ThinkTank

La dat: Saturday 26^th October 2021

THE ONLY POSSIBLE RELATIONSHIP

TO THE UNIVERSITY TODAY

IS A CRIMINAL ONE…

“To the university, I’ll steal, and there I’ll steal”

I thought that it would be interesting to revisit the Harney and Moten reading, that I first encountered during the Teaching & Learning Unit on the PGCERT. The reading touched on the idea of belonging, visibility, and invisibility and how students alongside staff who are ethnic minorities become eponymous with being seen as other and how this creates a power imbalance. The idea of being “other” distinguishes what we choose to normalize in relation to ourselves and how our positionality creates this intangible dynamism that reflects as is macrocosm the world outside of academic institutions.

The term “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”, comes to mind when reading the undercommons.

 It was interesting looking at who Harney&Molten define as the undercommons:

“Introducing this labor upon labor, and providing the space for its development, creates risks. Like the colonial police force recruited unwittingly from guerrilla neighborhoods, university labor may harbor refugees, fugitives, renegades, and castaways. But there are good reasons for the university to be confident that such elements will be exposed or forced underground. Precautions have been taken, book lists have been drawn up, teaching observations conducted, invitations to contribute made. Yet against these precautions stands the immanence of transcendence, the necessary deregulation, and the possibilities of criminality and fugitivity that labor upon labor requires. Maroon communities of composition teachers, mentorless graduate students, adjunct Marxist historians, out or queer management professors, state college ethnic studies departments, closed-down lM programs, visa-expired Yemeni student newspaper editors, historically black college sociologists, and feminist engineers and what will the university say of them?”

Harney & Moten introduce the start of the sentence with the term labour upon labour and providing the space for its development, creates risks.

It is incredibly clear that academic institutions need to offer spaces for its non-white academics and students but there is an insidious undertone; Harney & Moten want the reader to understand the crux of the essay which is the historical power balance of white Caucasians who represent these institutions and black academics, students who have infiltrated these spaces and whos’ mere physicality and position threatens the orthodoxy of how these spaces have been historically run. The passivity of these academics regulates them to the underbelly of the institutions called the undercommons which is used as not only a tool to dehumanize their experiences but create passivity.

Reading the undercommons Eula Biss book – No Man’s Land underpins what Harney and Moten are trying to get the readers to understand about how power and visibility can always be challenged when race is not a factor of your existence but once that comes into play it changes the power dynamic so to speak. To belong is to assimilate,  once the subjects of the undercommons are able to relinquish the naivety of trying to belong a -posteriori, they are able to understand that you were never meant to belong, therefore in order to create a sense of belonging you must infiltrate which means rather than changing the systems, systems are to overhauled with new ways of creating inclusivity and rather than shifting power, creating power so that there is equality.

Those who pose a threat and are catalyst of change, are seen as troublemakers, educational terrorists inflicted like ravenous parasites on seemingly innocent bourgeois institutions who look to corrupt the system that tries to corrupt, silence, and pacify them with the autocratization and the professionalization of the education system. The reference made by the authors to the social pathological/ social organism of a society is a representation of the university which looks to enlighten but nullifies your ability to question the questions. The university is structured and funded in a way that the “undercommons” do not benefit from the system, the university infantilizes students “turning insurgents into state agents” the only means of success and production is how profitable students are post-graduation. The undercommons are unwanted but profitable financial commodities that are there to make up the numbers. The general consensus that you get from the reading, is that rather than becoming pawns a means to an end is that students should find their own communities, construct their own learning, and curve their own space of belonging and should be disruptive; professionalisation of the university upholds the social milieu for the status quo. There’s almost a theological tone “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other”- Matthew 6:24 that beguiles an insurrection instead of passive unity.

“It’s not teaching that brings us in (holds the social capacity) but something that produces the not visible, side of teaching, thinking through the sun side of teaching”

Teaching/ teachers are meant to transcend more than knowledge, teaching is meant to break down the invisible but tangible class barriers it’s about more than a commitment to more than the profession. You become more than someone who instructs but instruments for positive and social change and there’s clearly a schism when it comes to students who benefit from this type of teaching. When Harney and Molten write about “bringing us in” it’s about creating a space of belonging that doesn’t exist, love, and care for all students. The whole idea of the Universitas problematizes and brings to the forefront the whole idea of inclusion/ exclusion. The Universitas produces fugitivity; because students, undercommons are unwanted but necessary commodities that are important diversity inclusion tools in the recruitment process of the university. It brings to the forefront the first lecture by John Wisdom about the marketisation of the university. It seems like the university’s purpose particularly from a political standpoint is not solely for the expansion of knowledge and experimentation but what the student can bring to the job market (some more than others) which defeats the purpose of enrichment.

Reading the essay second time around, my perspective on the idea of power as a   as a black female academic has really changed.

 I started thinking about the sub-cultures that have been created in the university, or groups that have been started to address the problem of inclusivity and the widening attainment level between white students and ethnic minority students. I think that on one hand, it creates intersectional safe spaces for academics and students; but it is a by-product of exclusion were marginalised groups are exactly what Harney & Moten have spoken about which is that they are in essence the epitome of the undercommons. These groups are needed but it can also be counterproductive because there is a balanced dualism where power is given to create these groups; but in order to change the power in balance, there has to be a level of transparency, where all spaces equate to belonging. I think that my experience as an AL, and where I felt like I was positioned was in spaces to do directly with race, and although I felt that intellectually my experience and understanding of these issues could be beneficial, it also meant that my identity as a woman of cour could only be visible in those spaces.

There is a collective effort to now understand the struggles of POC in UAL, and this is incredibly complex because experience is not monolithic therefore my experience as a woman of colour will differ from a black female, or male who is a Muslim; disability, sexuality the narrative and how we understand these complexities changes as we try to understand how power intercept’s identity and visual politics.

In the same breath, the idea of power and the history of colonisation come into play, how we understand power and who has the capacity to really make changes are intertwined.

The starting point is colonisation, and this swift but brute way of thinking takes place in the university in relation to knowledge just like in the process of colonisation the main focus is to dominate/interrogate displace a devolutionary Process, becoming the dominant authority. The undercommons become fugitives within this process because they are inherently not sold into this false sense of belonging/promise.  They are challenging the institution by intellectually antagonising probing the university that calls into question their place within the institution which threatens the willful ignorance and blindness that the university employs which exposes a fragility that can be exploited therefore the only way to challenge the undercommons is to silence them.

“The prevailing ideology in a society reflects the interests of the ruling class and maintaining their dominance it is built into societies myths and Philosophy where the pro literate adopts it as their own view of the world, and they have been co-opted by false consciousness that hides from the desperate condition of their lives under the capitalist system “

The question here is whether the universities want to shift the power balance to the “undercommons”?

 Whether their survival as an institution depends on a power imbalance.

For Fred Moten and Stefano Harney, the center of their reform is to decolonize a counterhegemonic approach to society and culture: the idea of false consciousness professionalisation of university feeds into a capitalist system. It’s quite possible that the relationship to the undercommons is the structurally fractured relationship between coloniser and colonised this is reinforced through the institution’s; so automatically within universities the under commons become fugitives of knowledge victims of an imperialist environment when they look for a means of escape.

Foucault and the under commons

Michael Foucault Theories about knowledge and power provides a pedagogy to think about the performative structure of knowledge:

“How the state produces discourse that is scientific and upholds social-historical”

Foucault highlights state power – relationship with performing knowledge and specifically thinking through how the state certain anchors certain discourses that reproduce the power of the state whilst “subjugating the history of the other I am pointing out the history of colonization through dominant courses of knowledge”

Foucault highlights one of the many ways that power is maintained, knowing who we effectively uphold, and the types of knowledge that we reference also contributes to structural inequalities. My position as an AL who is a woman, within a patriarchal system it is disempowering because gender raises a conflict of who is more pragmatic and with the addition of race sociologically being so to speak at the bottom of the food chain coupled with discriminatory idealisms surrounding intelligence you are stripped of your power because these prevailing beliefs are subconscious.

Moten and Harney argue:

“Refuse to order as a distinction between noise – music and chatter knowledge pain and truth make, and refuse offers we receive to shape that into music”

The idea of making music and a place of not belonging is akin to the idea of displacement and, the undercommons, using their situation to create music that beckons hardship but resonates a beauty from the suffering that looks to emancipate. Historically music from rock& roll, jazz, drill music was created because these groups of people were pushed out, it is not really but creating a sense of belonging or asking for power, but it’s the ability to forge, your own institutions where power is not given but created.

Crimson O’Shea

Protected: Micro Teach

During the presentation, I enjoyed your explanation of how colour could be used emotively within fashion design. I thought it was a good way to look speculatively at how this is viewed, experimented with within other aspects of art and design. The painting by Chris Ofili although it was demonstrably used to denote the use of colour in design, I thought that it could be used to also link to the historical depth of the  use of colours for e.g (blue – Picasso’s blue period). Trying to get students to think about the historical use of colour and trans culturally the relevance within art practise, how designers have used artwork as a source of inspiration; examining the political, cultural movements in history.  I also thought about how artworks become the basis of inspired art movements within the culture such as Solange’s Visual, the audio album ” A Seat at the Table” and the link to Lynette Yidom Aboakye paintings. It would be a good way to bridge the gap of how art, fashion and sub-culture are cohesively linked. 

