A day focusing on research on racism in higher education
On 20 March, Linnaeus University in Växjö hosted an open lecture and a seminar on racism in higher education. The events attracted around 90 interested participants from academia and the public.
Dr Martin Myers, Associate Professor of Sociology from the University of Nottingham, opened the morning with a seminar entitled ‘White capital and the persistence of racism in higher education’ for researchers and doctoral students.
The seminar was followed by a well-attended lecture by Kalwant Bhopal, Professor at the University of Birmingham, entitled ‘Racism in higher education: social justice, inclusion and privilege in the light of Black Lives Matter.’ She highlighted that despite progressive policies and increased representation of black and minority ethnic students, there remain significant inequalities in higher education in England.
- The main purpose of inviting Professor Kalwant Bhopal and Dr Martin Myer was to discuss and highlight the need to talk about racism in higher education, says Charlotte Silander, Associate Professor of Political Science and Academic Director of EUniWell's Social Equality and Wellbeing work. The questions Professor Bhopal received during her lecture showed that racism is an important and ever-present issue in the daily lives of many students and teachers.
Professor Bhopal stressed the importance of ongoing dialogue, quoting American lawyer and civil rights activist Derrick Bell: ‘The way forward is to keep talking about racism, to arm ourselves with arguments and to keep the social networks going.’
- This lecture and previous EUniWell Social Talks are important contributions to an ongoing discussion on anti-discrimination efforts on many fronts. By bringing our researchers together in EUniWell, we can learn more and raise issues that otherwise do not appear on the Swedish agenda, such as racism in higher education,’ summarises Charlotte Silander.
By bringing our researchers together in EUniWell, we can learn more and raise issues that otherwise do not appear on the Swedish agenda.
Two lectures remain in the spring in the EUniWell Social Talks series. In the autumn, discrimination issues will continue to be discussed in the EUniWell Social Equality and Wellbeing Arena.
The seminar and lecture were organised by the EUniWell Arena for Social Equality and Well-being in collaboration with Linnaeus University's Centre of Excellence for Concurrences in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies and the Centre for Sociology of Culture.
More information:
- Find out more about upcoming lectures in EUniWell Social Talks.
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EUniWell Social Talks
The Open Lecture Series aims to create a multicultural and interdisciplinary space for dialogue. The aim is to highlight important societal issues such as discrimination and equality in an accessible way and to promote interdisciplinary and international co-operation in research and teaching.