The project aims to address to needs. Firstly, a conversation with a course leader regarding an the need to address the use of machine translation – through activities whereby human cognition and coping mechanisms could be used for meaning making – rather than bypassing this process via machine. Secondly, to address the othering of (particularly East) Asian students in the university. The plurality of languages acting as a resource for exploring the mediation of worldviews, in addition to the development of the hegemonic (colonial) English. The relationship between culture and language being deeply rooted in how language reflects perspective (Ponorac, 2022) an opportunity to consider language as an aspect of social justice in the anglonormative university space (Odeneyi, 2022).
AI and machine translation enables generic product but lacks process: the cognitive linguistic synthesis of academic voices. In the context of HE, paraphrasing is the process which enables understanding ideas and discourse, and autonomous learning. Translanguaging optimizes the potential for communication through accessing different linguistic features of ‘autonomous languages’ (Garcia, 2009, p.140). This has benefits for both L1 and L2 speakers: a lack of worldview awareness in our first language results from ‘the fact that as we master our native tongue, it in turn masters us’ (Fantini, 1989, p. 2). ‘Linguistic determinism’ is the system through which we understand and mediate the world, being exposed to a second language may expand tis view and aid participation with other cultural groups (Ibid, pp.2-3). This mediation regards learners as social agents focus on meaning making and communicating beyond linguistic and cultural barriers; all mediation relying on collaborative processes (CE, 2022).
Teaching and assessment in HE has traditionally focused on the cogitative rather than the affective (Shepherd, 2007). The Language Development scheme of work began with an analysis of learning outcomes and unit briefs through the lens of ‘cognitive domains’ (Bloom et al., 1956; Anderson and Krathwohl, 2001; Krathwohl, 2002) – see example scheme of work. However, the seminar skills lessons had leaned more towards encouraging learners to participate in group ‘seminar’ interaction with a focus on affective domains, whilst employing systemic functional language (see below), emphasising the empathy and mutual inclusion that is required for dialogic learning to take place (Friere, 2005, p. 90).
My pedagogical background as a teacher in EFL draws on a communicative approach, which frames learning as both a communicative (Nunan, 1991) and social (Vygotsky, 1987) act, which in language teaching requires looking ‘under the hood’ to understand hidden cultural context (Poehner and Lantolf, 2024, p. 2). My approach in EAP also leans towards Matthiesen and Halliday’s (1997) ‘systemic functional linguistics.’ SFL has developed as a pedagogical tool for the analysis of ‘functional and structural systems in texts,’ (Tibbetts and Chapman, 2023, p. 79), ‘connecting features of language with the social actions with which they correlate’ (Ding and Bruce, 2017: 70 in Tibbetts and Chapman, 2023, p. 79). By texts we mean both written and spoken output. I am interested in understanding the potential of identity and agency for both students and practitioners in EAP and therefore follow the work of Alex Ding which focuses both on the politics of EAP and how it can be informed through social theory and Bourdieu’s socio-analysis (University of Leeds, 2025). I had been introduced to Bourdieu’s (1991) ‘linguistic capital’ by PG Cert Fellow Jeff, highlighting how this resonates with the experience of “non-native” (L2) speakers of English at UAL, and how academic and societal ‘markets’ privilege English over other languages.
My intervention therefore attempts to bring the multilingualism of the Language Development classroom into focus through the backgrounds of students themselves, seeing this as a pedagogically resourceful and legitimate part of classroom practice which promotes ‘greater linguistic, epistemic and culturally (more) open inclusion’ (Odeneyi, 2022, p. 5). The ‘rhetorical power’ of ‘reimagining’ conversations in the HE space goes beyond teaching and learning (Ibid, p. 7), and this study aims to support both classroom practice, institutional change. .
References
Anderson, L. W., and Krathwohl, D. R. (2001) A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Complete Edition. New York: Longman.
Bloom, B.S., Engelhart, M.D., Furst, E.J., Hill, W.H. and Krathwohl, D.R., (1956) ‘Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals.’ Handbook 1: Cognitive domain. pp. 1103-1133 New York: Longman.
Krathwohl, D.R. (2002) ‘A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy: An Overview’ Theory Into Practice, Vol. 41, No. 4, pp. 212-218 Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1477405 (Accessed 11 February, 2025)
Nunan, D. (1991) ‘Communicative Tasks and the Language Curriculum.’ TESOL Quarterly. 25 (2): 279–295. Available at: doi:10.2307/3587464. JSTOR 3587464. (Accessed on 20 February 2025)
Poehner, M.E., and Lantolf, J.P. (2024) Sociocultural Theory and Second Language: Developmental Education Elements in Language Teaching. Cambridge: CUP. DOI: 10.1017/9781009189422
Shepherd, K. (2007) ‘Higher education for sustainability: seeking affective learning outcomes,’ International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education Vol. 9 No. 1, pp. 87-98 DOI 10.1108/14676370810842201
Vygotsky, L. S. (1987) ‘Thinking and speech’. In R.W. Rieber & A.S. Carton (Eds.), The collected works of L.S. Vygotsky, Volume 1: Problems of general psychology (pp. 39–285). New York: Plenum Press. (Original work published 1934.)
Having moved on from the swampy lowlands (Cook, 2009, p. 279), I now find myself in the research jungle, where I may encounter unexpected obstacles – but, thinking reflexively, perhaps opportunities for valuable insights, not only into the view of student participants in the study – but also the tensions that exist between the pedagogical approach and the institution itself – at least on a course level.
Indeed, I did feel somewhat feel ambushed when I received an email which effectively intrusted me to cease and desist with the intervention with one of my post grad marketing groups. The focus on ‘translanguaging’ – despite only being only a small part of the lesson – seemed to be puffing students off from attending. Any activity focused on multicultural community building should take place outside the class time. This in contrast to the generally positive and supportive feedback I had otherwise had from both students and course leaders – motivation through inclusivity which underpins the rationale for the intervention itself. However, this also presents an opportunity to understand the viewpoint of these students – and the demands of the department- at course level.
This unexpected direction from a course leader has however motivated to implement the qualitative data collection both pragmatically and strategically. In a previous workshop at LCC, critical friendship had highlighted that need to consider the language ability and comprehension of participants (as largely L2 users of English) of any questions in interviews or focus groups. The language appropriate for any survey would also need to be graded to the extent that all participants could access the necessary response – and be able to articulate this. For this reason, I have decided to advance a volley shot of surveys – this designed to reach the maximum range of participants – especially those who I may not see again in the Language Development classroom, and will be delivered via Moodle announcement to all the various course groups who had been included in the intervention. However, these survey questions would also serve as the basis of any semi structured interview or focus group – allowing participants time to read, understand (translate if necessary) the questions.