Alice Wilson

17/02/2021. Care, boundaries and parameters

The readings on Affective Pedagogy was a good introduction into the educational stances on love within higher education. I understand completely your frustration on the language and it’s use or non- use, commonplace within higher education. I thought that the readings taught us to be more understanding and emphatic to students as we have no real sense of their backgrounds and their transition to higher education. 

The Harney S &Molten reading I thought it touched a lot more on how within university marginalised and disenfranchised communities of students have no agency, how this can be used as a tool to challenge and make sure that teaching is inclusive. I think looking at our positionality, unconscious bias’s  is incredibly integral to making these changes, ensuring that each students voice is heard. Once we examine how we came to those biases we can then examine how we formed these biases and then provide a space for deeper more critical thinking and awareness.     

Yves Salmon

https://teachingdocphoto.myblog.arts.ac.uk

It’s challenging when you’re presented with large volume of texts and it has academic language that makes it harder to decipher what the author is trying to say. I’ve really enjoyed listening to your contributions about your academic experiences during the tutorials, you have such a beautiful way of storytelling and it translates really well. 

I read that the transition to online teaching made you question your teaching practise and I think that your delivery and your compassion and how you relate to your peers is evident in the way your able to contextualise your practise, experiences and the reading. The photojournalist course you study sounds incredibly interesting and I think your a valuable asset to the course; although you may have not come through a traditional route of education I find that  sometimes  worldly experience supersedes academics who may be out of touch culturally and socially.  

Megan Pickering

The reading on reflexivity is incredibly important when looking at conscious and unconscious biases institutionally in higher education.

“Reflexivity can make us aware of asymmetrical or exploitative relationships but it can’t remove them”

I think that over the last year with the black lives matter movement and especially with the hate crime against Asian people it has been particularly interesting having conversations, viewing how individuals have interacted with particular movements. One of things that has been challenging is this skewed understanding on alliances and the expectation of a transactional partnership and how people have seen  these movements as trends rather than focusing on the human rights and equality aspect of enacting social change. There is a book by American sociologist, journalist called Journalist John Howard Griffin, ” Black Like Me” which I found particuairly intresting, using fieldwork and a reflexivity when looking at structural ineqalities.

Post Session Reflections Unit Presentations -Introductory 5 min First Presentation- 20 min Final Micro- Presentation + ( 10 min Feedback)

Research / knowledge can not be thought of monolithically as relying on type of methodology which belong speculatively to the western cannon. The book Practise -led Research, Research – led Practice in the Creative Arts – Edited by Hazel Smith and Roger. T. Dean, The chapter : The conundrum Of knowledge and Research looks speculatively at the use of art, meditatively to explore intersectionality, identity politics as well as positionally. The idea of practise- led research is at the crux of how we find new frameworks for understanding how we can use our own subjectively to characterise, explore,  diversify lead to new areas epistemology that is seen within research. The importance of practise-led – research within education can be just as informative to allow the wider audience to gain an insight into numerous experiences of marginalised groups, ideas, notions that can be re- conceptualised and can be included not only culturally but how we look at  politically at legislation on inclusion.

The idea of practise -led research and the extremity of this type of this type of study was used controversially by American Sociologist, Journalist John Howard Griffin who darkened his skin to see the insurmountable severity of racism, Jimmy Crow segregation of disenfranchised African Americans in the deep South, New Orleans and Mississippi in the 1960’s . The turning point in the cannon of his research was when he published his research in a book- ” Black like me and later”. The published literature helmed by the the controversial nature of the research, alluded to the inequalities, and structural and institutional racism faced by black Americans, was the widely accepted ,valued but doubly seen as incredulous by many white Americans. The linchpin of his lived experiences, research made him not only a target by many white Americans, but by the racist supremacist organisation KKK. In his study ‘black like me’ he said “The only way I could see to bridge the gap between us was to become a negro” –

Research- led practice is a terminology which we can use to compliment practise- led research and which suggests more clearly than practise led research that scholarly research can lead to creative work

Both practise- led research, Research- led practice are often carried out collaboratively. creative practitioners sometimes join forces with a researcher more specifically orientated towards basic research work ( pg 8,9)

-H.Smith, R.T. Dean Practise -led Research, Research – led Practice in the Creative Arts, Edinburgh University Press; Reprint edition, 2009

Fieldwork, artwork, performative arts can be used for more than just its aesthetic resonance. It can be the starting point for primary and secondary research and can also function as a point of reference as some artist can use historical etymology as the basis for their painting; alternative form of knowledge, much like historical novels or research paper. The artwork, performance art can provide a rich context that  can be used to enhance research. By choosing not include this form of research we are choosing to marginalise artists further, their vision, lived and historical experiences which can represent different intersectional groups; relegating their experiences as inferior and leading oppressively to non- recognition.

Going back to the presentation at the beginning of the teaching and learning course I made  a reference to the Black arts group being set up towards the end of my post- graduate course because the course, the syllabus and even the non – diversification of the teaching staff and student body made it difficult to not be seen as other on the course. The purpose of the workshops and safe space crits were to explore student experiences and provide the participants with the space, agency to speak candidly about how the course could be challenged, redesigned to make it more inclusive for multi- ethnic student population.

During my 5 min presentation I was recommended the book Practise- Led research, Research- Led Practise by Megan Pickering who was part of my tutorial group.

After  listening to the feedback from my 20 Min presentation. I was given positive feedback pertaining to using my using my artwork as a critical, powerful point of reference, as well as how this could be implemented moving forward in my own teaching practise. Reading this book really touched on and resonated with the formative feedback that I was given and practise- led research, Research- led practise its importance and relevance.

Reading the chapter it challenges the Modus Operandi of to how we accept and respond to traditionalistic, orthodox research and pedagogy. When we are given complex literature how can we find quantitive methods; ways that feel authentic, represents us as individuals and how can this ensure that moving forward we are more aware of our positionality; there are more ways to interpret, language, text, art, performance which provides invaluable ethnographic modes or research and epistemology that opens the flood gate for what is seen as being collectively acceptable in academia. Much like the Harney & Moten Undercommons, The: Fugitive Planning & Black Study text we have a responsibility to challenge academic hegemony and voyeurism.

I chose the title “No beginning No End” because the( I thought we had come to the end of the blogging phase and was prematurely celebrating when I found out the new unit involved,  more blogging) the terminology originates from Buddhism, the idea of the  cyclical birth cycle of life, death and rebirth, I thought that within the teaching context the cycle of teaching students involves: 

1.Birth – introduction to the course Death –  symbolising the finishing of the course 

2.Rebirth – students going out into the world of work, restudying with, 3/4 years of transferable knowledge. 

The quote : seems very relevant to how I feel…..

“But in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes and for the foreseeable future Blogging”

Bibliography

1. J.H. Griffin, Black like me and later, Serpent’s Tail; Main – Classic edition,31 Oct. 2019
2. Edited by H.Smith and R. T. Dean -led Research, Research – led Practice in the Creative Arts, Edinburgh University Press; Reprint edition, 2009

https://francesross.myblog.arts.ac.uk/

I think it’s very interesting that you have highlighted that the top key three factors that dictate the amount of earnings/ earning potential is based on  

I) how well and individual does their job 

II) level of difficulty 

I think that a lot has to be attributed not only to the historical attribution of colonialism but also the idea of eugenics/ craniology has become nuanced within institutions predominantly education in the way that we look at intelligence and competence. Therefore, the prevailing ideology of Darwin-esque understanding of intelligence still promotes the idea of intelligence thus evolutionist ideals. 

https://saritapgcertblog.myblog.arts.ac.uk/

 TA0: I believe fundamentally that  as mentioned an “exchange” of ideas, knowledges and truth is crucial within the teaching environment. Being in a tutorial / class where information is relayed in a dictatorial sense breeds nothing but contempt for learning. I’m currently reading inferno – Dante Allgheri which is about Dante and his journey through hell/ purgatory to reach his love through his guide Virgil. Reading the book the journey Dante is comparable to the obstacles that we face, feeling vulnerable, fearful through, the journey although it has it ending in regards to knowledge   the play  the back and forth, the rhythm that you referenced is always at play as teachers / students there’s always more you can learn. 

Session 4 Performativity

TAO: I think especially within an arts university neuro-diversity, in relation to learning needs, present certain  challenges and sometimes it can be a difficult barrier when planning lessons because sometimes it’s not very easy to cater to all learning needs. I think that giving students the creativity to respond in ways that they feel comfortable provides space for teachers as facilitators to understand their learning needs and how they feel comfortable communication thus highlighting their strengths so that that they can work on their weaknesses and Vice a versa in how we teach.   

I think that undeniably when it comes to productivity regarding a student work that sometimes Procrastination can affect the amount of work that is made. I also think that sometimes reputable institutions and the way that they operate can often be a barrier to how students respond whereas some students may feel that a lack of history may be an incentive to procreativity sometimes it can be the complete opposite where this can further alienate and exclude students as they do not feel connected to the institution.

https://simonewatson.myblog.arts.ac.uk/

TAO: object-based learning pragmatically structures how we can create dialogue; the Aesthetics’ of the object is merely the veneer that leads to deeper conversations. I found the session very informative and I think that sometimes we forget that we are not superhuman when we are juggling a long list of responsibilities, we can forget ourselves in the process, during the last 12 months nature has become incredibly important in people’s well-being and it’s definitely not only relaxing but reminds us to slow down. 

https://ericaweidepgcert.myblog.arts.ac.uk/

TAO: I often thought about playing music during our little breaks in our tutorials to get a sense of who we are because being in a digital/ virtual environment can connect you but also isolate you at the same time. I understand the anxiety around the decision to turn your camera on/ off because it’s a form of vulnerability allowing people to be part of your safe space and sometimes it takes time to let your walls down. I think music is such a wonderful way for your students/ peers connect. Before tutorials / presentations I worry about stuttering and not having enough clarity in my delivery I’m often very nervous and music and sketching is one of the ways that I use to ground me and I think that it’s something that I will definitely be implementing into my teaching practice.  

