Month: May 2023

Religion in Britain: Challenges for Higher Education

The Leadership Foundation, a UK-based membership organisation, provides leadership development programs, events, and resources for leaders in higher education they commissioned a pair of papers from Tariq Modood and Craig Calhoun. Addressing aspects of religion in contemporary Britain, raising questions about what is considered public and what private, and the need to consider this in the public institutions of higher education.

Paper 1: ‘We don’t do God’? the changing nature of public religion

By Professor Tariq Modood

Modood’s paper examines the evolving relationship between public religion and secularism in Britain, highlighting changes giving religion a new public character. Exploring the controversies associated with these changes and argues for institutional accommodation to be extended. The paper aims to provide a contextual framework for discussing the role of religion in British higher education. Prompting questions about the ways in which universities may be failing to live up to their aspirations to be a public good, foster equality and inclusivity.

Multiculturalism

‘not just anti-discrimination, sameness of treatment and toleration of ‘difference’, but respect for difference; not equal rights despite differences but equality as the accommodation of difference in the public space, which therefore comes to be shared rather than dominated by the majority’1

Since 1960s emerged a new conception of equality, the abandonment of the pretence of ‘difference-blindness’ and allowing others, the marginalised minorities, to also be visible and explicitly accommodated in the public sphere. It was interesting to read integrating all groups and remaking national citizenship to create a sense of belonging has been met with controversy, as it requires ‘enforcing uniformity of treatment and eliminating discrimination on grounds such as religious affiliation’.

However, there is good evidence that multiculturalist policies are not being reversed 2, and that there could be said to exist a ‘multiculturalist sensibility’3: minorities need to be included without having to assimilate.

Paper 2: Religion, the public sphere and higher education

By Professor Craig Calhoun

Religion and dissent in universities

Free speech is an important value for universities, and the idea that it is threatened creates concern. It is commonly forgotten that religion figures not only in the history of suppression of dissent, but as one of the most important bases for such dissent, pushing forward free speech doctrines. Today, there is anxiety that some religious leaders preach intolerance. This is deepened when crowds or hecklers protest speakers or prevent them from being heard. At the same time, there is also worry that banning such speakers and others deemed ‘extremist’ is itself a betrayal of commitments to free speech.1

Fear of extremism is a major and distorting issue, presented as neutral , groups however  are disproportionately targeted and recognise this, such as Muslims. Government policies such as PREVENT and 2015 legislation expanded its reach and academic responsibilities under it – raise fears of public complicity in religious intolerance 4. Repression not aimed at religion, targeted at political violence and ‘extremism’, it doesn’t eliminate the difficulty. The religious and the secular are not neatly separate.

Gender and sexuality can be exacerbated by religious intolerance, associated with defence of the traditional family identities. Conversations regarding ‘non-binary’ sexual and gender identities is growing on universities campuses. Liberating for some, it is unsettling for some students. Some religions in the  pursuit of social justice can be supportive to minorities.

Religion as a public good

In universities, the creation of successfully integrative academic communities means encouraging abundant activities that cross religious boundaries. If universities accept too much tacit segregation of students into subcultures, they reduce the learning they offer and the contribution they make to the larger society.

In the contest of the public sphere, Modood stresses that religion is a public and not only a private good. Unlike French tradition of laïcité and America’s secular separation, ‘a necessary dimension of secularism’5, in Britain it contributes to public policy and is visibly Christian.

Public engagement with religion in universities in a pluralist society, could promote ‘strong public values for all citizens’6. Keeping religion out of the public sphere, mostly due to a ‘decline in the clarity with which the positive public values of the republican and socialist traditions are embraced and promoted’7 could lead to segregation. Particularly ethnic minority groups, some defined by religion.

An argument is made to suggest ‘shared public communication and open interaction are better’, but as we have seen with many religious conflicts, lack of mutual recognition (sexuality, gender) or legitimacy (free speech), how can a successful and productive dialogue be achieved to create public good?

The Reith Lectures – Subject for 2016 series: Identity ‘What makes us who we are, our country, our colour, our religion, our culture, is it none or all of these things?’

Kwame Anthony Appiah – Mistaken Identities ‘Creed’

‘Your sense of self is shaped by your family, but also my affiliations that spread out from there, nationality, gender, class, race and religion. Nowadays we talk of these affiliations as identity…moving from personal to social in recent history’

Philosopher and cultural theorist Kwame Anthony Appiah, who writes on ethics, culture and cosmopolitanism, argues that when considering religion we overestimate the importance of scripture and underestimate the importance of practice in religion.

