I will reflect on the resources for this activity through a project that I’m in the process of planning for next academic year, where a group of BA Fine Art Y3 students will engage in an artist residency programme with a community land trust, forming both a knowledge exchange and producing works that can inform the land trust’s outreach programme.

Before I describe how I can improve the project in light of the resources, I first want to acknowledge the two key principles underpinning this project and how they align with the some of the texts highlighted for this exercise. The first is that I hope this project can contribute to the diversification of the Fine Art curriculum by situating students and staff members’ notions of art practices away from racialised conceptions of ‘cultural capital’, which impact admissions to Fine Arts courses and can cultivate learning environments that misrecognise the work of students of colour (Finnigan and Richards, 2016, p. 5).

The second objective is to guide students through discussions about the social injustices formed through modes of city design that are systemically racist (Danewid, 2020), but also how practices attempting to resist these processes (in this case, community-led housing projects) do not yet reflect the diversity of the communities who are most affected by them (Young Foundation, 2022). As with Hahn-Tapper’s ‘content-based learning’ within the frame of social identity theory pedagogy (2013, p. 431), I hope that these case studies will destabilize the ‘narratives’ that students may have about gentrification, displacement and racial injustice, but also provide important lessons for how they can challenge these processes in the long-term.

The resources in this exercise have presented some valuable tools and perspectives to enable this project to more directly address systemically racist practices within higher education, many of which the students will be becoming slowly aware of and will feel more and more implicated by (in different ways). The below reflections explore how I can use conversations about displacement, the role of the artist and of the university, to enter into and reframe conversations about racial injustice within our university with the students in the project.

The first point of reflection here concerns the way I facilitate the above discussions. Finnigan and Richards (2016) explore in detail the various factors informing retention and awarding differentials specific to Art and Design education and one striking aspect is the centrality of student quotes within the research they build upon (eg. 2016, p. 6 citing Yorke and Vaughn 2012, p. 24). This seems to exemplify the kind of student engagement that is required of the senior academic Aisha Richards engages with the Shades of Noir ToR ‘Peekaboo We See You: Whiteness’ (2018, p. 29). Yet, how do these researchers frame their questions? How do they ensure that students, once engaging as interlocutors in a research project, are protected from feeling exploited, or experiencing self-doubt and/or loneliness? As someone who felt quite alone and conflicted after being interviewed as part of some research by Universities UK research into systemic racism within higher education, I’m interested in exploring more careful ways to discuss with students these complex topics, which they are very much impacted by.

These questions take me back to a separate yet connected question – what does it mean for students of colour to potentially be encountering statistics about awarding differentials and retention gaps on their own? How do they sit with that information? What are the ethical questions staff need to ask themselves before potentially introducing students to these conversations about the need for institutional change?

Finnigan and Richards’ (2016, p. 13) research provides an important recommendation regarding how I may go about facilitating these conversations in the context of the land trust project, considering that many students will be encountering this data for the first time and will need the space and time to come back to this topic in a safe and mutually supportive context. They highlight the importance of centering students voices in these conversations, which will be integral to the structure of my early sessions in this project. Whilst I’m aiming to describe my own long-term intentions behind the land trust project, which would involve referring to some of the above discourses into planning and social justice, Finnigan and Richards’ (2013, p. 13) resource suggests that I should ensure the students are ‘contributors to their own [and their peers’] learning’ from the outset, by co-creating the projects aims. This is perhaps most clearly enabled by asking students about why they were interested in getting involved in the project, whether any experiences they’ve had at the university have led them to become interested in social practice, and whether there are any barriers to learning that the project and its output can aim to dismantle for future students.

Not only is it important for the aims of the project to framed through students’ experiences and objectives, but I must ensure that there are moments throughout the programme where the students can lead reflection on these early conversations. This is highlighted by Hahn Tapper (2013), who recognises the necessity in continuing to engage in dialogue. It will be valuable to allow time at the start of sessions for students to share new thoughts – for example, on some of the connections between injustices in the politics of land and injustices within the university – and also create a page on Padlet where the students can do this anonymously, as well as emphasising when I’m available to discuss these privately. An important component of the above will be about signposting students to resources such as the Shades of Noir’s ToR (2018) on race and whiteness in the context of art and design higher education to access student testimony. To feel part of a long history of students and staff and to feel like you can build on the fantastic work that others have done could make an important difference to students who might observe that the more they engage in these conversations, the more alone they feel – which was certainly my experience initially.

In light of our Inclusive Practices unit, one thing that is intriguing about Hahn Tapper’s (2013) work is that there is no mention of positionality statements. Their ‘organization maintains that although ideological balance is challenging and ultimately imperfect, pedagogically the objective is to expose, examine, and teach students about the complexities of conflicts’ (2013, p. 432), yet to recognise oneself in relation to complexity might require particular tools. Allowing students to chart their own journey, to explore the outcomes of the land trust project according to their intentions, and to understand how they see themselves and their agency in the context of complex urban processes and movements, could be enabled through the generation of positionality statements at the beginning and end of the project.

Hahn Tapper (2013) does however align with Finnigan and Richards (2016) in one important additional consideration – being clear with students about ways to explore their own agency beyond the project conclusion. Integral to the evaluation of their SIT schemes is the extent to which students are empowered to build on what they have learnt, for example through entering into ‘social activism’ (Hahn Tapper, 2013, p. 435). Therefore, one important resource for the land trust project, alongside students identifying their own ideas about their future roles within communities, will be outlining to students how they can carry on this work (particularly those who identify with a responsibility to employ their privilege). I feel this chimes with Finnigan and Richards, in their resistance to the pull of ambiguity in arts education (2016, p. 7).  

Danewid, I. (2020) ‘The Fire this Time: Grenfell, Racial Capitalism and the Urbanisation of Empire’, European Journal of International Relations, 26 (1), pp. 289–313.

Finnigan, T. & Richards, A. (2016) Retention and attainment in the disciplines: Art and Design. UK: Higher Education Academy

Hahn Tapper, A. J. (2013) ‘A Pedagogy of Social Justice Education: Social Identity Theory, Intersectionality, and Empowerment’. Conflict Resolution Quarterly. 30 (4), pp. 411–445.

Shades of Noir (2018) Peekaboo We see you: Whiteness. Available at: https://issuu.com/shadesofnoir/docs/peekaboo_we_see_you_whiteness (Accessed: 10/06/23).

Young Foundation (2022) Diversity and inclusion in Community Land Trusts. Available at: https://www.communitylandtrusts.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Compressed_Diversity-and-Inclusion-in-Community-Land-Trusts-PDF.pdf(Accessed: 10/06/23).