Micro- Teach -20 min

The Micro – Teach I received some invaluable feedback about my presentation, which I will be definitely utilising during my own sessions, also reading my other peers blogs it has interesting reading about their experiences, their own teaching practises it has been quite useful to see different methods and techniques that they use within their own lessons and how this enhances the student-centred learning. During the presentation I was aware of and conscious of silence in response to the session aims, discussions.   Over the last couple of months during tutorials, we’ve spoken about “silence” and what it constitutes, I think that there were silences, but it wasn’t necessarily uncomfortable, I think that you have to be self-assured and comfortable that silence is open interpretation, it can often be synonymous with and can interpreted in many ways from: being uncomfortable, awkwardness, reflection.  I think that initially I wasn’t sure about the reception for the lesson. I was initially confident about the content, but I didn’t know if would be overtly controversial. I was really happy that everyone engaged with the session and overall, I think the lesson objectives / aims were met and discussed.

The premise of the session was: –

I. Look at what it means to be the object and subject within art.

II. Look at how these frames the cultural, historical context within contemporary culture.

III. Look at how we respond aesthetically and pragmatically.

Questions to consider:

I. Is there a difference between an object and a subject within a painting and can the relationship be symbiotic?

II. How does this present itself within the educational context and within our own respective research practices?

III. How do we think about representation?

IV. Can you be both the subject and the object within a painting and how does your positionality affect the perspective of the painting?

I was very nervous, to begin with, it’s was the first actual teaching session that I was conducting and although it was a session that was curtailed for my peers, it would be interesting to see how this translates to a different audience. Although the aim of the session was object-based learning pragmatically the transition to planning a tutorial, lecture, or workshop the environment will be completely different as the session needs to be in line with the course handbook and modules and the students have to benefit from and utilise the sessions in a way that is relatable to the course. I think that this will be quite challenging, especially on an online platform because the course that I am teaching on (product design) is geared towards making. From my understanding although conceptually products made are theorized, remodeled through various phases of the design process, ultimately the practical element is just as important as the theory. Taking everything into consideration I will need to plan tutorial, workshops which touches on my experience but ultimately, I need to have more of understanding and educate myself more in-depth about the course.

17/03/21

I Started of the session with an icebreaker because I felt knowing that the opportunity to get to each other aside from the five-minute presentation it would be a nice way to start of the session as well as giving me the time to settle into the role and settle my nerves. I started with bell hooks quote and this was recommended to me by 2 of my peers when they viewed my slides before the teaching session. It was a nice way to introduce the context of the 20 min teaching session. I introduced the session aims which we would reflect on within the mini task as well as providing a short extract from the text that was used as the foundation for the lesson which would look at identity politics, intersectionality and recognition, non-recognition. The session aims were:

I. Look at what it means to be the object and subject within art.

II. Look at how these frames the cultural, historical context within contemporary culture.

III. Look at how we respond aesthetically and pragmatically.

Questions to consider: I. Is there a difference between an object and a subject within a painting and can the relationship be symbiotic?

II. How does this present itself within the educational context and within our own respective research practices?

III. How do we think about representation?

IV. Can you be both the subject and the object within a painting and how does your positionality affect the perspective of the painting? (3min)

I then referenced Charles Taylors book – The power of recognition; “Charles Taylor contextualises the power of dialogue. Each time that we fail to address and approach conversations surrounding identity this can lead to the projection on an inferior or demeaning image on one another that can actually distort and press to the extent image is internalised” … “when looking at feminism, race, disability, ability a lack of recognition can be a form of oppression. I believe that without having dialogue educational and self- reflective intersectional conversations. We learn through our exchanges with others. This led to the first part of the mini- task…. Mickey Mouse

I provided the class with an image of the Disney Mickey Mouse image and asked them to describe the image “when you see this image what you think off?”

(Participants engage with the image- discussion ensues -5min)

I then presented the class with same image but with another image next to it and asked them how they related to the image.

The image was a by the cinematographer turned artist Arthur Jafa  

Mickey Mouse was a Scorpio – Year 2017

MaterialC-print mounted to aluminum

Dimensions132.1 x 210.8 cm

Year of acquisition :2019

I purposely didn’t provide my peers with the name of the name of the work as I wanted them to be as objective as possible.

“when an image is given a context subject/ object how do we reframe the narrative so we can create dialogue?

I provided students with the historical context of the Disney image and how it is problematic as it is rooted in a very controversial history. A link was provided by one of the students to an NPR interview transcript.

Task 2

1. After this discussion I then went onto the main task for the remainder of the session and used the painting “Willem van den Kerckhoven and His Family,” 1652 / 1655.  I wanted my peers/ students to conder these questions as a line for further critical self-reflection and inquiry

Questions to consider:

1. Is there a difference between an object and a subject within a painting and can the relationship be symbiotic?

1. How does this present itself within the educational context and within our own respective research practices?

3. How do we think about representation?

1. Can you be both the subject and the object within a painting and how does your positionality affect the perspective of the painting?

I then reflected on why I had chosen this presentation, which was based on my own personal experiences within UAL, and ramifications of not having these conversations, and how this could lead to the use of colonial language. I wanted to give my peers a way of approaching these conversations with a diversified student population.

Post – Micro- Teach Feedback

The feedback was overall positive but constructive I also had the opportunity to moderate during various presentations, micro teach which was an opportunity to learn how to structure a tutorial.

Feedback: Overall the feedback was positive, It was noted that I need to slow down, whilst speaking. When dealing with large, dense volume of texts during a presentation, highlight the points you want to make in the texts. To make the session more accessible to students, especially when dealing with heavy contexts, possibly provide students with images and texts beforehand so they can come prepared to discuss online materials.

Micro- Teach Notes

Bibliography

1.     b. hooks, Art On My Mind, The New Press; Illustrated edition (20^th July 1995)
2. C. Taylors, Ethics of Authenticity Power of recognition, Harvard University Press; Reprint edition (31 Aug. 2018)

As we edge closer to the presentations, I feel a sense of trepidation. I’m not naturally a presenter, public speaker. The micro-teach made me consider teaching as a whole because a good percentage of it is public speaking and interacting with students within this format so how does one operate within this sphere if you find this particular exercise challenging. I usually use music as a mediative approach to relaxation which has been useful in the past but, I don’t want to feel such high levels of anxiety and stress when presenting. I’m, currently putting together a presentation that is based on Object-based learning. I guess my worries are that people may or may not engage with the content as race, ethnicity always proves to be an uncomfortable subject to teach. I’m going to peer-assessed during the session, but I’m comfortable with my peers within my tutorials group which is an afforded luxury, and although I’m grateful, when I actually start doing tutorials, that level of comfortability which has felt like a crutch through the process will not be there.

Performing with an invisible audience

I watched the performing to an invisible audience video, the speaker was talking about her experience as a barrister. I understood the importance of the relationship, and how this relates to teaching within a classroom, how this experience has led her to a transition professionally thus teaching, singers and actors actresses; the importance of relating to the audience within a performative aspect. I felt that within the teaching and learning context to utilise the skills of performance is very beneficial but at the same time it also mitigates from the authenticity of engaging with the students and to view the students as an audience within abstract sense makes sense, but at the same time does not seem, feel realistic. A performance hinges on the repetitive performance with the aim of perfecting the practice. I do not like the idea of being there specifically serving the audience but learning/ teaching it’s quite difficult to the concept, because although you gain more confidence through practice it feels one-sided with performance, almost seeking to gain the approval, love, and admiration of the audience through validation. Teaching for me is not always about the performance aspect but also the learner being able to gain an understanding; sometimes they may not like the approach especially when it comes to “audience participation” but ultimately, it’s a transactional learning process, more so with the learner being behind the screen, backstage to see how everything fits together so that they can perfect their own craft.

https://www.eln.io/blog/giving-constructive-feedback

I found this randomly on a website but in terms of giving and receiving feedback, it feels like a good framework for how we structure formative feedback.

The reflection game: enacting the penitent self Bruce Macfarlane a & Lesley Gourlay b a Department for Curriculum and Quality Enhancement , University of Portsmouth , Portsmouth, UK b Learning Innovation Research Group , Coventry University , Coventry, UK Published online: 10 Jul 2009.

Tips for contestants

Tip 1: eat humble pie

Reflective exercises impose certain expectations. Firstly, they require individuals to open themselves up to an admission of their insecurities and uncertainties paralleling the world of reality TV. In place of the sobbing of the wannabe pop star, reflective assignments encourage novice practitioners to unload painful admissions of personal mistakes and errors in the classroom.  Admitting the error or naivety of one’s ways is all part of the ‘journey’. This kind of confession is a means of getting the assessor on-side. It may not ‘prove’ that you can ‘reflect’ yet but shows that you are being ‘open’. Suitable penance has been done.

