Andrew Pilkington

From Institutional Racism to Community Cohesion: the Changing Nature of Racial Discourse in Britain

It is imperative that an appropriate balance is reached between three key principles: equality, diversity and social cohesion. In many countries across the world, however, there is a discernible move away from a concern for equality and diversity as the problem of order looms larger. I shall focus here on Britain in presenting my central thesis that there is a very real danger that a new nationalist discourse centred on community cohesion and integration is trouncing any duties on us to promote racial equality and respect cultural diversity. The paper comprises three sections. I shall firstly identify a radical hour when there was for the first time official recognition that institutional racism existed in British society and some urgency that this needed to be combated. I shall secondly highlight the fragility of such progressiveness and identify threats from the changing nature of racial discourse since 2001. Here, I shall highlight in particular how the prominence given to institutional racism, with the publication of the Macpherson report, was remarkably short lived and how multiculturalism has come under increasing attack, not least because of its purported threat to social cohesion. I shall finally offer some tentative proposals for a more positive way forward.

The interacting dynamics of institutional racism in higher education

This article has its origins in the Macpherson reports contention that public organisations in British society are characterised by institutional racism. Drawing upon the Parekh reports identification of ten components of institutional racism, the article examines which, if any, of these components are manifest in a university in Central England that was the subject of ethnographic investigation in the decade following the publication of the Macpherson report. It is argued that the Parekh reports identification of various components of institutional racism is helpful in disclosing the extent of disadvantage faced by Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) staff and students and the institutions reluctance to do anything about it. It is also illuminating in sensitising us to the overwhelming Whiteness of the university and the position of White privilege within it.

The Impact of Government Initiatives in Promoting Racial Equality in Higher Education: A Case Study

This paper will explore the mechanisms by which the British state has encouraged in the last decade universities and other higher education institutions to address issues relating to equality and diversity, generally and race and ethnicity, specifically. Strategies employed by the New Labour government, first elected in 1997, designed to widen (student) participation and promote (staff) equal opportunities will be explicated. It will be argued that these colour blind initiatives had a very limited impact prior to their incorporation into specific duties following the Race Relations (Amendment) Act. The implementation of this legislation initially raised the profile of issues relating to race and ethnicity, but this change proved short-lived and both race and ethnicity, and equality and diversity, issues have subsequently been de-prioritised and fallen down the agenda. While a series of commissioned evaluations suggest that government initiatives have made a significant difference and that universities have made progress in promoting race equality and acknowledging ethnic diversity, deconstruction of the discourses underpinning these official evaluations reveals significant lacunae and remarkable continuities.

KEYNOTE: "You're not allowed to say that" Minefields and political correctness

This paper seeks to explore three issues that have struck us when using drama to explore equality and diversity. The first is the stronghold of notions of ‘political correctness’ and, arguably, the hegemonic position of an anti-PC discourse. The second is the lurking residue of ‘colonial’ attitudes that seep even into attempts to construct antiracist practices. The third is the pedagogic tension between intended learning outcomes which entail getting a particular message across and the desire to give free rein to different voices. We wish to share our discoveries, thoughts and dilemmas regarding these three issues while giving you a taste of a project that we have been recently developing: Minefields.

Liberalism and race equality in higher education: the shift from the mandatory to the persuasive

This paper examines a twenty year period to explore the salience of race equality in higher education in the UK. While research evidence accumulates to demonstrate that staff and students from minority ethnic groups continue to experience considerable disadvantage, universities throughout the period have typically remained remarkably complacent. Such complacency partly stems from the dominance in the academy of a liberal as opposed to radical perspective on equality. Universities typically see themselves as liberal and believe existing policies ensure fairness and in the process ignore adverse outcomes and do not see combating racial inequalities as a priority. The paper distinguishes two ideal typical approaches, the ‘mandatory’ and the ‘persuasive’ to the promotion of race equality and suggests that the period has witnessed the transition along a continuum from the mandatory to the persuasive. Regardless of which approach is preferred, universities are urged to have no truck with a deficit model and to see it as their responsibility to take action to ensure more equitable outcomes.