The synchronous data collection would potentially involve a much smaller number of participants and would also need to be organized as appropriate to the wishes of the student participants. Where this can form a meaningful learning experience as part of the lesson (this is an opportunity to apply the seminar skills that we have developed earlier in the scheme of work), and where participants are no longer willing, or able, to engage with this ‘teaching moment’ (O’Reilly, 2025), I will organize ad hoc outside the class time. This also attempts to respect the principles of ‘participatory action research’ (Lenette, 2024).
I hope that the outcome of this research can provide meaningful insights for both learners and teachers – including myself. Something I have been working on in my head (although see Holmes, 2025 for development) is articulating a rationale for the intervention and the study – so rather than attempt to justify the intervention here – I will begin a new post in order to do this.
References:
Cook, T. (2009) ‘The purpose of mess in action research: building rigour though a messy turn,’ Educational Action Research, 17- (2)- 277-291, DOI: 10.1080/09650790902914241
Developing the research design requires my reflexivity for both avoid bias and contextualize the positionalities (Archer, 2007; Yip, 2024; Creswell, 2013) of both my self and the participants. As Schön (1983) posits, I need to reflect both in (ontologically) and on (reflexively and epistemologically) this process, my current view being from the ‘swampy lowlands’ (Schön, 1983 in Cook, 2009, p. 279). However, before I can move on to higher ground, this ‘messy’ moment needs to be accounted for; omitting this would not ‘offer a true and honest picture of the research process’ (Ibid).
Selecting the most appropriate method for data collection is the dilemma I now find myself in. Whilst, interviews or focus groups may provide richer more nuanced data for thematic analysis, I am cognizant of the limitations of scale and reach that this will present, given the small scale nature and time limitations of this study. Creating questionnaires would potentially provide a greater reach and the possibility for anonymity which may yield more enlightening insights, without the risk of participants feeling obliged to provide the answers that I as the teacher/ researcher want to hear. Once the questions are designed the production and delivery of a digital form would be relatively easy, plus the pragmatics of asynchronous data collection will enable participants to respond when they can. Organizing time for interviews will present logistical issues, both for myself and for the participants.
Interviews, which can be understood as an empirical situations, should only function as a data collection tool for that which exists within that empirical situation (Alvesron, 2012, p. 9). However, research in itself should be treated as a pedagogy – a teaching moment (O’Reilly, 2025) and therefore the classroom where the intervention itself takes place would seem the most logical and ethical space in which to conduct an interview or focus group- especially if the artefact (see examples) can be used to stimulate the conversation in response to the (semi structured) questions. In terms of the time this would also mean using the opportunity of class time – as a reflective language development activity for the students and the possibility of an inclusive participative research which gives agency to the students to affect change in the curriculum. That said, the appeal of digital form remains.
From the beginning I have been open with the students about the process – and the fact that we don’t really know what will happen or how we are going to it. I frame it not as my research but rather our research, and with the aim of creating a space for ‘participatory action research’ (Lenette, 2024), I want to share the decision making at different stages of the research design. In conversation with a Chinese student I presented my dilemma and she suggested that a focus group would likely yield deeper insights as I would be able to elicit more from participants and they would be able to engage with each other’s responses (this cross-cultural spoken interactivity is also a key teaching aim of my lesson design).
Through conversation with colleagues and tutors at the workshop this week, I learn that others have similar dilemmas, but that in order to overcome my dilemma I could in fact simply employ both methods – this will give opportunity to as many students who wish to participate to do so (either anonymously or in person) to the possibility of gaining a more macro, quantitative picture as well as a more nuanced thematic analysis, the two data sets could even be compared against each other.
Whilst we still don’t know what will happen or how exactly we will get there, having reflected on this moment, I feel that I am more confident to begin the ascent into the foothills.
References:
Alverson, M. (2012) ‘Views on interviews: A skeptical review,’ in Interpreting Interviews, 9- 42, Sage ps://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781446268353
Cook, T. (2009) ‘The purpose of mess in action research: building rigour though a messy turn,’ Educational Action Research, 17- (2)- 277-291, DOI: 10.1080/09650790902914241
Creswell, J. W. (2013) Qualitative inquiry and research design: choosing among five approaches. 3rd ed. London: Sage Publications Ltd.
O’Reilly J. (2025) Workshop 1: Action research project, 2025-26 PG Cert Academic Practice. London College of Communication, 26 September 2025
Schön, D. A. (1983) The Reflective Practitioner. New York: Basic Books.
Yip, S.Y. (2024) ‘Positionality and reflexivity: negotiating insider-outsider positions within and across cultures’ International Journal of Research & Method in Education Vol 47-Issue 3-pp.222-232
Retentionof Language Development (LD)students atLondon College of Fashion (LCF)
Translation, MediationandCognition
Inclusivity in the “international” multi-cultural, multi-lingual university space.
Contextualization
Regarding my own positionality, and ontology, I am cognizant of my relative privilege – as a white man in my late 40s living in the capital city of an advanced capitalist economy in the Global North, not to mention the fact that I speak English as a first language – I am, ostensibly, close to the apex of the power pyramid.
However, the murder of Steven Lawrence in Eltham SE London 1993, the consequence of the everyday street level racism of the 1980s and 1990s, and the demonstration that racism permeated institutions and social structures, provoked my belief in anti-racism (Kendi, 2019). “White privilege” often confused with wealth and power, being the “absence of having to live with the consequences of racism” (C4, 2020). I remember vividly the aftermath, the faces of his killers, assured that the system would protect them from justice. The murder eventually resulted in the Macpherson Report (1999), with the promise of “a pivotal moment in the advance of race equality in Britain” (Gillborn et al., 2017, pp. 848-849).
Racism involves both ideological and practical subordination (Golash- Borza, 2016), the synthesis of prejudice and power structures to sustain the dominance of privilege; “white supremacy” being a system which grants protections and power (Saad, 2020). Racism is perhaps less about the measure of social characteristics than the relationship between the dominant and the subordinate (Bhavnani, Mizra and Meeto, 2005), can be covert (Coates and Morrison, 2011), and becomes institutionalized when organizations fail to provide “an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture, or ethnic origin” (MacPherson, 1999, para 6.34). Inequalities may emerge unintentionally (Banaji, Fiske & Massey, 2021) and, in the HE context, examples of systemic and structural racial inequality include gaps in award, retention and progression, and differing experiences of “othering” (Advance HE, 2021 – also see Holmes (2025a) blog post on race).
