Note:
Diverse references enable:
- Cultural engagement
- Challenges perspectives
- Decenter whiteness
Diverse perspectives enable knowledge to be shared, to be learned. Students want to see themselves. According to Sabri (2015), students produce work that doesn’t resonate with them because they don’t meet the tutor’s ‘aesthetic’.
In an interview with artist Demelza Woodbridge for the Shades of Noir Tell us about it project, Woodbridge shared her experiences as a student of colour:
“I found it really difficult being a student of colour; from dealing with micro-aggressions to having knowledge presented to you by people and from people that don’t look like you. To find strategies to get on, to not let that get in the way of your learning is really hard. To get by you have to kind of almost inhabit two bodies in some way. You have the ‘student body’ and then your ‘personal body’.
Why should you be separated?
Other students don’t have to separate themselves like that.”
(Woodbridge, 2020)
This made me reflect back on my own education years and how the lack of non- eurocentric references affected my approach to the subject I was exploring. It is important that the reference/ resource list shared must be diverse – the importance is not only in their background but their diverse perspectives too. An inclusive reference list challenges the dominant Euro-centric narrative.
In this blog post, titled Inclusive Citation: How Diverse Are Your References?, Professor Maha Bali reiterates the importance of diverse references. Bali probes ‘How many of the people you are citing are people like you, how many people are different from you? How many are dominant (white, male, straight, you name it) and how many are marginal in some way?‘. Bali further explains the practice of citing underrepresented groups and transforming perspectives in your own life.
Bibliography
Bali, M. (2020) Inclusive Citation: How Diverse Are Your References? Maha Bali, 8 May. Available at: https://blog.mahabali.me/writing/inclusive-citation-how-diverse-are-your-references/
Bertram, S. (2020) In-visibility – creating a sense of place, Shades Of Noir. Shades of Noir . Available at: https://shadesofnoir.org.uk/in-visibility-creating-a-sense-of-place/ (Accessed: January 2, 2023).
Richards, A. and Finnigan, T. (2016) Retention and attainment in the disciplines: Art and Design, Retention and attainment in the disciplines: Art and Design | Advance HE. Higher Education Academy. Available at: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/retention-and-attainment-disciplines-art-and-design [Accessed: January 12, 2023].
Shades of noir. (2020) Inclusive Practice: Alchemy – Transformation in Social Justice Teaching. Available at: https://shadesofnoir.org.uk/journals/inclusive-practice
Shades of Noir (2016) “Why does race matter in the learning environment?” DMAW16, Shades Of Noir. Shades of Noir . Available at: https://shadesofnoir.org.uk/why-does-race-matter-in-the-learning-environment-dmaw16/