TAO:  I think the idea of a reality show within the context of the text reminds me of a black mirror episode. I do understand the journey aspect and the process of becoming a teacher but the whole idea of being purposefully vulnerable and faultlessly transparent feels really insincere. This places an unfair disadvantage and lends itself to certain personality types. I think that learning occurs at different stages for different individuals. I haven’t started teaching yet but  I have seen some personal growth within the tutorials. Being comfortable and confident enough to really contribute to discussions without really being so conscious of the delivery but within actual practical teaching, the delivery is crucial. for students to really invest in your tutorials, there has to be clarity so it feels like the benchmark in terms of personal and professional growth changes each time although just as important, it structures how we are assessed or what type of feedback we are given.

Tip 2: revelation brings conversion

Through penitence comes learning. Salvation comes in the form of a ‘critical incident’ that transforms your whole perspective about what it means to be a lecturer. Inspiration can come from the practice of colleagues (or better still ‘a mentor’ or ‘peer’) or the views of students who have both challenged and changed your original attitude to teaching. Espousing various ‘commitments’ evidences your ideological conversion: to encouraging ‘deep’ as opposed to ‘surface’ learning, to ‘andragogic’ principles, to widen participation, use e-learning in your teaching and, indeed, anything else that might currently be in vogue within your university’s strategic plan (insert flavour of month). Marshalling examples of how your practice supports this eclectic mix of theories and politically motivated policies is a nice way to show you can ‘weave’ theory with practice and is likely to gain you more marks from ‘the judges’.

TAO:   The idea of a “Critical Incident”, feels like a staged performance and at first it sounds ridiculous. Learning comes through practicality and I guess if you’re not learning anything through interactions with peers, mentors or students it counterproductive to teaching. I also feel that for teachers who have been teaching for longer periods of time they may feel less inclined to try new teaching methods which aligns itself with the latest FAD DIETS, if a way of being relatable to students and challenging yourself has proven to be productive why would you want to change anything. I think that this model is more in line with a GENX, millennial teaching staff who may feel that they want to diversify their teaching practice, but old skool teaching methods still has their advantages in some respects so to move away from this to fit a trend does not seem that beneficial. Although an important learning process, being flexible, adaptable to new teaching models may really change how teachers make lessons more accessible.

Tip 3: toe the line or else!

Taking issue with any aspect of this conventional pot-pourri of received wisdom is a dangerous strategy. Saying that you enjoy being didactic and giving long lectures is a fatal error. This shows absolutely no respect for the prevailing orthodoxy of ‘student- centred’ learning and is likely to get you into a lot of trouble. It is fine to say you were originally this way inclined or thought that students were supposed to listen to you. But stubbornly refusing to admit the folly of being ‘teacher-centred’ is simply asking for trouble you may even be voted off the show. You have also demonstrated a personal journey or, better still, evidenced some sort of ‘social transformation’. Finally, remember not to tell anyone that you have applied these tips. Otherwise, you might be accused of using your time too efficiently, what in the jargon is referred to as ‘surface learning’.

TAO:  Does this sound how it seems? When I read this segment, it felt like teachers have to tap-dance to the institution. I think that a lack of reflective transparency can actually threaten how a teacher naturally develops, it’s inorganic to the so-called transformation. If a teacher wholeheartedly believes that a particular way of teaching is productive, over time they may or may not change their stance but maybe through peer observations or student feedback they may start utilising different methods to teach. Insomuch as they may not see the “errors of their ways” they may try to challenge themselves as they may come to the realisation that culturally, ethnographically, and socially they are operating within a different educational climate.

climate.

Emotional performativity/enacting the penitent self

But perhaps the most insidious feature of this performance is not that it compels a display of conformity to dominant discourses, this is already routine in education (Ball 2003), and in higher education across a range of text types (Bansel et al. 2008; Ruth 2008). The more troubling aspect of the ‘reflection game’ is that it must appear to be woven from the very fabric of the subjects’ day-to-day embodied practice and emotional subjectivity, brooking no ‘hiding place’ of disagreement or ambivalence. The subject is corralled into an insidious form of performativity wrapped in a therapeutic discourse of self-discovery which requires a ‘textual enactment of academic life’ (Ruth 2008, 99): at best formulaic, at worst amounting to a colonisation of the private self. What is implicitly rewarded is initial fragility, tentativeness and penitence, followed by uncritical adherence to some deeply flawed and outdated rules of thumb. The forced enactment of this can result in a grotesque simalcrum of authenticity in response to a powerful normative regime of surveillance, at root unconcerned with individual or context. The details may vary but the ‘journey’ has to reach the ‘right’ destination, via the correct stages (new lecturer as supplicant/pilgrim?). Only then is the ‘transformation’ complete.

TAO:   The Phrase “colonisation of the private self”, sounds as insidious as it seems. Yes !!! the reflection part, we’ve established is paramount but so is a sense of self. If through this reflective process you lose a sense of why, what, where you stand you become a slave to the institution, because where there may be chances to challenge a view, approach to how things are implemented the word colonisation insinuates forceful and passive violence to freedom of self. Reforming ones, beliefs, and values, values hegemonic and regimented structures that don’t value what you as an individual can bring to the table. This brings to the forefront the question of what your role is and how much influence you may or may not have decentres the idea of teaching and teaching development.

Final Thoughts

I guess it’s the act of repetition, performance-wise doing something over and over again so that it feels comfortable. I guess that personally, I will never feel that I will reach that level of comfortability. I feel like there are obstacles to overcome when for e.g., reading I need to consider my speed, taking the time to really understand what I’ve written. These are all things I need to consider so I’ve come to realisation that my way of presenting, communicating will always, never be perfected it will always be a matter of coming to terms with those imperfections and being able to make my style of teaching, presenting comfortable do that I can find value in those differences.

 

During my SON/ TW session I had the opportunity to discuss the importance of Object-Based Learning. As part of the task, we were given a video to look at and, teachers within the video the speaker gave the teachers a tea break. I thought about how Tea, the universal symbol synonymous within many cultures is used as a way of relaxation. I looked more so about the actual object as I was given a teapot as a gift for Christmas, not only the aesthetics but how I thought about how this linked to my placement in product design and how I could use the session productively to challenge students not only about the environmental aspect of making but about the origins of the materials. During the session, we were put into breakout rooms and when explaining why I choose a teapot I used the example of rubber, how if a student was thinking about the history of a specific material how this could be problematic which posed the question,

Can you realistically make an environmentally friendly as well as socially ethical product and is the relationship contemptuous?  

I looked at the how to categorise different questions for enquiry: 

Use

Production

Materials

Historical Implications

Aesthetic Value

Environmental resilience

Complimentary Implication

Objects History

Value

Relation to other objects

Social implications

Overall, the session was productive because we thought about ways of using objects not only as visual resources but how we could include audio texts and promote discussions and essentially how I could use objects within teaching to contextualise my own teaching practice. I think the one thing I had to consider was how to do this digitally and ensure that the lesson that was planned could maximise the participation so that it feels less like a lecture and more of a discussion.

A film by Ken Loach

• 

I’ve always been a fan of documentary, cinematography, and film. Most evenings lately I haven’t had the opportunity to really indulge in my favourite past-time and I usually wake up half-dazed at 4: 00 am to find myself passed out in front of the TV screen.  I happened to be flicking through the TV channels and stopped on BBC4 programme: Life Cinematic (Aired 04/03/21) the synopsis reads:

British Ghanaian director Amma Asante talks to Edith Bowman about the films that have helped shape her life and career. Her selection ranges from epic classics like Goodfellas and The Color Purple to intimate, emotional greats like Damage and Hidden.  Amma also discusses her international breakthrough film Belle and the process she adopts when choosing and making the film projects she is renowned for.

One of the films that Amma had picked was a film by Ken Loach – Kes. Now it’s been many years since I thought about the film and book. I remember reading it distinctively in yr. 8 and I absolutely hated the book with a passion. It bored me. Maybe it was the slow pace of reading the book collectively as a class or the teacher stopping every so often to annotate the book for symbolism, needless to say I thought the book was uninteresting but what struck a chord was the similarities to me in how and where the book was set in comparison to one of my favourite films. Billy Elliot – Directed by Stephen Daldry.

During Amma’s explanation of why she choose the film, Amma picked a clip that really was a poignant and powerful moment where she says:

Amma Assante: “If you were a teacher and you had a child as inward leaning as Billy, you would want to know and feel they had something outside or school, outside of family where they could find themselves, somewhere they could find value for themselves” ………

Assante also talks about the: Role reversal in the clip

1. Billy becomes the teacher
2. The teacher Mr Farthing becomes the student

I think the programme made me think about how as teachers we don’t have all the answers, but it’s about taking the formative steps to get to know and connect with students who present a challenge. The idea of role reversal was also very important, although were meant to impart knowledge, the pedagogical relationship is transactional where there is an exchange of ideas, beliefs and truths.  I also thought about my secondary education and the missed opportunities for teachers who labelled students as problematic, disruptive, stupid, without really getting to know the students and essentially building a relationship with a goal of re- establishing a love for learning and knowledge.

Years after reading and watching the film, I think that the series has made me re-examine my own positionality and is definitely worth a watch with fresh pair of eyes.

Post – Session Reflection

I’m currently reading Dante’s Inferno and although the book is heavy with theological and philosophical allegory. The premise of the book focuses on Dante who has lost his way, in the forested wilderness and ultimately is trying to find his way to truth and God, through his journey through hell and purgatory through his spiritual guide Virgil, to reach his love Beatrice. Inferno for me represents the obstacles in finding, forming dramatic friendships, knowledge, learning the pinnacle of that agapeic love and hate relationship which is knowledge and links not only to Plato’s symposium but the idea of dramatic friendship. The characters Dante and Beatrice are interchangeable and represent both the student and the teacher, the only character that remains the same is Virgil who represents Knowledge. Although I haven’t finished reading the book a lot of the themes resonated with earlier readings on how we through teaching connect not only to ourselves, peers but how the journey is symbolic for the journey that we as educators and students often find ourselves existentially and educationally.  I have summated the two main characters, their journey, and how this links to the teaching context.

