia, modules which ignored the contributions of non-western

nations to film, literature and business practice, and some slightly token gestures

within courses. As one commented:

I was looking for more African literature because I’m interested more in African writers.We did do the historical writings of J.M. Coetzee, but I suppose I thought we should doa bit more, like maybe, a module of African studies. I guess in some ways they doaddress other issues of race, I mean we have studied black Amercian writers rather thanmaybe African writers so we have experience of that. (Lizzie 2005)

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Another spoke of the limitations in a business course:

In business studies, we’ve only studied a few cases that aren’t British. There’s not somuch diversity. (Michael 2005)

A teaching student described the need to give space to cultural diversity in the

curriculum, especially on a predominantly white campus. She viewed it as important

to awaken white students to broader realities ‘out there’, particularly on a vocational

course leading to teaching:

Initially I seemed to think ‘Oh, I’m only a small percentage so it wouldn’t be importantto mention the importance of adding a topic whereby other cultures could relate to it’but yes, I think it would be beneficial because we go into schools and quite often thereare children from other cultures . . .. (Gita 2005)

Student stories of racism

The most commonly accepted definition of racism in the UK emerged out of the

inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence. According to the Macpherson Report

(1999), racism has two faces, institutional racism embedded in structures and

institutions, and interpersonal racism taking place in everyday relationships. The

inquiry definition of institutional racism is:

the collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professionalservice to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin. It can be seen, ordetected in processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to discrimination throughunwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness, and racist stereotyping, which dis-advantage minority ethnic people (Section 6.34).

The definition underlines the relationship between ‘race’, culture, racism and

ethnicity. It covers both hard-line forms of racism, and more subtle forms of

discrimination, often institutionalised in immigration policy, the criminal justice

system, and various forms of social and educational exclusion.

Five out of the six students reported that they had experienced no racism on

campus. As in similar studies at a mainly white university (Givens and Bennett 2004;

Givens et al. 1999), most students gave the campus a reasonably clean bill of health,

but retold stories about incidents that would generally be regarded as racist. There

was discontinuity between their perceptions of ‘no problem here’ (Gaine 1987, 1995),

and anecdotal descriptions of racism. The tendency to downplay subtle forms of

racism has been described as a ‘minimization discourse’, the product of a colour-

blind approach, making it more difficult to talk about racism (Bird 1996, 62).While virtually all students denied any experience of racism on campus, their

answers were nuanced, as evidenced below:

I don’t think I have . . . um, there are small things, when you wonder, when you think. . . ? (Rosalia 2005)

Do you know I haven’t. Touch wood. I don’t know whether that is surprising. (Angie2005)

No, but I don’t spend a lot of time here. (Lizzie 2005)

I haven’t had so much racism, but questions. (Jodie 2005)

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These statements contrasted with one more utopian statement: ‘I just seem to feel thatracism doesn’t exist here’ (Michael 2005).

Students alluded to different kinds and subtle forms of racism on campus. The

most common was being made to feel uncomfortable, because white people

themselves felt awkward in relating to black students. This manifested itself in a

variety of ways, from student gaffes, inappropriate humour, to students and/or

lecturers struggling to deal with texts on race and racism, to assumptions made by

lecturers that the world around them was white, to questions about their origins and

cultural backgrounds:

One spoke of her discomfort at a white male friend making ethnic jokes:

There are times when I might make fun of myself. In some ways I like the stereotypes . . .sometimes I think that stereotypes exist because there has to be some truth in them inthe beginning but that doesn’t mean they still hold true, but sometimes I want to makefun of myself. But a friend of mine always tries to do the same thing, but it doesn’tsound right coming from him. I can do it to myself, but you don’t try. (Rosalia 2005)

A second student referred to awkwardness:

Sometimes in some of the modules I do feel that some students find it difficult becausethey feel maybe that it might offend me or something. But I think it’s probably easier ifpeople are free about these things and then it doesn’t make you feel uncomfortable.Because when they’re uncomfortable about things it makes me feel uncomfortable.(Lizzie 2005)

Another cited a racist incident in a lecture:

I remember we had a lesson about carnivals or something and there’s one down inCornwall called ‘Darky Day’ and the tutor was explaining what it was all about andagain the approach was that she scouts around, looking at who’s there and she says‘Darky Day’, and it’s immediately followed by ‘No offence meant by it’ and I was like,‘Well, I didn’t take any offence from it anyway’. It’s always those comments make methink people are really uncomfortable with it and I have to think to myself, ‘I’m notdiseased or anything’. (Angie 2005)

Intrusive questions irritated another:

I haven’t had so much racism, but questions. And I expect that everywhere I go becauseI’m not black so people don’t just look at me and think ‘She’s black’. They don’t look atme and think I’m white. They kind of think ‘Well, what is she?’ So sometimes I feel like‘What does it matter? Why are you asking?’ I don’t understand the need because if I seea white person I don’t ask them their origin because they could be Irish, German . . . andjust because they live in England, ‘white’ doesn’t necessarily mean they’re British. Thequestions get a bit tedious at times. (Jodie 2005)

Students rationalised racism as being due to a lack of cultural awareness, and

minimal experience of diversity. While awkwardness bothered the students, they

generally defined the problem as outside of themselves. Whether or not the students

perceived these incidents as racist, they do suggest that racism is operating on

campus. Institutional procedures to resist racist incidents place the onus on the

student to complain and diminish the likelihood of any complaints from black

students in a mainly white institution (Bird 1996, 75).

