Race, Class and Ethnicity (RaCE)

Aims

The fundamental logics of our network are that societal concerns related to economy, poverty and racism retain their power as influencing factors in everyday places and spaces. How these three intersecting social constructs are understood and materialise are of central concern to the Equality Act 2010 and to the requirements of public bodies to develop anti-discriminatory and inclusive practices.

The RaCE network has established, through its aims, a set of underlying principles geared towards dismantling structural and everyday barriers which contribute to the persistence of inequalities in our contemporary world as it sees this mission as fundamental to developing an inclusive society. Our aims are:

• To provide an open forum for critical, inter/trans/post/cross-disciplinary dialogues about race, class, and ethnicity and their complex intersections.
  
  
• To challenge discriminatory practices which result from race, class and/or ethnicity through discourse and activism.
  
  
• To engage in critical dialogues about ‘Whiteness’ and ‘White privilege’.
  
  
• To convene a series of events which seek to promote and disseminate research, scholarship, and practice on race/class/ethnicity.
  
  
• To develop collaborative relationships and projects with individuals, groups and/or institutions.
  
  

Who we are

Dr Dirisa Mulindwa is the Deputy convenor of the RaCE network. He is the Assistant Head of Academic Operations at the University of Sunderland in London. Dirisa's research focuses largely on development in local communities of the Global South and brings together the concepts of tourism, community development, community empowerment, conservation, poverty alleviation and participation.

For further information or queries about the RaCE network contact: racenetwork@sunderland.ac.uk.

Members

• Benjamin Olusola Ajibade
• Professor Mike Collier
• Andrew Dalton
• Ifeoma Dan-Ogosi
• Dr Paul Davis
• Professor Amal Ali Elkordy
• Dr John Fulton
• Nicholas Glean
• Professor Dr Beryl Graham
• Dr Patrick Igulot
• Ruphine Obari
• Dr John Price
• Dr Amina Razak
• Professor Angela Smith
  
  

Projects

Report into the lived experiences of BAME students at the University of Sunderland

The network has completed a report based on a survey conducted with Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) group students at the University’s campuses in Sunderland and in London.

The survey aimed to understand BAME students’ lived experiences at the university including any experiences of racism. The survey was open between 22nd November 2019 and 3rd January 2020 and received responses from over 900 BAME students across both campuses.

This report by the RaCE network confirmed some of the findings from the October 2019 Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) inquiry into racial harassment in publicly funded universities in Great Britain which revealed that racial harassment was a common experience for students and staff.

The RaCE report focused only on BAME students, comparing experiences between Sunderland and London campus.

The report found that 17% of students at Sunderland campus indicated that they had experienced racism on campus. Further, the majority of Sunderland campus BAME students (62%) had experienced racism outside the university campus in the local community, compared with 45% of London campus students. Overall, 53% of students across both campuses had not reported experiences of racism.

The three main reasons provided by students for not reporting incidents of racism were that they did not believe there would be any outcome, fear of repercussions, and lack of knowledge of who to report this to.

Nine recommendations emerged from the study, including the development of specific race equity training programmes for all students and staff along with members of the local Sunderland community, better reporting mechanisms for incidents of racism and greater communication with students about the measures that the university is implementing to tackle racism.