Fig 1. Percentage Continuation by Ethnicity (5 way). (UAL, 2025)
UAL data (see example figure 1) is useful in analyzing disparities among home students, however my intervention focuses, primarily, on a demographic, which must also be addressed reflexively regarding race and class. Chinese students axiologically represent global socio- economic superiority over home students given the price tag of their tuition fees being at least 100% more than their home student counterparts. The intersectional lens of social class, overlooked in the breakdown of data, and potentially a factor in the perception and treatment of Chinese students, ironically given the logic of disenfranchisements in Crenshaw’s (1991) thesis of intersectionality.
Anecdotally, Chinese students themselves have indicated their cognizance of socio- economic class superiority over home students. This is further compounded by the data collected regarding different racial groups being orientated by the requirements of the 2010 Equality Act (Gov.UK, 2023), international students absent via the intersectional lenses afforded to the analysis of home students. There is no specific data about the actual number of Chinese students at UAL, yet it is common knowledge that they make up the vast proportion of international students.
One struggle for (non-compulsory) LD is attendance, and one potential factor affecting this may be perceptions around inclusivity and identity. It is a conundrum that through the universal offer, those who are in most need of support may feel intimidated by more competent speakers (including L1) and are then less inclined to attend.
In the multicultural, multilingual space of the LD classroom, Chinese students will usually all sit together, this is understandable from the perspective of a shared language and identity, and not surprising with over 150,000 Chinese nationally, 90,000 of whom are postgraduates, that many should end up spending a lot of time with other Chinese students (Ebel, 2024, p.7). These students disclose that they “want to integrate better” and diversify friendship groups but feel unable to do this; often citing that they feel like they are being treated as sources of revenue (“cash cows”) rather than as valued members of the community (Ibid).
A critical incident observed during a presentation workshop illustrated this exclusivity. There were 8 students – all female – 7 home (mainly white – but one black British) and one Chinese. The Chinese student sat alone at the front, so I asked the student to sit with the others so that she could participate in group work. However, the home students worked together and still excluded the Chinese student. The refusal of the home students to be inclusive – struck me as being something endemic within the university. This student will be reluctant to repeat the experience – affecting attendance and learning. Students in HE do not acknowledge these microaggressions as being racism, although a deeper exploration reveals that this denial is rooted in the lack of discourse around “‘anti-Asian racism,” and may be obscured and complicated by intersections “with other power axes such as gender” (Yu et al. 2023, p.1700). The exclusion of the student was based on their racialized -“othered” characteristic. Central to this identity is the language barrier, although it is the plurality of languages that may hold the key to building an intercultural space and the mediation of worldviews, not restricted to the acquisition of the hegemonic (colonial) language: English.
Translanguaging and Paraphrasing
Translanguaging is the act of accessing different linguistic features or various modes of “autonomous languages,” to optimize the potential for communication (Garcia, 2009, p.140). However, as Friere (2005, p.90) notes, dialogue cannot exist when one or both parties lack humility. This means that teachers must foster a space where mutual inclusion can occur.
Paraphrasing is an essential skill in academic discourse, both in the production of writing and speaking, for several reasons. AI and machine translation enables generic product but lacks process: the cognitive linguistic synthesis of academic voices. In the context of HE, it is this process which enables students to demonstrate understanding of ideas and discourse, and crucially, enable autonomous learning. It also offers opportunities to explore how the differences between language systems can reveal the plurality of paradigmatic world views. The relationship between culture and language is deeply rooted in how language reflects perspective, where the plurality of ideas results from the plurality of languages in use (Ponorac, 2022).
A “worldview lack of awareness of our own language and language use arises from the fact that as we master our native tongue, it in turn masters us” (Fantini, 1989, p.2). This “Linguistic determinism” can be defined as the system through which we understand and mediate the world and individuals exposed to a second language may develop an expanded vision of the world, facilitating participation with other cultural groups, “expanding qualitatively our social possibilities” (Ibid, pp.2-3). This mediation also has cognitive, social, and pragmatic benefits for first language (L1) speakers of English in engaging in this collaboration in the LD classroom. Learners as social agents focus on meaning making and communicating beyond linguistic and cultural barriers; all mediation relies on collaborative processes (CE, 2022).
Reflection, Action and Evaluation
Through peer discussion I have gained more confidence with the validity of the idea, for example PG Cert Fellow Jeff highlighted how the experience of “non-native” (L2) speakers of English at UAL resonates with Bourdieu’s (1991) concept of linguistic capital, privileging English – and English speakers – within academic and societal “markets,” marginalizing those who are not. My tutor Kwame also gave me inspiration with how to frame this intervention through examples to my students – in the Ghanaian language of his parents there are no differentiations between pronouns, as opposed to English (where recently this has become a highly politicized issue); drawing on another peer example, the diverse language of colours also provides a way into understanding the relationship between how language(s) can inform our world view.
Fig 2. Language Development LCF Speaking and Listening Class: Student writing Chinese translations of key words from discussion (May 2025)
Fig. 3. Language Development_BSc Fashion Management Class: Student writing Chinese translation of keyword for analysis (May 2025)
I have afforded opportunities for students (only Chinese thus far) to write translations for key words and terms in the whiteboard/ flip chart (a tactile typography outside the digital space). This not only brings the visualization of culture through the visual representation of language into the foreground, but also provides the opportunity to explain the complexity of meanings, and how this might affect our world view (see Figure 2. and 3). Thus far this has been an illuminating process in which students’ culture and language is not hidden but forms a meaningful part of the learning process. This metalinguistic level of discussion also has potential for first language speakers in understanding how language informs their world view, although they will also need to be supported in the metalinguistics required for this discourse.
My idea is based on two activities/ procedures – firstly, using the above to allow students to provide a translation then present their evaluation of the different ways that languages interpret this word, ad hoc during lessons. Secondly, drawing on Intercultural Communication Zine workshops – (see figure 4 and 5) – also see Ramejkis (n.d.) and Holmes (2025b), a process of collaborative interaction and production of Zines or posters, where real collaboration and cultural sharing can occur. This is also intended to be a means of exploring dialectical variation both lexico-grammatically and phonemically, applicable to the range of contexts within the English-speaking body of students.
Fig 4. Welcome Week Zine Workshop Chelsea College of Arts (Autumn 2024)
Fig 5. Example of student Zine created at CCW Welcome Week Zine workshops (Autumn 2024)
This intervention will be evaluated cross sectionally using an ethnographic approach of student interactions and qualitative surveys (Saunders, Thornhill and Lewis, 2023) which could yield insights into student’s perceptions about both the value of the activities and their attitudes towards speakers of other languages – and through the analysis of the collaborative products themselves.
