In the resources, Asif Sadia challenges diversity training by stating that many perspectives should be encompassed, not just one dominant culture perspective being delivered (Sadiq, 2023). He elaborates that content should be designed at a local scale and that we learn through stories, experiences and group discussion (Sadiq, 2023).
With these viewpoints in mind this made me revisit the UAL Anti-Racism mandatory training which all staff members have to complete. The training takes the form of an interactive slide presentation with audio clips, videos, case studies and multiple choice questions. It is quite extensive and even introduces terminology such as ‘Intersectionality’, yet having done the training last year I didn’t remember the slide about ‘Intersectionality’ and only became familiar through discussion and reading on the IP module.
One of the videos in the training examined Microaggressions (Figure 1), the video was produced by Wisconsin Technical College in the USA and goes through some steps to take when Microagressions occur (Center for Racial Justice, 2021). After the video I considered if I would I even remember the points if confronted by Microagressions? Would Microgressions even take some of the same forms as those presented in the video? How would I know if I was on the receiving or delivering end of any unconscious Microagressions?
The training takes a fix all solution to the challenges Asif Sadia highlights, How could the training be redesigned to fit within a UK, UAL or a local context? And how might Anti-Racism training be designed with intersectionality in mind?
Asif Sadia mentions uncomfortable experiences can act as powerful spaces for learning and change (Sadiq, 2023), perhaps through this approach some of the questions raised above might be tackled.
An uncomfortable experience shown in another resource is the ‘Privilege walk’ taking place with a group of school children. The walk put the students in an uncomfortable situation with many questioning why they were so far behind some of their peers with many saying it was unfair (Channel 4, 2020). A lot of comments in the Youtube comments claim that the walk made the Children more divided driving them to feel more resentment towards each other (Figure 2).
The aim of the walk was to make the students aware of what privilege looks like in society (Bryan, 2022). But in this example were the children too young? Could this have been done through the use of persona identities, so that the children’s identities were not exposed resulting in stigmas (Thomas, 2022), or shown through the staff members performing the walk to demonstrate to students what their own privilege looks like in the local context of their school? (though again this could result in stigmas around the perception of staff members).
Rhianna Garrett explores the complexities of academic careers for racialised minorities, Garrett explains that a more nuanced approach is needed that goes beyond optical racial diversity to understanding and valuing intersectional identities (Garrett, 2024). The policy relevant recommendations and reflections list were insightful to read, a few that resonated with my own context included pushing new ways of thinking by stepping out of colonial modes of knowledge to making University spaces more culturally diverse spaces (Garrett, 2024).
Danah Abdulla talks about “Shattering the familiar” when it comes to decolonising design, yet also states that it is impossible to truly decolonise in Western society because of the complexities of the systems we are part of, but (as Garrett also explores) we should reimagine beyond the systems we exist in (Khandwala, 2020).
References:
Bryan, J. (2022). Privilege Walk [Online]. University of Warwick, n.d. Available from https://warwick.ac.uk/services/dean-of-students-office/community-values-education/educationresources/privilegewalk (Accessed: 22 July 2024).
Center for Racial Justice. (2021) Understanding Microagressions. [Online]. Youtube. 22 April. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS7kXVEWjmo&t=83s (Accessed: 22 July 2024)
Channel 4. (2020) The School That Tried to End Racism. [Online]. Youtube. 30 June. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I3wJ7pJUjg (Accessed: 22 July 2024)
Garrett, R. (2024) ‘Racism shapes careers: Career trajectories and imagined futures of racialised minority PhDs in UK higher education’, Globalisation, Societies and Education, pp. 1–15. doi:10.1080/14767724.2024.2307886.
Khandwala, A. (2020) What does it mean to decolonize design?, Eye on Design. Available at: https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/what-does-it-mean-to-decolonize-design/ (Accessed: 24 July 2024).
Sadiq, A. (2023) Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Learning how to get it right. TEDx [Online]. Youtube. 2 March. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR4wz1b54hw (Accessed: 22 June 2024)
Thomas, C. (2022) ‘Overcoming identity threat: Using persona pedagogy in intersectionality and inclusion training’, Social Sciences, 11(6), p. 249. doi:10.3390/socsci11060249.
Hi Jon, I too hadn’t remembered the section on intersectionality within our training video. I think it highlights Sadiq’s question on why the traditional ways of teaching Diversity. Equity and Inclusion does not work.
Channel 4 have the reputation of creating thought provoking ideas, Adam mentioned in his blog whether this about challenging society, making a transformative chane or where it was all just ‘drama’ to entertain rather than inform.
Hi Jon,
I like how you connect Sadiq’s ideas to your personal experience with UAL’s training. It makes your argument more relatable and grounded in real-world application, Which is a theme i’ve noticed in the blogs you have written already. The way you question the effectiveness of the training is so valid because ‘Intersectionality,’ is very forgotten in real world scenarios due to how much information we have to take in a put out on a daily is immense- therefore there would be extra effort needing to be done which may. also be hard to standardise and thats probably why the training is not so effective. It’s a common issue with many mandatory trainings—they’re informative in the moment but don’t always stick, because real-life scenarios are often more complex than what’s presented in training modules.
I appreciate your critical view on the ‘Privilege walk.’ The idea that it might create more division among kids instead of fostering understanding is a crucial point. However I also wonder what the race of the people being highly critical in the comments was, i don’t believe everyone feels so defensively especially people who are not at the end of receiving privilege.
I appreciate you connecting the work we’ve done in this unit to some of the general “diversity training” all staff members partake in. It highlights both the utility and shortfalls of these required educational training modules. While they are well-meaning, they can often feel too basic, general, and forgettable. You raised an interesting point of what a specific kind of diversity training might look like at UAL, our department, or even within our degree. You neatly contextualize this thought experiment within the resources of this class, further highlighting your engagement with the material.