Thirty-five years old at the beginning of the story, Dante—the character as opposed to the poet—has lost his way on the “true path” of life; in other words, sin has obstructed his path to God. The Divine Comedy is the allegorical record of Dante’s quest to overcome sin and find God’s love; in Inferno, Dante explores the nature of sin by traveling through Hell, where evil receives punishment according to God’s justice. Allegorically, Dante’s story represents not only his own life but also what Dante the poet perceived to be the universal Christian quest for God. As a result, Dante the character is rooted in the Everyman allegorical tradition: Dante’s situation is meant to represent that of the whole human race.

His traits are very broad and universal: often sympathetic toward others, he nonetheless remains capable of anger; he weeps at the sight of the suffering souls but reacts with pleasure when one of his political enemies is torn to pieces. He demonstrates excessive pride but remains unsatisfied in many respects: he feels that he ranks among the great poets that he meets in Limbo but deeply desires to find Beatrice, the woman he loves, and the love of God. Dante fears danger but shows much courage: horrified by Hell, he nevertheless follows his guide, Virgil, through its gates. He also proves extremely emotional, as shown by his frequent fainting when he becomes overly frightened or moved. As the story progresses, Dante must learn to reconcile his sympathy for suffering with the harsh violence of God’s justice; the deeper he proceeds into Hell, the less the agonies of the damned affect him. Virgil encourages him to abhor sin and not pity the justice meted out to sinners; Dante must achieve this level of stringent moral standards before he may begin his journey to Heaven, played out in Purgatorio and Paradiso

Dante

 In Dante’s Inferno Dante’s character mirrors, the inner complexity of not only being vulnerable in the process of finding truth but the arbitration between excessive pride, anger, and the deep desire to progress. I think that the character description of Dante represents all of us the human race and in the educational context the youthful hubristic attitude in thinking that we know everything. Without knowledge, we are lost, and sometimes the process to find ourselves ultimately requires us to start at the depth of irrationality, uncertainty which can “proves to be extremely emotional, where we can sometimes be overly frightened, moved’ shaped by our experiences negatively or positively. “Dante fears danger but shows much courage”- This is emphasised in the “Courage to Be “by Paul Tillich- “

The book opens with a discussion of the concept of courage in several philosophical and theological contexts. Tillich reviews courage with respect to fortitude, wisdom, self-affirmation, and existence itself, drawing respectively on Plato and Aquinas, the Stoics, Spinoza, and Nietzsche. Tillich understands courage as “rooted in structure of being…it must be considered ontologically in order to be understood ethically” (1). The “courage to be,” specifically, is “the ethical act in which man affirms his own being in spite of those elements of his existence which conflict with his essential self-affirmation” (3). It is the affirmation of one’s essential nature, and its analysis must precede an understanding of such attributes as faith, wisdom, and joy. Courage involves “striving toward self-preservation or toward self-affirmation [that] makes a thing what it is,” and is a definitively virtuous process of careful reasoning and intentionality (21). Even though life is ambiguous above all, “courage is the power of life to affirm itself in spite of this ambiguity, while the negation of life because of its negativity is an expression of cowardice” (27)”

The only character besides Dante to appear all the way through Inferno, Virgil’s ghost is generally taken by critics to represent human reason, which guides and protects the individual (represented by Dante/Everyman) through the world of sin. As befits a character who symbolizes reason, Virgil proves sober, measured, resolute, and wise. He repeatedly protects Dante from hostile demons and monsters, from Charon to the Centaurs; when he appears powerless outside the gates of the city of Dis in Canto VIII, his helplessness appears very ominous, signifying that Lower Hell offers far darker dangers than Upper Hell. Virgil’s reliance on the angelic messenger in this scene also symbolizes the fact that reason is powerless without faith—an important tenet of Dante’s moral philosophy and one that marks Inferno as a Christian poem, distinct from the classical epics that preceded it. In the fullest sense of the word, Virgil acts as Dante’s guide, showing him not only the physical route through Hell but also reinforcing its moral lessons. When Dante appears slow to learn these lessons—such as when he sympathizes with sinners or attempts to remain too long in one region of Hell—Virgil often grows impatient with him, a trait that humanizes this otherwise impersonal shade.

Virgil

Virgil optimises the journey of truth and the fortitude for knowledge. I think that in relation to dramatic friendship Virgil’s character dramatizes the guidance and reassurance teachers provide for their students. Virgil acts as Dante’s guide, showing him not only the physical route through Hell but also reinforcing its moral lessons- it’s important to emphasise that the destination aspect of the journey is also less important because knowledge presents itself in all forms not only in the educational aspect. Being vulnerable symbolizes the fact that reason is powerless without faith—an important tenet of Dante’s moral philosophy, being able to trust your peers, teacher’s mean’s allowing them to transcend the invisible barriers and for them in return for them be accepting.  Virgil often grows impatient with him, a trait that humanizes this otherwise impersonal shade, I think that as teachers sometimes opportunity may present itself where teaching maybe stressful it may take form in trying to get through to a particular student, or personal life may actually impact how we approach teaching. It’s important to take a step back to remember that though we are educators we are firstly human.

Bibliography

https://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/inferno/character/virgil/

http://people.bu.edu/wwildman/tillich/resources/review_tillich-paul_couragetobe.htm

P. Tillich, The Courage To be, Second Edition. New Haven, Yale University, 2000 (1st ed. 1952). 197 pages.

Australian Journal of Teacher Education: Volume 33/ Issue 2, Article 4, The Art of Loving in the classroom: A Defence of the Affective Pedagogy, Alan Patience – Sophia University, Tokyo, 2008

This reading on Affective Pedagogy made me think about not only teacher-student relationships but I thought about whether during my academic experiences the idea, of Affective pedagogy, neo- liberal economics and utilitarian pedagogic idealism was instrumental to how teachers taught and whether these different approaches would influence or challenge how I would teach. In the digital age there has been an increase in online teaching and with the current global crisis, it raises an important question about whether Affective pedagogy is relatable within the context of Practical Knowledge and/ or Technical Knowledge.  

So, what is practical and Technical Knowledge?

Technical Knowledge: Can be learned from books, it can be learned from correspondence, moreover much of it can be learned by heart, repeated by rote, applied mechanically. Technical Knowledge in short can be both taught and learned in the simplest terms of the words.

Practical Knowledge: On the other hand, is acquired through relating closely to a teacher who has intuitive expertise in the field of knowledge in question it cannot be acquired from a training schedule by the rote, learning of a set of formulas or by rehearsing programmatically – specified actions. Oakesholt,1991,15

I think that these definitions predispose an understanding of the two types of teaching relationships that take place within education and how students in turn invest in their learning. The relationship between student and teacher is dictated by how whether or not there is a level of interconnectedness and mutual respect and compatibility. Analogous teaching methods that correspond to Technical knowledge inaugurates a very fractured relationship between student-teacher, self, and knowledge (Ontology-Knowledge), there is no pedagogical relationship that defines the learning experience.  Practical Knowledge adopts a collaborative educational intimacy, where there is a level of trust as well as vulnerability, so students adopt this mentality when learning; can allow themselves to be fully immersed in the content as well as their own sense of self.

During the tutorials, it was important to listen to more seasoned teachers talk about the idea of love care, and belonging within their respective practices and how this can be introduced within the classroom respectively. One of the things that were picked up on by the tutor: Linda was that care and belonging were discussed at length but the conversations surrounding love collectively there was a definitive avoidance.  Love is a subject that everybody chose not to respond to, it felt very much like a grey area within teaching practice, aspects of the conversations about the love between a teacher and a student is quite a grey area and could be characterised as an appropriate, so with such avoidance of such language and terminology how does love take shape and form within the classroom- Affective Pedagogy.

Affective Pedagogy

 Affective Pedagogy- is about feelings and emotions, its about learning outcomes. Indeed, the feelings and emotions are inseparable from the learning outcomes. It is distinguished in the first instance by teacher-student interactions that echoes Oakeshott depiction of “Dramatic Friendship”.

What is dramatic friendship? 

Dramatic friendship: Means relating wholeheartedly to another person who engages the imagination, who excites contemplation, provokes interest, sympathy, delight, and loyalty simply on the account of the relationship entered into. (Oakeshott, 1997,337) 

Affective pedagogy is evident in student who:

1. Value a discipline (or disciplines) and their associated practices 
2. Value imparting to their students 
3. Challenge students learning environments, whilst respecting their developing intellects
4. Assess students’ academic progress transparently and constructively 
5. Encourage students to move beyond their knowledge comfort zones and 
6. Engage student in dramatic friendships

Affective teacher-student relationships are never predictable. Of necessity they are simultaneously auspicious, dynamic and hazardous—like all dramatic friendships. For the teacher, it entails accepting emotional vulnerability as well as engaging in the conveying of knowledge. It also requires the highest ethical integrity. In short, it is risky—indeed, very risky. It is not for the faint-hearted or for those whose relating’s are wilfully (or neurotically) constrained by chauvinistic or fundamentalist ideologies.