The procedure aims to practice mediation, paraphrasing, translanguaging and expansion of world view, in the production of a cross-cultural artefact – exploring both denotation and connotation in the representation and cognitive significance of language. In 2025/26 I aim to foster a community of discourse where a plurality of cultures and languages can be seen as a gift rather than a burden to the learning experiences of all students.
Word count 1650 (not including title, figure captions and reference list)
List of Figures
1. Percentage Continuation by Ethnicity (5 way). (UAL, 2025)
2. Language Development LCF Speaking and Listening Class: Student writing Chinese translations of key words from discussion (May 2025)
3. Language Development_BSc Fashion Management Class: Student writing Chinese translation of keyword for analysis (May 2025)
4. Welcome Week Zine Workshop Chelsea College of Arts (Autumn 2024)
5. Examples of student Zines created at CCW Welcome Week Zine workshops (Autumn 2024)
Banaji, M. R., Fiske. ,S. T., and Massey, D. S. (2021) ‘Systemic racism: individuals and interactions, institutions and society’ Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 82.
Bhavnani, R, Mirza, H S, and Meetoo, V. (2005). Tackling the roots of racism: Lessons for success. Bristol: Policy Press
Bourdieu, P. (1991) Language and Symbolic Power. Edited by J.B. Thompson. Translated by G. Raymond and M. Adamson. Cambridge: Polity Press
C4 – Channel 4. (2020) The School That Tried to End Racism. [Online}. Youtube. 30 June. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I3wJ7pJUjg (Accessed on 5th June 2025)
Coates, R. D., and Morrison, J. (2011) ‘Covert Racism Theories, Institutions, and Experiences Series: Studies’ in Critical Social Sciences, Volume: 32.
Crenshaw, K. (1991) ‘Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color.’ Stanford Law Review 43 (6), pp.1241-1299
Ebel, C.P., (2024) ‘How can UK universities improve their strategies for tackling integration challenges among Chinese students?’ Higher Education Policy Institute –HEPI Report 183
Fantini, A.E. (1989) ‘Language and Worldview’ Journal of Bahá’í Studies Vol. 2-2: this paper was presented in Ottawa, October 7–10, 1988, at the Association’s Thirteenth Annual Conference, “Towards a Global Civilization.”
Friere, P. (2005) Pedagogy of the Opressed: 30th Anniversary Edition, (Originally published 1970): Noew York: Continuem
García, O. (2009) ‘Education, multilingualism and translanguaging in the 21st century.’ In: Ajit Mohanty, Minati Panda, Robert Phillipson and Tove Skutnabb-Kangas (eds). Multilingual Education for Social Justice: Globalising the local. New Delhi: Orient Blackswan, pp. 128-145
Gillborn, D., Demack, S., Rollock, N., and Warmington, P. (2017) ‘Moving the goalposts: Education policy and 25 years of the Black/White achievement gap’ British Educational Research Journal Vol. 43, No. 5, pp. 848–874 DOI: 10.1002/berj.3297
Golash-Boza, T. (2016) ‘A critical and comprehensive theory of race and racism’, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 2(2): 129– 41.
Yu, J., Rai, R., Lim, M.A., and Li, H. (2023) ‘The post‑racial myth: rethinking Chinese university students’ experiences and perceptions of racialised microaggressions in the UK.’ Higher Education (2024): 88:1695–1710 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-023-01126-5
I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group.
(McIntosh, 1989)
I remember vividly the aftermath of the murder of Steven Lawrence in Eltham SE London 1993, my heart sank seeing the smiling faces of his killers, secure in the knowledge that the system would prevent them being brought to justice. Steven would have been a little bit older than me, and for me the injustice (just as with any murder) was the life that he would have lived denied by his killers.
The murder of George Floyd in 2020 by police in the US provoked worldwide ‘Black Lives Matter’ (BLM) protests which served as a catalyst for Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) initiatives. However, despite the billions invested (8 billion in US for example) in EDI its effectiveness in driving change is questionable (Sadiq, 2023). The racist murder of Steven Lawrence eventually resulted in the Macpherson Report (1999), hailed as ‘a pivotal moment in the advance of race equality in Britain’ (Gillmore et al., 2017, pp. 848-849). However, the actual progress made since is perhaps equally disheartening.
Racism refers to both ideological belief of a hierarchy of races and those practices which subordinate certain racial groups (Golash- Borza, 2016). The combination of prejudice and power structures sustain the dominance of white privilege and negatively impact the subordinate groups, ‘white supremacy’ being a system which grants white people unearned privileges, protections and power (Saad, 2020). Bhavnani, Mizra and Meeto (2005) argue that racism is less about the measure of social characteristics and is more about the relationship between the dominant and the subordinate. It can also be covert (Coates and Morrison, 2011) and becomes institutionalized when organizations fail to provide ‘an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture, or ethnic origin’ (Machpherson, 1999, para 6.34).
Systemic inequalities may emerge unintentionally and unconsciously (Banaji, Fiske & Massey, 2021) and, in the HE context, examples of systemic and structural racial inequality include gaps in award, retention and progression, under representation of staff, experiences and representation relating to learning, curriculum and research; and differing experiences of ‘othering’, belonging and safety (Advance HE, 2021).
Using the analytic framework of Critical Race Theory (CRT), Gillmore et al. (2017) explore the impacts on education of the murder of Steven Lawrence and argue that policy interventions have actually widened the gap maintaining Black disadvantage; white students being at least 150% more likely to reach the benchmark, concluding that the negative impacts of policies are much more defined than any reduction in inequality. Likewise, Garrett (2024, p.2) drawing on Advanced HE (2022) data and using a CRT lens finds that whilst the number of white students progressing to professor level increased year on year, the BAME students and academics saw a corresponding decrease. Applying an intersectional lens, the disparity between white and black females is even greater, there being only 61 out of almost 23,000 professors (Ibid, p.1).
In the education context, ‘policy is always political’ producing the discourse of success and failure, which ultimately provides advantage for some students over others (Bradbury, 2019, p. 256), and whilst the ‘leaky academic pipeline’ is examined at the PhD level by Garett (2024), the start point of this pipeline is primary school entry. A ‘datafied system’ perpetuates social inequalities and white dominance through systematic underestimation of English as an Additional Language (EAL) children, many from minoritized communities (Bradbury, 2019, p. 255). There is a tacit intentionality of policy makers in the design of baseline assessments which disadvantages EAL (often racialized) students from the beginning (Ibid). This will perhaps become more obvious policy in future, a new Reform- led council ‘DOGE’ team in Kent aims to get rid of all English as a Second or Other Language (ESOL) teaching provision and have immigrant children use Duolingo (Holl-Allen, 2025).