His parents marriage, 1953, made headlines, the first public interracial society wedding, an inspiration for the film Guess who’s coming to dinner 9 and his own made social history after marrying his longterm partner, days after same sex marriage was legalised in New York 10. Born in UK, living back and forth in Ghana, boarding school then Cambridge, teaching at Yale, Harvard and now Professor at New York university, he’s crossed many boundaries, qualified to opine on the nature of identity.

Discussing the idea that religious faith is based around unchanging and unchangeable holy scriptures, but practice has been quite as important as religious writings. Religious texts are contradictory and have been interpreted in different ways at different times, for example on the position of women and men in Islam. Arguing that fundamentalists are a particularly extreme example of this mistaken scriptural determinism. The evolution of practice maintains the existence of the religion, for example it was unthinkable to have female ministers or rabbis at the start of the last century. Countries with religious identities can be more progressive, for example Rwanda and the more secular America with female political representation. To survive texts must be reinterpreted, be modest about ‘truth’, ‘history of faith is the history of doubt’.

‘Everybody in the world agrees, that most people in the world have incorrect religious beliefs’

Kwame Anthony Appiah

How do we unite through contrasting knowing certain ‘truths’? Arguing against a fundamentalist approach to scripture and focusing on changing practice. Perhaps.

On a side, UAL’s Grayson Perry asked ‘Religious identities, wonder if atheists and secular people have a hole, I wonder what  kind of things fill that hole where they do not have religious beliefs?

‘Belief doesn’t have to be central in religion, you could take up the community side or doings….. I’m skeptical of the hole’. Couldn’t agree more.

Religion, faith, spirituality & belief is an embedded part of human psychology that gives insight into individuals thought processes and often experiences. According to a blog post by Dr Greg on patheos.com, the terms are commonly used interchangeably but can differ in meaning depending on the context or even the conversation taking place. However, what isn’t interchangeable are individuals experiences in relation to these practices whether it’s within the practices community or the perceptions from those outside of those communities looking in.

With the changes to the demographics on those believing in a faith or religion, what impact could this have. From the key questions section I was interested to explore ‘1. Does Religion, faith, spirituality increase or decrease creativity?’ and ‘9.How does atheism relate to the creative arts?’ I turned to the interview with Ayham Jabr, a Surreal Collage Artist, Video Editor, Videographer and a Graphic Designer for insight.

Ayham Jabr does not believe it neither decreases or increases creativity, that all faiths are all ‘based on fiction and fear’. I was curious on how it affects his work’”God created man in his own image”13 …the evolution theory shatters all religions claiming that God created us in human shape from the beginning’. As hes says religions are becoming more ‘fractured and outcasted’ will it become more radical as in 1500 years ago, I think as he states it depends on the geographical region.

The case study centered on a female student of Iranian origin who was muslim. Her tutor in the first week disclosed she was an atheist and that god was a ‘manmade construct’ 14. I found this irksome, a betrayal of trust and questioned what or why was this discussed in the first week? As a result, other students felt she was being oppressed due to her attire and misconstrued her work. The piece highlights the 2010 Equality Act requiring universities not to discriminate against religious groups. The document poses the pertinent question of how to create safe spaces for students in class, offering helpful guidance around the ideas of ‘open discussion, ground rules (with students involvement)’ and allowing students to asses, themselves, what are ‘safe spaces’. Food for thought.