During the discussion one of the other students made a very valid point about the importance of listening and referenced the five levels of listening:

This was a fairly new concept to me but highlighted the importance of being very measured in how we respond not only to students work but how we take the time to understand out positionality, privilege and how conversations can either include of further alienate students. I thought about when discussing students work, the use of language how tutors may not feel fairly comfortable divulging into these conversations pertaining to race, gender, history to a certain degree and as a result are conscious about overstepping and causing offence. Another point that was made was aspects of mental health/ pastoral care and the difficulty of speaking to students where there has been no academic training although this is fundamentally intertwined within the role unofficially. 

 I think that it’s important although it’s quite uncomfortable to ask questions to create intercultural dialogue in understanding not only how we relate to the content but how we connect to our peers and students through their own narratives and how this links to perceptions on identity politics. This links to Upheavals of thought: The intelligence of Emotions by Martha. C. Nussbaum where there is a philosophical focus on the ancient Greeks and the Roman stoics, Nussbaum argues that “emotions are evaluative appraisals that ascribe high importance to things and people that lie outside the agents own sphere of control” having the emotional intelligence to create  and connect not only to ourselves, but we should value the importance of emotions such as love in how we engage and how we form attachments to objects and others. This point is further illustrated in:

 Charles Taylors book – Ethics of Authenticity Power of recognition:

Similarly like the concept of Affective Pedagogy the terminology Significant Others is created to denote the idea of the relationship between (student – teacher, epistemology and ontology) and how abstract inquiry can be methodically to language and how identify with ourselves and others thus intersectionality.

“This crucial feature of human life is fundamentally dialogical character. We become for agents capable of understanding ourselves and hence identifying our identity through our acquisition of rich human languages of expression. For my purpose here I want to take language in a broad sense covering not only the words we speak, but also other modes of expression whereby we define ourselves including the languages of art of gesture, of love and the like. But we learn these modes of expression through our exchange with others.

People do not apply the language needed to self-definition on the road. Rather we were introduced to them through Interaction with others who matter to ask what George Herbert means it’s called significant others.

The Genesis of the human mind in this sense is not monological but something each person accomplishes on his or her own but dialogical. We don’t just learn languages in dialogue and then go to use them for own purposes. We have course expected to develop our Own purposes. We have course expected to develop our own opinions outlook stances towards things and to considerable degree through solitary reflection. But this is not how things work with important issues like the definition of identity. We define Our identities and I look with, sometimes in struggle against, the things are significant others want to see us.

The projection of an inferior or demeaning image on another can actually distort and the press, to the extent that the image is internalise not only contemporary feminism but also a race relations and discussions of got multiculturalism are underived by the premise that before loading of recognition can be a form of oppression”

I think that without having dialogue, educational, and self-reflective intersectional conversations pertaining to student’s work which percept’s their academic, cultural environments, this could lead to further exclusion. This opens up a rebuttal on the possible ramifications of identity politics.

The main critiques of identity politics: 

Identity politics branded as separatist and fragmentary.  

“Intersectionality becomes guilty by association it allegedly breaks grouped into smaller subgroups the infinite regress problem” (Ehrenreich, 2002)

 Identity politics values cultural recognition over economic distribution. In other words, groups climbing identity politics wants recognition of their own narrow interest rather than having a broader commitment to social good. This claim circumvents vast literature documents and how disenfranchise groups tackle the issue of social justice culturally thus (race, gender, sexuality and economic distribution close, class as inseparable)

Concretely by categorising gender and race-based claims as cultural and disassociating them from economic justice claims, this criticism fails to address the ways in which economic injustice relies on gendered and racialized structures and historically specific ways.

To conclude I just wanted to give my final thoughts on what I thought about:

Neo- liberal economics and utilitarian pedagogy:

“The apparently preferred contemporary teaching practise in late modern education system can be identified as utilitarian pedagogy. They are conducted in self-regarding psycho-social zones that isolate individuals from each other and severely constraining the scope of the curriculum”

 Within the context of Neoliberal and utilitarian pedagogy exploitation is at the helm of monopolising the university and the curriculum and therefore the institution. So, the University employs an academy-based system, where education is used to determine student’s intellect and marketability. Teachers are valued based on the performance, which is incredibly dangerous and a steep road to embark on, although the outcome for attending these universities is obtaining a degree there is no incentive for educational and personal growth and well-being.

Bibliography

1.K. Crenshaw, Intersectionality, Polity Press, First Edition (25 Mar. 2016)

2.C. Taylors, Ethics of Authenticity Power of recognition, Harvard University Press; Reprint edition (31 Aug. 2018)

3. M.C. Nussbaum -Upheavals of thought: The intelligence of Emotions, Cambridge University Press; New e. edition (3 July 2003)

Session Tutorial Links:

https://interrogatingspaces.buzzsprout.com/683798/4795271-belonging-in-online-learning-environments

https://thecheapestuniversity.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/bell-hooks-teaching-community-a-pedagogy-of-hope.pdf

https://www.arts.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/223417/AEM3_FBCP.pdf

I’ve just added this little anecdote from the album- “The Miseducation of Lauren Hill” where the students are focussing the concept of love although this is not related within the teaching and learning context, I liked how the conversation of love was introduced by the speaker in terms of students understanding of love at an elementary level.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBhi0E0znzc&t=2227s&ab_channel=ItaDepeesa

1. (1.5.11-6:19 ), 2.(16.21-17:50), 3. (21.56-23.05) min

Everyone wants to know more about love. We want to know what it means to love, what we can do in our everyday lives to love and be loved. We want to know how to seduce those among us who remain wedded to lovelessness and open the door to their hearts to let love enter. The strength of our desire does not change the power of our cultural uncertainty. Everywhere we learn that love is important, and yet we are bombarded by its failure.

bell hooks introductory chapter on love and belonging was a self reflective read. Out of all the readings that we were given it was the most simplistic in terms of language, prose and content, but it was also the most powerful. hooks talks about her past experiences from childhood to adulthood, finding a place of love and belonging. There was something so valuable about her openness, her brutal honesty, and vulnerability. hooks writes about her relationship with, and to love, yearning to find the love and belonging that she once had as a child and making the same connections as an adult. I think that what I took away from the reading is heightened in The Virtues of unfulfillment: Dethinking Eros and Education in Plato’s Symposium by Chen – Ya Sun , in the six speeches Plato wants us to realize that it’s not so much physical love but agapeic love that can only be fulfilled epistemologically. hooks makes the point that it’s easier to be loved as a child because immaturity, as well as lack of self-experience and unmeasured self-expression, is commonplace in terms of being tactile. How we respond and curb this sense of freedom in how we express ourselves takes form and really imprints on how we love, choose to love within all aspects of our daily lives. I think that in all about love- hooks teaches us that there is something that can be learned that can be mirrored in the classroom; in how we respond and relate to our students.

“Only love can heal the wounds of the past. However, the intensity of our woundedness often leads to a closing of the heart, making it impossible for us to give or receive the love that is given to us. To open our hearts more fully to love’s power and grace we must dare to acknowledge how little we know of love in both theory and practice”

I thought that within the teaching context that she spoke to rather dramatically the in the child in all of us, as both the teacher and the student, a in the way we still want to make those connections.  hooks wants us to feel that we can in nature be like a child and this leads to less of a parochial understanding of love. Relationships in life, and more so demonstrably in the classroom as well as social justice can be a place of openness and learning, where the relationship is reciprocal and both parties can find that paternalistic/ maternalistic way of connecting without infantilising the relationship. Regardless of where we are within the academic environment, we all want the same thing love, care and belonging which finds itself aligned with and leads to the

The four platonic Virtues:

1. Wisdom
2. Courage
3. Moderation
4. Justice

“We still accept that the family is the primary school for love. Those of us who do not learn how to love among family are expected to experience love in romantic relationships. However, this love often eludes us. And we spend a lifetime undoing the damage caused by cruelty, neglect, and all manner of lovelessness experienced in our families of origin and in relationships where we simply did not know what to do”.

The reading for me made an immersive impression on how we can try to be more emphatic as teachers because we only can see the veneer of what is presented before us. There may be issues of belonging, abandonment, that seeps beneath the surface, and having that openness will allow the students to feel that they can become vulnerable and in turn, we can learn how to be more accepting.

 

Bibliography

1.   b. hooks, all about love: new visions, published in 2000 by William Morrow and Company, Inc.

The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning & Black Study

Post-session reflection: Divine Beauty: “The Well-Baked Man” and the Aesthetics of Race David S. Ramsey

I was reading about the new film Judas and the black Messiah starring Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stansfield directed by: Shaka King  

After reading Jack Halberstam opening essay chapter: Moten& Harney made me think whether it’s possible for the undercommoms to have a undercommons:  I remember in my Buddhist, ethics class one particular lady who had a reputation for extensive exaggerated monologues, with the classic response of everyone rolling their eyes spoke about a Seneca creation story. At the time I wasn’t entirely sure what the relevance was but after listening to her explain the story, her response, and the classes passive unity in not responding. I initially took offence to the creation story. Although this was not in line with my own beliefs and traditions, I felt that the story illustrated and created unity through exclusion which within itself highlighted further exclusion within already marginalised groups.