Whilst the UAL data shows, for example, comparative data between continuation by ethnicity (see Fig 1) it does not take account of first language, which may offer a more intersectional lens to the ‘leaky pipeline.’
Fig 1. Percentage Continuation by Ethnicity (5 way). (UAL, 2025)
It could also be argued that academia stubbornly refuses to acknowledge its complicity in the reproduction of racial injustice and the recreation of inequality (Warmington, 2018). For example, white Professor James Orr (2022) of Cambridge university, takes aim at Advance HE initiatives such as the Athena Swan and Race Equality Charter, which oblige Universities to “make big structural top-down changes” to teaching, research, appointments, and admissions (significantly the two academics interviewed for this film for the Telegraph are not white).
Professor Arad Ahmed suggests that the de facto impacts have created an oppressive environment for academics and “have not been helpful for free speech” maintaining that there is plenty of evidence that implicit bias training “forced on staff,” has no impact, and that anti racism training is worse “as it pushes a particular ideology” (Ibid). Dr Vincent Harriman challenges the claim of the Co-chair of Racial Governance Committe that there is substantial evidence of systemic racism which all universities, institutionally, perpetuate, citing five reports of racism in five years, and based on this framing a charity turning universities “woke,” Orr suggests that any future award from advanced HE should be thrown straight in the Cam (Ibid).
It is worth considering that “white privilege” is often confused with wealth and power, however, in reality, it is the “absence of having to live with the consequences of racism” and whilst overt acts of racist violence and murder can provoke catalysts for change, actual systemic change is resisted by white hegemony whilst simultaneously denying that racism even exists, or that attempts to confront racism are in fact racist themselves – just take a look at the comments to the Channel 4 (2020) video cited above.
Banaji, M. R., Fiske. ,S. T., and Massey, D. S. (2021) ‘Systemic racism: individuals and interactions, institutions and society’ Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 82.
Bhavnani, R, Mirza, H S, and Meetoo, V. (2005). Tackling the roots of racism: Lessons for success. Policy Press
Bradbury, A., (2020) ‘A critical race theory framework for education policy analysis: The case of bilingual learners and assessment policy in England.’ Race Ethnicity and Education, 23(2), pp.241-260
Channel 4. (2020) The School That Tried to End Racism. [Online}. Youtube. 30 June. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I3wJ7pJUjg (Accessed on 5th June)
Coates, R. D., and Morrison, J. (2011) ‘Covert Racism Theories, Institutions, and Experiences Series: Studies’ in Critical Social Sciences, Volume: 32.
Garrett, R. (2024) ‘Racism shapes careers: career trajectories and imagined futures of racialised minority PhDs in UK higher education.’ Globalisation, Societies and Education, pp.1–15.
Gillborn, D., Demack, S., Rollock, N., and Warmington, P. (2017) ‘Moving the goalposts: Education policy and 25 years of the Black/White achievement gap’ British Educational Research Journal Vol. 43, No. 5, pp. 848–874 DOI: 10.1002/berj.3297
Golash-Boza, T. (2016). ‘A critical and comprehensive theory of race and racism’, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 2(2): 129– 41.
Warmington, P., foreword to Arday, J., and Mirza, H., (Eds). (2018) Dismantling Race in Higher Education – Racism, Whiteness and Decolonising the Academy. Palgrave Macmillan.
This intervention aims to deal with two issues which have become manifest in my experience as a Language Development Tutor at LCF (and through my previous work with LD at other colleges) – 1: The use of machine translation in mediating academic communication and 2: the need for greater inclusivity among peers in the “international” university space.
The need for greater cultural inclusivity in the university
Fantini (2022) suggests that language is not merely about teaching “new ways to say old things (i.e., new symbols for old thoughts) rather it aims to aid the discovery, via new language systems, of new ways of “perceiving, of classifying and categorizing, of interacting, and to new ways of thinking about the world.” However, as I will argue, this process is not restricted to the acquisition of the hegemonic (colonial) language: English. “Translanguaging” is the act of accessing different linguistic features or various modes” of what are described as “autonomous languages,” to optimize the potential for communication (Garcia, 2009, p.140). However, as Friere (2005, p.90) notes dialogue cannot exist when one or both parties lack humility.
What happens in the multicultural, multilingual space of the classroom at LCF is that Chinese students (the predominant international student group) will usually all sit together, this is understandable from the perspective of a shared language – and a shared identity. It is not surprising, with over 150,000 Chinese nationally, 90,000 of whom are postgraduates, that many should end up spending a lot of time with other Chinese students (Ebel, 2024, p.7). These students disclose that they ‘want to integrate better’ and diversify friendship groups but feel unable to do this; and they often cite that the feel like they are being treated as sources of revenue (a “cash cow”) ‘rather than as valued members of the community (Ibid).
One example of exclusion, I observed a few weeks ago, was when delivering part one of a presentation workshop for BA Fashion Marketing. There were 8 students – 7 home (mainly white – but one black British) and one Chinese. The Chinese student sat alone at the front, there was a space among the other students on the back table, so I asked the student to sit with the others so that she could participate in the peer-based activities. However, when these activities began the home students worked together in pairs and small groups whilst the Chinese student was excluded. Whilst I tried to involve the student, the refusal of the home students to include the Chinese student – which may have required some adaptation, and indeed empathy – struck me as being something endemic within the university, and I imagine that this student will be very reluctant to repeat the experience of the workshop in part two– affecting attendance and learning. Students in HE do not acknowledge these microaggressions as being racism, although a deeper exploration reveals that this denial is tooted in the lack of discourse around “‘anti-Asian racism,” and may be obscured and complicated by intersections “with other power axes such as gender” (Yu et al. 2023, p.1700)
Had there been other Chinese students, then most likely these students would have worked together. My reason for moving the student was purely to facilitate communicative activities, however the opportunity for mediated cross-cultural communication exists, and would, in my view, benefit all students. What I observed in the above was, in my evaluation, an “othering” of the Chinese student, and the exclusion was based on this “othered” characteristic. Of course, central to this cultural identity is the language barrier, although it is the plurality of languages that may hold the key to building an intercultural space and the mediation of worldviews.
Paraphrasing and mediating as a cognitive process.
Paraphrasing is an essential skill in academic discourse, both in the production of writing and speaking, for several reasons. However, in the era of AI, this is a productive task which can be completed automatically by machine. This enables product, i.e. achieving what appears on the surface to be an academic text to the genre, but lacks the essential process: the cognitive linguistic synthesis of academic voices, i.e. that of the secondary source author and that of the primary researcher writer. In the context of HE it is this process which enables the student to understand, and demonstrate understanding of ideas and discourse, and crucially, through this synthetic process, enable autonomous learning.