1. Modood, T., & Calhoun, C. (2019). Religion in Britain: Challenges for Higher Education. Harvard University Press. http://www.tariqmodood.com/uploads/1/2/3/9/12392325/6379_lfhe_stimulus_paper_-_modood_calhoun_32pp.pdf 
2. Kymlicka, W. (2012). Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future. Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute.
3. Kivisto, P. (2012). We Really are all Multiculturalists Now. The Sociological Quarterly 53(1): 1–24.
4. Pew Foundation (2011). Muslim–Western Tensions Persist Common Concerns About Islamic Extremism. 21 July 2011. www.pewglobal.org/2011/07/21/muslim-western-tensions-persist [accessed 15 May 2015].
5. Taylor, C. (2007). A Secular Age. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
6. Modood, T. (2015). ‘We Don’t Do God’? The Changing Nature of Public Religion. London: Leadership Foundation for Higher Education.
7. Rosanvallon, P. (2011). Society of Equals. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
8. Appiah, K (2016) Creed: Mistaken Identities. The Reith Lectures – Identity https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b07z43ds 
9. Kramer, S. (Director). (1967). Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner [Motion Picture]. Columbia Pictures.
10. The Marriage Equality Act 2011
11. Ramamurthy, A. (Ed.). (2015). Shades of Noir Higher Power: Religion, Faith, Spirituality & Belief. Shades of Noir.
12. News.nationalgeographic.com. (2017). The World’s Newest Major Religion: No Religion. Available at: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/04/160422- atheism-agnostic-secular-nones-rising-religion/ [Accessed 6 Sep. 2017]. 
13. The Holy Bible: King James Version. (1611). Genesis 1:27.
14. Smith, J. (2017). Shades of Noir Case Study ‘The Little Book of Big Case Studies’ – Faith. In Shades of Noir (Ed.), The Little Book of Big Case Studies (pp. 23-32). Publisher. https://issuu.com/shadesofnoir/docs/shades_of_noir_case_study_-faith

UAL Disability Service Webpages

‘We can change buildings, and courses, and attitudes’ 1,

Great sentiment, how?

A monochrome web page with a lack of contrasting colours, images or sounds, with text small in places (size 11 or 12). It does not do justice to the range of services provided by UAL (more than I presumed) to support the student cohort.  A 2minute video ‘The Social Model of Disability at UAL’, contains voices, presumably from students with disabilities, sharing their experience at UAL to a background of interlocking (or not) graphics. It is unclear, they do not show anyone, it does not state if they are actors recordings. You cannot visit the page link to where the video has been uploaded (e.g. Youtube) and you cannot enlarge the screen.

‘Each and every one of us is different – but it can feel like the world expects us all to be the same’ 2, not surprising, sadly given the lack of visibility and inclusivity here.

Film by Christine Sun Kim

Hosted by Vimeo, you must sign up for an account before watching. ‘Sound vibrations are visceral and internal in contrast to sign language’ 3, having 2 hearing aids, permanent tinnitus and poor signing skills, I was immediately captivated and inspired. Kim, who is deaf, discusses how sound is often perceived as something that is exclusive to hearing people, but she argues that everyone experiences sound in their own way. Through a series of performances, Kim demonstrates how she interacts with sound and music, using her body, technology, and other tools to create and feel vibrations and rhythms. Ultimately, the video celebrates the richness and diversity of sound as a medium that can be experienced and enjoyed by all. ‘Let’s listen with our eyes not just our ears. That would be the ideal’, agreed.

#DisabilityTooWhite article/interview with Vilissa Thompson

Disability activist and blogger Vilissa Thompson, started discussions in the disability community utilising the hashtag regarding the media visibility and representation of disabled people of colour. She says she is ‘disheartened that a lot of African American organizations do not talk about disability’, or if they do, it is not in ‘our voices. They talk about it in the way of the medical model of disability. 4 [Our] experience is as important to the black experience as every other part of blackness’ 5. 

This generated controversy as she highlights the lack of representation in popular media, such as tv or film, and if included the parts are played by non disabled actors. A perfectible reasonable observation and interpretation. 

‘There is a lack of representation and diversity within the disability community from the organizations that are supposed to empower us as individuals…there is a lack of diversity in those voices and those stories.’ The article from 2016 and since we had the Oscar winning CODA (no deaf / disability POC representation) and in my option the superior Oscar nominated Sound of metal staring Riz Ahmed (not deaf in real life). There is still a lot more room for representation of disabled people of colour in the media to be more present, to demystify what it means to be of colour and disabled.

‘Deaf Accessibility for Spoonies: Lessons from Touring Eve and Mary Are Having Coffee’ by Khairani Barokka

‘Pain hides in plain sight.’

A sentiment I’ve rarely contemplated and taken for granted.

Khairani Barokka’s discusses her experience of touring the theatre production “Eve and Mary are Having Coffee” while managing chronic illness and chronic pain. Exploring the intersections between deafness and chronic illness, she highlights the unique challenges that arise when creating accessible theatre for audiences with multiple disabilities. Through her experience, she emphasises the importance of considering the needs of all audience members, and creating accessible spaces that allow for full participation and enjoyment for everyone. 