Seneca creation story

God at first created the sun and the moon. One day while walking about on the earth, becoming lonely, he said, “I will make a human being to keep me company.” He held his way until he came to an uprooted hemlock, which had raised a great pile of earth with its upturned roots. . .. God made a human being from the earth piled up among the roots of this tree . . . [but] the soil was so poor and light-coloured that he had a pale, sickly complexion. God breathed on him and he stood up and walked. Then God looked at him from behind the 132 Divine Beauty: “The Well-Baked Man” and the Aesthetics of Race roots of the tree, but not being pleased with his creation, he resolved that he would try again. God soon came to a walnut tree lying uprooted, which had pulled up with its roots a mound of black earth. From this earth God made another human being. As he looked at him, he saw that being black, he had too much color. So, God was not satisfied with this piece of work, either. Going on farther, he came at last to an uprooted sugar maple. There the earth had a fine deep color; so out of this God made the third human being, whose body was smooth and firm and of a full rich tint. And God, pleased with his looks, said, “He will do; he looks like me.” This last human being was an Indian; thus, the Indian was the native human being”

The idea creation of beauty and love is relegated to certain groups of people. Within the canon, narrative of the story it rests heavily on an aspect of American History and how it relates to Native American History; that creates a problematic relationship, how other undercommons groups find common ground and coalesce. In the case of the well-baked man tales, essentially it ethnocentrically begs the question:

“What does it mean to be ‘human’?”

Post – interactions with different marginalized groups presents a schism in how we relate to different cultures and subcultures and how and who we define as human. Our belief systems narrate unconscious as well as subconscious prejudices. History valorises ethnocentric ideologies which maintains these beliefs.

“Mythologies do not remain static, nor do cultures. When the white majority in America began to reconsider what it meant to be “American” and to recognize its own previously unquestioned biases, and when minority peoples began to shed the colonized aesthetics of the white hegemony, it changed both heaven and earth”

So how this conceptualized within the classroom?

Sociologists Troyna and Williams argue that schools have an ethnocentric curriculum meaning it gives control to English culture. Although Durkheim’s idea of building social solidarity through teaching a shared culture e.g., WWII in history classes, most of the time the culture of ethnic minorities are subdued or even ignored. As a result, this ignores cultural diversity and promotes a sense of Englandism focusing on the British empire. This leaves ethnic minority groups feeling ignored, isolated and therefore leads to them rejecting the ideals of the ethnic majority thus the undercommons or the undercommons of the undercommons.

Merton & Strain Theory believes that crime and deviance stems from the strain between the:

1. The goals that people want to achieve
2. The means of actually achieving them

This is because society emphasizes its apparent meritocracy, therefore, making you believe working hard makes social mobility possible, however, the truth is these goals prove to be unattainable due to barriers such as class, race, and influence. Therefore, criminality becomes a means of survival and a way of expressing their frustration at the system. However, they are further ostracized, not only by the system that wants to control them but also by their peers for not conforming to the system. As a result, they become the undercommons of the undercommons of society despite the false dreams they still strive for unrealistic goals.

Bibliography

1. Pima, “The Well-Baked Man,” American Indian Myths and Legends, ed. Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz (New York: Pantheon, 1984) 46-47. 7

1. Croce, Aesthetic, trans. Douglas Ainslie (London: MacMillan, 1922) 105-06. 8

1. Kant, Critique of Judgment, trans. J.H. Bernard (New York: Hafner, 1951) §16-17 (original emphasis).

(Wivenhoe; New York; Port Watson: Minor Compositions, 2013)

THE ONLY POSSIBLE RELATIONSHIP
TO THE UNIVERSITY TODAY
IS A CRIMINAL ONE…

“To the university, I’ll steal, and there I’ll steal”

The term “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”, comes to mind when reading the undercommons. It was interesting looking at who Harney&Molten define as the undercommons:

“Introducing this labor upon labor, and providing the space for its development, creates risks. Like the colonial police force recruited unwittingly from guerrilla neighborhoods, university labor may harbor refugees, fugitives, renegades, and castaways. But there are good reasons for the university to be confident that such elements will be exposed or forced underground. Precautions have been taken, book lists have been drawn up, teaching observations conducted, invitations to contribute made. Yet against these precautions stands the immanence of transcendence, the necessary deregulation and the possibilities of criminality and fugitivity that labor upon labor requires. Maroon communities of composition teachers, mentorless graduate students, adjunct Marxist historians, out or queer management professors, state college ethnic studies departments, closed-down lM programs, visa-expired Yemeni student newspaper editors, historically black college sociologists, and feminist engineers.                         And what will the university say of them?”

These are the people who are seen as troublemakers, educational terrorists inflicted like ravenous parasites on seemingly innocent bourgeois institutions who look to corrupt the system that tries to corrupt, silence and pacify them with the autocratization and the professionalization of the education system. The reference made by the authors to the social pathological/ social organism of a society is a representation of the university which looks to enlighten but nullifies your ability to question the questions. The university is structured and funded in a way that the “undercommons” do not benefit from the system, the university infantilizes students “turning insurgents into state agents” the only means of success and production is how profitable students are post-graduation. The undercommons are unwanted but profitable financial commodities that are there to make up the numbers. The general consensus that you get from the reading, is that rather than becoming pawns a means to an end is that students should find their own communities, construct their own learning and curve their own space of belonging and should be disruptive; professionalisation of the university upholds the social milieu for the status quo. There’s almost a theological tone “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other”- Matthew 6:24 that beguiles an insurrection instead of passive unity.

“It’s not teaching that brings us in (holds the social capacity) but something that produces the not visible, side of teaching, thinking through the sun side of teaching”

Teaching/ teachers its meant to transcend more than knowledge, teaching is meant to break down the invisible but tangible class barriers it’s about more than a commitment to more than the profession. You become more than someone who instructs but instruments for positive and social change and there’s clearly a schism when it comes to students who benefit from this type of teaching. When Harney and Molten talks us about “bringing us in” it’s about creating a space of belonging that doesn’t exist, love and care for all students. The whole idea of the universitas problematizes and brings to the forefront whole idea of inclusion/ exclusion. The universitas produces fugitivity; because students, undercommons are unwanted but necessary commodities that are important diversity inclusion tool in the recruitment process of the university. It brings to the forefront the first lecture by John Wisdom about the marketisation of the university. It seems like the university’s purpose particularly from a political standpoint is not solely for the expansion of knowledge and experimentation but what the student can bring to the job market (some more than others) which defeats the purpose of enrichment. The university is not a place that we bow down to conformity but challenge the university as an institution.

The starting point is colonisation, and this swift but brute way of thinking takes place in university in relation to knowledge just like in the process of colonisation main focus is to dominate/interrogate displace a devolutionary Process, becoming the dominant authority. The undercommons become fugitives within this process as within colonisation because they are inherently not sold into this false sense of belonging/promise.  They are challenging the institution by intellectually antagonising probing the university that calls into question their place within the institution which threatens the wilful ignorance and blindness that the university employs which exposes a fragility that can be exploited therefore the only way to challenge them is to silence them.

“The prevailing ideology in a society reflects the interests of the ruling class and maintaining their dominance it is built into societies myths and Philosophy where the pro literate adopts it as their own view of the world, and they have been co-opted by false consciousness that hide from the desperate condition of their lives under the capitalist system “

In Fred Moten and Stefano Harney book on the common’s fugitive planning and black study the centre of their reform is to decolonize a counterhegemonic approach to society and culture: idea of false consciousness professionalisation of university feeds into a capitalist system. This links to The Frankfurt School: institution social research Germany 1923/ field critical theory: Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Leo Lowenthal, Herbert Marcuse, Erich Fromm. It’s quite possible that their relationship to the under comments is the structurally fractured relationship between coloniser and colonised this is reinforced through the institution’s universities so automatically the under commons become fugitives of knowledge victims of an imperialist environment.

Foucault and the under commons 

Michael Foucault Theories about knowledge and power provides a pedagogy to think about the performative structure of knowledge:

“How the state produces discourse that is scientific and uphold social historical”

Foucault Highlights state power – relationship with performing knowledge and specifically thinking through how the state certain anchors certain discourses that reproduces the power of the state whilst “subjugating the others history I am pointing out the history of colonization through dominant courses of knowledge”

Moten and Harney argue:

“Refuse to order as a distinction between noise – music and chatter knowledge pain and truth make, and refuse offers we receive to shape that into music”

The idea of making music and a place of not belonging is akin to the idea of displacement and an intellectual diaspora, the undercommons using their situation to create music that beckons hardship but resonates a beauty from the suffering that looks to emancipation. Jack Halbertons introductory chapter the undercommons is where you come to fix something like debts to repair what has been broken pay to fix what has come undone.

Bibliography / Articles – Further Reading

Research articles

A third wave of autocratization is here: what is new about it? Anna Lührmann&Staffan I. LindbergPages 1095-1113 | Received 13 Sep 2018, Accepted 30 Jan 2019, Published online: 01 Mar 2019

Sami Cleland | Book Review of The Undercommons

MARCH 6, 2019

SAMI CLELAND | BOOK REVIEW OF THE UNDERCOMMONS://www.minorcompositions.info/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/undercommons-web.pdf

The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning & Black Study (Wivenhoe; New York; Port Watson: Minor Compositions, 2013)

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5749/culturalcritique.104.2019.0072?seq=1

A Passage to the Undercommons: Virtual Formation of Identity in Nikki S. Lee’s Self-Transformative Performance

Hyun Joo Lee

Cultural Critique

Vol. 104 (Summer 2019), pp. 72-100 (29 pages)

Published By: University of Minnesota Press

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0191453718768358

Kant, race, and natural history

Stella Sandford Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy, Kingston University, London, UK,Philosophy and Social Criticism 2018, Vol. 44(9) 950–977 ª The Author(s) 2018

K. Cobb, The Blackwell Guide to Theology and Popular Culture (Wiley Blackwell Guides to Theology),Wiley-Blackwell; 1st edition (20 Nov. 2005)

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/mar/22/kings-college-london-barred-10-students-from-campus-during-queens-visit

‘Playful measurement’ with criteria and band descriptors“

Blog Assessment Criteria

It was really beneficial looking at the marking criteria for the teaching and learning unit in particular reference to the blogs. The discussions surrounding marking made me think about that idea of play again. Although the blogs its purpose is for reflection it’s also very important to engage, read and respond to other blogs as the numerous interactions with the readings will produce similarities/differences in opinion in how we understand the online materials/ readings. The session was very effective because the multifaceted approach to how we should be blogging is not completely self-serving but intends for us to think about engagement with students and the course as well as positionality assessing what type of learner, communicator, we are strengths and weakness and how to build on this; whether this may be visual, auditory, etc and how this relates to our teaching practice. 