However, there are significant barriers regarding the ability to do this for students who are using English as a second or other language. The process of paraphrasing, and indeed writing per se is often mediated through translation tools, this also risks subverting the cognitive processing on the part of the student; in as much as the text is translated into the first language, synthesized into the first language writing produced by the student, and then translated back into English by machine. However, this does offer some opportunity to investigate how a linguistic difference between one language and another reveal a plurality of cultural perspectives and paradigmatic world view, interpretations of ideas, and on the discourse around them. The relationship between culture and language is deeply rooted in how language reflects cultural perspective, where a plurality of ideas result from plurality of languages in use (Ponorac, 2022).
Fantini (1989, p.2) asserts that a “worldview lack of awareness of our own language and language use arises from the fact that as we master our native tongue, it in turn masters us.” This “Linguistic determinism” can be defined as the system through which we understand and mediate the world and individuals exposed to a second language may develop an expanded vision of the world, facilitating participation with other cultural groups, “expanding qualitatively our social possibilities” (Ibid, pp.2-3). The mediation of languages also has cognitive, social, and pragmatic benefits.
Mediation is one of the four modes in which the CEFR model organizes communication. Learners seen as social agents engage in receptive, productive, interactive or mediation activities or, more frequently, in a combination of two or more of them. While interaction stresses the social use of language, mediation encompasses and goes beyond that by focusing on making meaning and/or enabling communication beyond linguistic or cultural barriers. Both types of mediation rely on collaborative processes. (CE, 2022)
Proposed Intervention
I have begun talking to Chinese students about their experiences and behaviours (and I am also interested in learning the perceptions and behaviours of the home and other students). I have also afforded opportunities (in Chinese only classes thus far) to get students to write translations for key words and terms in the whiteboard/ flip chart (a more tactile form of typography and opportunity to step outside the digital space). This not only brings the visualization of culture through the visual representation of the language into the foreground, but then provides the opportunity to explain the complexity of meanings, and how this might affect our world view (see Fig 1. and 2). Thus far this has been an illuminating process in which students’ culture and language is not hidden but forms a meaningful part of the learning process. This metalinguistic level of discussion also has potential for first language speakers in understanding how language informs their world view, although they will also need to be supported in the metalinguistics required for this discourse (this is where the expertise of Language Development can support all learners at UAL).
Fig 1. Language Development LCF Speaking and Listening Class: Student writing Chinese translations of key words from discussion (May 2025)
Fig. 2 Language Development_BSc Fashion Management Class: Student writing Chinese translation of keyword for analysis – (May 2025)
My formative idea for this is based on two activities/ procedures – firstly, using the above to allow students to provide a translation then present their evaluation of the different ways that languages interpret this word, ad hoc during lessons. Secondly, drawing on an idea which I came across working with Adam Ramejkis on the Intercultural Communication programme on Zine workshops (see fig 2 and 3. also see Ramejkis (n.d.) and Holmes (2025) blog for more details about Zines) in order to offer an opportunity for cross cultural collaboration, mediation and exploration of identity and perception. This process utilizes interaction and production outside of the digital space, where real collaboration and cultural sharing can occur. It is also intended to be a means of exploring dialectical variation both lexico-grammatically and phonemically, through utilizing synthetic and IPA (EnglishClub, 2025) phonological tools) which is applicable to the range of contexts within the English speaking body of students.
Fig 3. Welcome Week Zine Workshop Chelsea College of Arts Autumn 2024.
In sum, the procedure aims to practice mediation, paraphrasing, translanguaging and expansion of world view perception, in the production of a cross-cultural artefact – which focuses on exploring both denotation and connotation in the representation and cognitive significance of language. Through doing this I want to foster a community of discourse where a plurality of cultures and languages can be seen as a gift rather than a burden to the learning experiences of all students.
Fantini, A.E. (1989) ‘Language and Worldview’ Journal of Bahá’í Studies Vol. 2-2: this paper was presented in Ottawa, October 7–10, 1988, at the Association’s Thirteenth Annual Conference, “Towards a Global Civilization.”
Friere, P. (2005) Pedagogy of the Opressed: 30th Anniversary Edition, (Originally published 1970): Noew York: Continuem
García, Ofelia (2009). ‘Education, multilingualism and translanguaging in the 21st century.’ In: Ajit Mohanty, Minati Panda, Robert Phillipson and Tove Skutnabb-Kangas (eds). Multilingual Education for Social Justice: Globalising the local. New Delhi: Orient Blackswan, pp. 128-145
Yu, J., Rai, R., Lim, M.A., and Li, H. (2023) ‘The post‑racial myth: rethinking Chinese university students’ experiences and perceptions of racialised microaggressions in the UK.’ Higher Education (2024): 88:1695–1710 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-023-01126-5
Using Crenshaw’s (1991) lens, this blog focuses on how Muslim women (MW) navigate social and academic spaces, both from a worldview perspective and that of social identity. The hypervisibility of MW via the hijab and niqab materialize assumptions about disempowerment within the faith and culture of Islam and therefore promote the idea of MW’s lack of agency. Despite the Advance HE (2018) recommendations, which includes the promotion of ‘inclusive environments’ and ‘greater awareness of attainment gaps between different groups,’ UAL (2025) attainment data do not consider the intersection of religion as a characteristic.
Religion is marginalized by secularism (Rekis, 2023, p.782), and the 19th Century division of religious and scientific epistemologies in the West– created a positionality through which religion is classified, however, in much of the world, this separation has not occurred (Appiah, 2014). The conceptualization of a list of paradigm religions and their sub parts, as Appiah (2014) suggests, was the construction of Europeans, who, upon discovering people who were not Christians – to describe what ‘they have instead of Christianity?’ The Equality Act 2010 includes. within its definition, the paradigm religions, but also smaller faiths, providing they have ‘clear structure and belief system’ (McKeown and Dunn, 2021, p.121).
Rekis (2023, p.784) maintains injustice occurs both when social identity is at stake, and, when ‘a person’s worldview is at stake.’ The conflation of two or more social identities can wrongly create assumptions about how they intersect. However, underestimating the connections potentially denies individuals the credibility to speak on those ‘specific theologies,’ placing individuals at a conceptual disadvantage i.e. MW in the contemporary West (Ibid, p.789).