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Discussion

In this study, each person’s story reflected on overlapping aspects of identity,

including intersections between age, gender, ethnicity, nationality, religion and social

class. Four students were first generation university entrants, four were mature, and

two were commuting mothers. These factors contributed to a different experience of

university life for each of the students. Mature, commuting students with families

tended to focus on scholastic tasks, for example (see Donoughue and Erricker 2007).

Students who were both first generation university entrants and second or third

generation British, appeared to be least certain about their identities. Although there

was not strong evidence of social class in the interviews, their experiences compared

with findings about working class students, where ‘there are confusions and

ambiguities about the self they are seeking which middle class students do not

have to deal with to anything like the same extent’ (Reay, David, and Ball 2005, 93).

These findings resonate with recent research on gaps in degree attainment, where

universities privilege certain groups of students with the requisite cultural capital to

succeed (Bahra 2007; Cousins and Williams 2007).

Several students oscillated between expressing a sense of belonging, and feeling

isolated. Those living in halls of accommodation appeared to feel most at home on

campus, as this provided space for ‘an easy transition . . . an instant social network, a

sort of community initiation’ (Mai Sims 2007, 7). Low numbers of BME students on

campus appeared to facilitate greater integration, as there was only a small pool of

BME friends to draw on. In contrast to studies at metropolitan universities, there

was little talk of ‘them’ and ‘us’ in the interviews, and social exclusion appeared not

to be a major problem (Allen 1996; Osler 1999). The smallness of the campus may

have contributed to this sense of belonging. However, students also identified

barriers and feelings of isolation, which arose mainly in relation to the bop and

booze culture on campus, to a lack of diversity among academic staff and within the

curriculum, and to awkwardness among staff and students about difference.Most saw the curriculum as a space for exploring and nurturing identity. Students

expressed the desire for greater diversity-confidence and cultural awareness among

their lecturers and peers, and felt that having more BME staff would contribute to

achieving this goal. Anecdotal evidence showed that students felt discomfort around

staff and students who ‘tip-toed’ around ‘race’, and that this deepened their feelings of

isolation. Unintentional and subtle forms of racism were mediated through the

curriculum, either through the invisibility of minority cultures, or through awkward-

ness and/or inappropriateness in drawing on the experiences of BME students

themselves. All of these findings are reflected in the literature (Bird 1996; Gay 2002).

A more disturbing finding in the study was anecdotal evidence of racism, and

students’ implicit denial of its seriousness. While some students expressed discomfort

about unintentional and/or subtle forms of racism, several rationalised racism as

evidence of a lack of cultural awareness, and none confronted it or used formal

procedures to complain. Two respondents appeared comfortable using racist slang in

the interviews, not dissimilar to the racist language of the contestant Jade Goody on

the reality TV programme Big Brother. This raised a question of whether the

political language and outlook of this generation is significantly different from ‘those

who formulated and championed equality politics in the nineteen seventies and

eighties’ (Cousin 2002, 50).

104 T. Jessop and A. Williams

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Concluding remarks

There are three strong impressions to emerge from this small-scale research.

The first is that legal duties and institutional procedures are not sufficient to

prevent, confront, and combat racism. While they may contribute to a culture which

promotes equality and diversity as guiding principles, they are remote from the

student experience. Further research on how students resist everyday racism in social

and teaching contexts, would begin to address concerns raised in the study that racist

incidents occur, and that they are met with rationalisations or silence. More effective

strategies are needed to support students in raising and addressing racism. A recentNational Union of Students (NUS) study showed that although 20% of NUS

membership is constituted by BME students, only 4% of Student Union (SU) office-

holders are from ethnic minorities (NUS 2007, in Mai Sims 2007). The same study

reported that the election of black officers increases participation by BME students,

and raises awareness of fighting racism, among other things.

The second is that curriculum in its fullest sense, that is, including pedagogy,

interactions in class, and responsiveness to students’ histories and experiences, is a

powerful means of pursuing equality and diversity. According to students, thepractice of curriculum diversity is extremely variable on campus, and usually

dependent on individual lecturers’ interests. This raises the issue of how a curriculum

that in its totality may claim legitimately to address diversity may be experienced

very differently by the individual student, partly as a consequence of module choice.

Bird (1996) notes that lecturers in HE have more freedom than teachers in any other

sector of education, and consequently that they ‘have less of an excuse for curricula

which lack responsiveness to the diversity of students’ (Bird 1996, 72). The exercise

of academic freedom in this area may facilitate cultural diversity, or equally, erectbarriers to it.

Finally, the research suggests that mainly ‘white’ universities need to cultivate a

much more intentional focus on diversity and inclusion, in the absence of strong

collective drivers within the institution. There are complex differences between

metropolitan universities with a high proportion of BME students, and the majority

of universities, with fewer than 10%. Metropolitan universities appear to nurture a

more critical approach to ‘race’ and racism. In contrast, this study has shown a more

blurred, ‘softly, softly’ outlook on ‘race’ and racism, and a patchy representation ofblack stories and histories in the curriculum, which may deter the growth of BME

recruitment, and submerge compelling questions about identity, diversity and

equality in twenty-first century Britain.

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