Vilhauer, Gadamer and Ethics of Play Reading: “Understanding Art: The play of Work and Spectator in Monica Vilhauers Gadamers Ethics of play: Hermeneutics

Reflecting on Vilhauer and Gadamers text on ethics it was interesting to observe the idea of play at (Virtual) close proximity. During the tutorials we were assigned into groups. During the breakout rooms usually during the sessions, would have seen myself as an active listener/passenger/spectator; usually taking a step back and only contributing if the content was relatable. I think that sometimes it takes a little courage to put myself forward to contribute without judgement. Working digitally, it can be incredibly difficult to read the room, quite complex because the digital aspect of my online sessions? 

How can you project your authentic self?

 The Idea of silence is quite fermentable in the spaces, maybe because of the awkwardness I think that I have become a hesitant but willing player within the game. In doing so although I do seem to be able to sometimes not always articulate what I want to say constructively the outcome has been quite positive having my peers in the group acknowledge what has been said. I think that the breakout room discussion groups have made me think of myself as more of a player, but it all depends on three elements:

1. Context 
2. Environment
3. How well versed I am of the context

Reading: “Understanding Art: The play of Work and Spectator in Monica Vilhauers Gadamer’s Ethics of Play: Hermeneutics.   

To begin with my interaction with the text made me think of the film/ book The Witches by Roald Dahl in the beginning of the film where the narrator talks about the painting and the figure within the painting.

The chapter was an introduction to the 20^th Century Philosopher Hans- Georg Gadamer by philosopher Monica Vilhauer; how we use the idea of play to create an artistic dialogue between the teacher and the learner. The text was heavy with philosophical dialogue and between the parable-esque scenarios    the actual language, and how the author chose to present these abstract ideologies, within itself proved to present a back-and-forth play of knowledge and understanding. I thought of how I could understand the text in very linear terms so ultimately, I substituted:

Artwork – Knowledge

(Material)– Epistemology

Epistemology – Ontology

There seems to be not only a transference of knowledge and understanding but what Gadamer calls an ontological Event closely linked to theologians Paul Tillich’s idea of the “theonomous” / religious experience (same experience can take place in the classroom / the art of imagination implied). Paul Tillich’s Theology of Culture analytical approach to scrutinising culture within the contexts of religion revolutionized how Theology was perceived outside of Academia. Tillich evolved a correlated discourse where within a contemporary westernised setting the religious secular modes of thinking could methodise a system of:

1. Questioning &
2. Answering

Throughout Tillich Systematic Theology he develops utilises terminologies from the “theonomous” to “correlation” which can be synonymously used to denote a correlative relationship that responds not only to the historical events in history but essential questions of what it means to sub-exist in a society that consists of God and culture (Epistemology and Ontology). Tillich uses (correlation) as a theological tool to demythologise and deconstruct different aspects of culture in relation to science and philosophy although this branches out to other areas of study.  Gadamer seems to express the same idea of co

“Gadamer teaches us to recognize how understanding itself only takes place in dynamic, interactive, interpretative process of working through meaning with others. A shared understanding is in this way interpretative event that takes place in a play of presenting and recognising meaning”

I think that for the interpretive event of play to take place there is an eclipse which knowledge is a transformative exchange of not ideas but   where teachers not only stimulate the student to challenge what there leaning but where education set within the mundanity of the classroom, or the lecture theatre transcends these tangible spaces and broadens the pedagogical landscape of intangible knowledge.

 Gadamer: “Spectators are crucial players; a true spectator of an artwork is not one who simply who happens to be in the room in a quite causal way while the performance is going on rather; he must participate, this participation involves what Gadamer calls a subjective accomplishment in human conduct”

The idea of play is crucial within the contexts of education. As we develop hermeneutics within the cyclical pattern of play it goes beyond our own terms of communication/ understanding because each time we engage in play Gadamer challenges us to challenge ourselves to push the boundaries of our knowledge to delve deeper and ask more questions that call into question not only our response but in turn, makes the individual / the player play a deeper line of inquiry that branches out to other hermeneutical epistemologies.

I thought that the idea presented by Gadamer also made me think of the interaction of the player when encountering interacting with the artwork, music, play and once disengaged how this disengagement a allows the player to use the experience to use numerous forms of “play” with other players or by themselves. I thought of Rene Descartes mediation on first philosophy and how this links to knowledge and how it links to the idea of play.

Descartes Mediation on first philosophy he analogises the example of wax.

It has just been taken from the honeycomb; it has not quite yet lost the taste of honey; it retains some of the scent of flowers from which it gathers; its colour, shape and size are plain to see; it is hard, cold and can be handled without difficulty; if you rap it with your knuckle it makes a sound. I put the wax in the fire, and look the residual taste is eliminated, the smell goes away, the colour changes, the shape is lost, the size increases, it becomes liquid and hot, you can hardly touch it and if you strike it, it no longer makes a sound

I must therefore admit that the nature of this piece of wax is in no way revealed by imagination but is perceived by the mind alone.

During the first lecture we had to present a 5min presentation, look at 1-2 teaching practices, as well introduce ourselves to the group and respectively speak about our academic as well as professional experience. In comparison to my peers, when it comes teaching as well professional experience I’m not as experienced. I did at first feel out of place as I felt like there wasn’t much that I could offer when we spoke about our own teaching practices but with an accumulation of diverse backgrounds and a wealth of knowledge I think that listening to my peers speak about their teaching practises and their backgrounds, what has,  or hasn’t worked well, different opinions on teaching methods it  has been quite informative and has made me think  that when I do eventually start teaching how I could use their experience to inform my teaching practice.

What I looked at was Benjamin’s Blooms Cognitive Taxonomy and jean Piagets Theory on cognitive constructivism and viewed both models and measured it against how their theories are conceptualised within an academic setting and the strengths and weaknesses. I thought that although both theories offer the elementary aspect of learning within a higher education setting; with the application of knowledge when applied it leads to exclusion because knowledge and intelligence cannot only be measured by only looking at a very westernised framework which subjugates and frames other forms of knowledge from different cultures as inferior; despite these civilisations pre-existing before western civilisation became more prominent.  This led to me researching Ferdinand de Saussure Theory on Semiotics within the context of education, language, as a powerful tool can be used to further alienate, students when it comes to internationalisation; BAME students from the UK.  My main issue with Jean Piaget’s theory and the ideas surrounding intelligence is that its deeply problematic as it is rooted in Eugenics and craniology.

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I knew that there were lots of different methodologies within teaching practice, but I wasn’t quite sure how its pragmatically implemented into teaching.  From the group discussion we discussed teaching methods such as the Anthropological method to teaching with an ethnographical lensed focus on multiculturalism that looks at the social as well as the cultural scope of the environment and how it impacts the pedagogical environment.  I thought it was interesting to learn that Bell hooks, who’s book Art on my mind since been recommended at university has been a staple point of reference that I go back to, I did not recognise that she does not use a capital for her surname as capitals = an act of dominance the colonization of language.  

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I found this beautiful painting, illustration by Margo Humphries, print maker, illustrator and art teacher whilst looking for art books I came across Invisibility blues by Michelle Wallace’s,

“Our capacity to value art is severely corrupted and perverted by a politics of the visual that suggest we [black artists] must limit our responses… Clearly it is only as we move away from the tendency to define ourselves in reaction to white racism that we are able to move toward that practice of freedom which requires us first to decolonize our minds. We can liberate ourselves and others only by forging in resistance identities that transcend narrowly defined limits.”

I fundamentally believe that challenging our experience through art is liberating but this must also be reflected in the language, and what must be looked at is how and what type of knowledge disseminated which is an important discursive tool.  The need to having social solidarity through other groups thus an interdependent coalition to monopolise on opportunities for social change. In Audre Lorde’s book themaster’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house she promotes a counterhegemonic essentialist politics of representation although Lorde speaks about (Constructions of black identity) the need and effort to reclaim the past equates a critical resistance of remembrance ……   

Difference been merely tolerated but seen as a fund of necessary polarities between which we can creatively speak like a dialect – Audre Lorde

Bibliography

1. B. Bryan, S. Ddadzie, S. Scafe, Heart Of The Race: Black Women’s Lives in Britain, Verso Books (14 Aug. 2018)
2. M. Wallace, Invisibility Blues: From Pop to Theory (Radical Thinkers), Verso; Reprint edition (15 Nov. 2016)
3. A. Lorde, The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle The Master’s House, (Penguin Classics) 1st edition (22 Feb. 2018)