The hijab and niqab are problematized through the frame of a highly gendered- Islamophobia emphasizing ‘incompatibility of aspects of Muslim identity with western values’ (Ramadan, 2022, p.34). This discourse designates MW’s ‘radical otherness’ associating it with religio-cultural oppression and backwardness. Participants, in Ramadan’s (2022, p.108) study, disclose the strategies that they employ to mitigate and recalibrate colleagues’ perceptions, wanting to show them that they are ‘like any other person,’ by chatting and joking with them ‘along the corridors to show them that I am not what you see in the media. We are normal people …’ This is an instinct echoed by Simran Jeet Singh:
When I walk onto an airplane and people are looking at me with fear and funny looks – I strike up conversations – and smile and laugh and eventually pull out pictures of my daughters – so that they can see that I’m just a normal person.
(Trinity University, 2021)
In the video, we can see that he is wearing Sikh head covering, part of difference which, along with his beard and brown skin, signify the ‘radical otherness’ which he senses he must diffuse in the context of the post 9.11 world, where these racial and religious signifiers are enough to stimulate the described reaction. Significantly, he is not a Muslim, although the signifiers of his faith, just like the hijab for MW, are effective in focusing the attention and prejudice of the hegemonic white gaze. Also significant, he is a man, so his agency, in respect of choice of the signifiers of his faith, are assumed.
Jawad (2022) explores the intersection of gender and faith in the context of sport. The notion of women being excluded from participation in Islam is challenged, through the hermeneutical interpretation of the Hadith text as evidence of ‘equality and support for women attaining and maintaining physical capability,’ substantiating the ‘Accept and Respect’ declaration which claims Islam is a religion of enablement and not of prohibition towards women in sport; the onus being on sports educators, administrators, and organizers to ‘incorporate greater awareness of faith-based principles’ and create more inclusive spaces for female Muslims in sport (Ibid). This suggests that adjustment can be made in the hegemonic world to accommodate faith-based differences and (perhaps) highlights the tensions that exist within the perceived need for MW to prove that they are ‘just like’ their colleagues in the dominant culture where their social identity is at stake (as in Ramadan’s 2022 study), and the need to validate a worldview as compatible with the secular world’s claim on gender equality.
Although not having the same lived experience, my approach (and philosophy) regarding discourse around faith and culture, aligns with that of Simran Jeet Singh: ‘no community is a monolith’ – and I try to foster an environment where the differences within each community can be demonstrated, through developing an understanding of ‘where people are coming from – with empathy’ (Trinity University, 2021).
Applying intersectionality to awarding gaps helps to understand how identity and social location influence outcomes (Banerjee, 2024, p.35). The current UAL (2025) data for the student population shows that nearly 60% of the cohort would identify as secular (i.e. no religion) and of those declaring religious membership – Christian (12%) followed by Muslim (4.2%) are the largest groups (see fig 1). However, whilst data is presented regarding attainment and gender (see fig 2), and ethnicity (see fig 3), there is no data on religion, or for that matter, data that helps illustrate the relationship between intersecting identities (e.g. religion, race and gender) and attainment, ultimately a (quantitative) KPI of EDI.
Advance HE (2018) ‘Religion and belief: supporting inclusion of staff and students in higher education and colleges Section 3: Student inclusion: access, experience and learning’ Advance HE
Appiah, K.A. (2014) Is religion good or bad? (This is a trick question) Available at: https://youtu.be/X2et2KO8gcY (Accessed on 15.05.25)
Banarjee, P. (2024) ‘Connecting the dots: a systematic review of explanatory factors linking contextual indicators, institutional culture and degree awarding gaps,’ Higher Education Evaluation and Development Vol. 18 No. 1, 2024 pp. 31-52 DOI 10.1108/HEED-07-2023-0020
Crenshaw, K. (1991) ‘Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color.’ Stanford Law Review 43 (6), pp.1241-1299
McKeown, P., and Dunn, R.A. (2021) A ‘Life‑Style Choice’ or a Philosophical Belief?: The Argument for Veganism and Vegetarianism to be a Protected Philosophical Belief and the Position in England and Wales,’ Liverpool Law Review 42:207–241 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10991-020-09273-w
Ramadan, (2022) ‘When faith intersects with gender: the challenges and successes in the experiences of Muslim women academics,’ Gender and Education, 34:1, 33-48, DOI: 10.1080/09540253.2021.1893664
Rekis, J. (2023) ‘Religious Identity and Epistemic Injustice: An Intersectional Account.’ Hypatia 38, pp779–800. doi:10.1017/hyp.2023.86
Trinity University (2016) Challenging Race, Religion, and Stereotypes in Classroom Available at: https://youtu.be/0CAOKTo_DOk (Accessed on 15.05.25)
Crenshaw (1991, p.1245) highlights the ‘need to account for multiple grounds for identity’ in understanding the construction of the social world and asserts that individuals with ‘multiple targeted identities’ are disempowered through hegemony and systemic inequality. These identities are tied to social group membership (Lukkien, Chauhan and Otaye-Ebede, 2024. p.3), one such group identity being disability. The Social Model of Disability suggests that disability is constructed by barriers in the hegemonic social world and that this world can be (re)designed to include the needs and differences of all individuals (UAL, no date).
What ‘makes people disabled is not their disability,’ rather it is barriers constructed in society; the Paralympics being evidence of an opportunity for ‘people to shine’ when these barriers are removed (Adeptian and Webborn, 2020). Whilst street level discrimination against both race and disability has reduced, the more difficult progress remains in tackling dominant social systems, and although Ade acknowledges his own empowered position as a sports and media personality, he represents both black and disabled identities and articulates the parallel struggle against systemic inequality (Ibid). He draws a comparison between the Paralympics and the Black Lives Matter movement as critical moments which made these struggles visible in the hegemonic social world. Whilst the narrative of his own lived experience alludes to the compounded disenfranchisement of intersectional identities, it was Stoke Mandeville hospital and the disability community where he found his ‘tribe’ (Ibid), this ultimately mitigating the disempowerment of being a Nigerian immigrant with polio growing up in East London.
Chay Brown (2023) explores complex intersectional identities as a trans, gay man, not neuro typical, and having experienced mental health difficulties, whilst acknowledging potential privilege within the trans community, as a white man. He identifies that for trans people, struggling with social situations and anxiety can present significant challenges specific to navigating the codes that exist within the LGBTQ+ community (Ibid). This highlights the complexity of intersecting identities within the membership of a wider disenfranchised group. Brown (2023) asserts that ‘If we’re not working for disabled trans people we’re not working for the trans community because we’re missing people out.’