‘I’d made sure to enforce rules on Eve and Mary Are Having Coffee: it would be D/deaf and hearing-impaired accessible, and only performed in wheelchair-accessible venues. The script was put on a Google Document, and the shortened link given to D/deaf or hearing-impaired audience members, who were asked to identify themselves beforehand, and were given iPads or iPhones with which to read the poetry. In Vienna, the URL was projected onto a wall, which meant anyone who saw it inside the gallery – or indeed outside it, as I performed in a window space facing onto the street – could read the script.’6

The article provides insights and lessons for practitioners in the field of applied theatre and performance, encouraging them and me to prioritise accessibility and inclusivity in their and my own work.

Terms of Reference Journal from Shades of Noir (SoN) around Disability

How do we define disability?

‘…[the] social model of disability [and] its limitations are more severe than have been recognised […]’ – Samaha (2007) in What Good Is the Social Model of Disability?

The journal asks how do we define disability, they have evolved through frameworks, highlighting the Social Model it states we must understand the difference between ‘impairment and disability’ 7.

‘impairment’ defines the individual features of body or mind, ‘disability’, on the other hand, describes the impact that the physical environment creates in exclusion, discrimination and oppression of the body (Sandal & Auslander, 2005). 8

Developed in the 1970s it remains the dominant framework in Anglo-American disability studies. it does not account for the ‘dual needs of people with learning disabilities in that it presupposes a solely outward imposition from wider society; secondly, it does not consider impairments that are directly linked to social circumstances such as (economic) poverty or malnutrition (Shakespeare, 2006); and finally, some have begun to highlight the failure of the model to account for the wider intersectionality within the experience of (disabled) people of colour.’ The article highlights that the intersection of race and disability remains a particularly neglected area. I am curious how we can build new models?

Terms of reference from SoN around Mental Health

There are over a 100 ‘Key Terms’ 9 in relation to mental health, I must confess, not all I have heard before and I have little direct or indirect experience with many. Education is not only for our cohorts, we must strive for continuous improvement through reflective practice. Understanding and normalising the language associated with mental health is the first step.

Anxiety

I focused on this article as it is a term that has increased from a dialogue with my students in the past 6 years. The article explains what anxiety is and how it affects us both emotionally and physically. It emphasises that feeling anxious from time to time is normal, especially in stressful situations. However, if the feelings of anxiety become strong and persistent, it may develop into a mental health problem. They provide examples of situations that can trigger anxiety and how it can affect our daily lives. 

‘You might find that you’re worrying all the time, perhaps about things that are a regular part of everyday life, or about things that aren’t likely to happen – or even worrying about worrying’ 

Familiar dialogue experienced from some of our students in the past,

It’s important, as educators, to recognise the signs of anxiety and seek support if it starts to impact our student’s ability to function in their daily lives. Overall, the article provides helpful information and resources for individuals who may be experiencing anxiety. 

Deafness – increasing?

Language learning company Preply recently determined that 50 percent of Americans used subtitles and closed captions the vast majority of the time they watch content 11. Could it be increased hearing impairment (overexposed headphone use perhaps?) or could it be muddled dialogue, modern speaker design or are people simply more used to using subtitles? In either case will it make it easier for those with sensory impairments to get alternative access to information, such as BSL interpretation? I hope so.

1. https://www.arts.ac.uk/students/student-services/disability-and-dyslexia 
2. https://www.arts.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0021/210918/Transcript-The-Social-Model-of-Disability-at-UAL-with-Audio-Description-PDF-286KB.pdf
3. www.vimeo.com/31083172  
4. www2.le.ac.uk/offices/accessability/staff/accessabilitytutors/information-for-accessability-tutors/the-social-and-medical-model-of-disability 
5. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/confronting-the-whitewash_b_10574994?guccounter=1
6. Khairani Barokka (Okka) (2017) Deaf-accessibility for spoonies: lessons from touring Eve and Mary Are Having Coffee while chronically ill, Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 22:3, 387-392, DOI: 10.1080/13569783.2017.1324778
7. Shades Of Noir , Disabled People: The Voice of Many, Published on Aug 12, 2020 – https://issuu.com/shadesofnoir/docs/disabled_people 
8. Sandal, M., & Auslander, P. (2005). The Disability Studies Reader. New York: Routledge.
9. https://issuu.com/shadesofnoir/docs/mhchtor 
10.  Deaf Architecture Front (DAF), Christopher Laing (Signstrokes), https://www.architecture.com/whats-on/deaf-architecture-front-launch
11. Everyone Watches TV with Subtitles Now. How’d That Happen?https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/why-more-people-use-subtitles-1234875864/