Christine Sun Kim (2024), in her context as Asian American deaf artist, is driven to force the voice of the deaf community into the everyday lives of the hearing world. This is realized through her insistence on communicating through sign language, signs, symbols, infographics and scaled up captioning of the city – the sky; through creating a greater visibility of useful communications for deaf people she seeks to put deaf lives into the minds of the hearing, and challenge social norms (Ibid).
The common theme of these narratives is that the hegemonic (ableist) world, where the intersection of disability is made invisible, can be reconstructed at both the micro and macro level and provide access through making disabled people visible and included. If the world can be designed to accommodate differences, then it will work in optimizing opportunities for everyone.
In the context of UAL, data suggests that there are improving opportunities for attainment: students with declared disabilities (see fig.1), achieving an overall 3pp higher than those without (Campos-Barbi, 2025a, p14), although completion rates for disabled students are significantly lower (Campos-Barbi, 2025b, p.12), and crucially this data does not take into account the intersection of other multiple identities of disempowerment (Crenshaw, 1991). This lack of an intersectional lens points to positionality (Bayeck, 2022) in the data design, interpretation, and potential impact.
Bayeck (2022, p.7) suggests it is the ‘complex interplay of identity, space and context’ that informs positionality. I consider the accessibility to learning spaces as afforded by the design of the university, and the design of my lessons in meeting the needs of complex student identities. However, I also consider this from the perspective of my own context as Language Development tutor. Crenshaw (1991, p.1249) identifies language barriers as a source of intersectional subordination which limit opportunity; language remains invisible in the UAL data. For example, a student asked me whether we could hold a tutorial online, they had disclosed to me that they had some mental health issues which prevented them from being able to attend in person; it was a small adjustment that I was happy to make. However, on reflection, did other aspects of privilege provide the agency for this solicitation? This student was female, white, British and speaks English as a first language. Would a more disenfranchising intersectionality have prevented this request from being made, resulting in a lack of participation? Would this have led to sub optimal attainment?
References
Adepitan, A. and Webborn, N. (2020). Nick Webborn interviews Ade Adepitan. ParalympicsGB Legends [Online]. Youtube. 27 August. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnRjdol_j0c (Accessed on 23.04.25)
Bayeck, R.Y. (2022) Positionality: ‘The Interplay of Space, Context and Identity,’ International Journal of Qualitative Methods Volume 21: 1–9: DOI: 10.1177/16094069221114745
Brown, C. (2023) Interview with ParaPride. Intersectionality in Focus: Empowering Voices during UK Disability History Month [Online]. Youtube. 13 December. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yID8_s5tjc (Accessed on 15.04.25)
Crenshaw, K. (1991) ‘Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color.’ Stanford Law Review 43 (6), pp.1241-1299
Lukkien, T., Chauhan, T. and Otaye‐Ebede, L. (2024) ‘Addressing the diversity principle–practice gap in Western higher education institutions: A systematic review on intersectionality.’ British Educational Research Journal. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.4096., pp2-7 and pp17-20
Sun, C. (2024). Christine Sun Kim in ‘Friends & Strangers’ – Season 11 | Art21. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://youtu.be/2NpRaEDlLsI (Accessed on 23.04.25)
UAL (no date) ‘The Social Model of Disability at UAL.’ Available at: https://youtu.be/mNdnjmcrzgw (Accessed on 19.04.25).
Here are some reflections on my experience with the Intercultural Communication programme, which offers workshops and resources for developing communication skills and intercultural awareness (UAL, 2025), as well as my interest in the works of Stuart Hall, and how this has informed my thinking about pedagogical approaches with my students at LCF.
‘The intellectual routes’ taken by Stuart Hall and Paul Gilroy played a major role in transforming our understandings of ‘race, youth, schooling and identity’ (Warmington, 2014, p.91), and the development of cultural studies. I first came across Hall et al. (2013 [1978]) during my own studies in the field of public policy, and I was drawn to the chapter by Warmington (2014) because I wanted to learn more about how Hall and others have influenced the way in which we think, teach and learn about culture and identity.
If you think of culture always as a return to roots — R-O-O-T-S — you’re missing the point. I think of culture as routes — R-O-U-T-E-S — the various routes by which people travel, culture travels, culture moves, culture develops, culture changes, cultures migrate, etc.
(Stuart Hall in Paul, 2005)
This play on the homophone (also see microteach post) resonates with me. The first time I came across this quote was in a Language Development sharing session given by Adam Ramejkis, about a program ‘R-O-O-T-S and R-O-U-T-E-S,’ which explores critical dialogues for more equitable and sustainable practice in art and design education (UAL, 2023).
It was with Adam that I worked on (a separate programme) ‘Zine’ workshops during the UAL welcome week. The basic remit for these workshops was that students arrive, are briefed with how to make a ‘zine’ – using the materials (pens, paper, cut up magazines), and then are free to create (see figures 1 and 2 below).
Figure 1. Welcome Week Zine workshops at Camberwell College of Arts Autumn 2024
Fig 2. Welcome Week Zine Workshop Chelsea College of Arts Autumn 2024
What I noticed happened in this multicultural space was that people felt relaxed and willing to communicate with each other, but were not under pressure to do so – i.e. they could choose when to communicate and when to focus on the work. The creative work itself expressing thoughts, feelings – and what we can discover in the moment; cultural identities being not only rooted in the histories, language, and culture of ‘who we are’ and ‘where we come from’, but also, and perhaps more importantly being ‘part of a process of becoming’ (Van Stipriaan, 2013, pp.206-207); see examples below (fig 4).
Figure 3. Examples of student Zines created at CCW Welcome Week Zine workshops
In the international classroom, I feel that it is my mission to facilitate a greater integration between cultural groups, but I want to explore a methodology where I can create opportunities for learners to find this without pressuring them to integrate. Culture is the process of ‘constructing a relationship between oneself and the world’ (Hsu, 2017) and, as Hall notes, people need to ‘have a language to speak about where they are and what other possible futures are available to them’ (Ibid). This is a language I want to explore in the intercultural fashion business classroom. See extensive feedback and evaluation of Zine workshops in Appendix, and for many more examples of student and staff produced Zines, see link to ual.amaZINES (2025) in references below.
Hall, S., Critcher, C., Jefferson, T., Clarke, J., and Roberts, B. (2013) Policing the crisis, mugging, the state and law and order. London: Springer Nature [originally published by Red Globe Press 1978]
Van Stipriaan, A. (2013) ‘Roots and the Production of Heritage’ in Contemporary Culture Book Subtitle: New Directions in Art and Humanities. eds: Thissen, J., Zwijnenberg, R., and Zijlmans, K. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press
Warmington, P. (2014) Black British Intellectuals and Education: Multiculturalism’s Hidden History, London: Taylor & Francis Group
