Anti-racist research & engagement: how does our practice need to change?

The Black Lives Matter protests have brought racial justice to the forefront of our inclusive practice work, and we are reflecting both on the prejudices that have influenced our past behaviour and the actions that we can take in future contribute meaningfully to change. 

We invited our research and engagement peers to join an intiial conversation in mid-June to share learning and identify actions. This page will be updated as we discuss new aspects of our practice. So far it contains: 

1. Sign up link for a discussion group on specific aspects of research and engagement practice, and how they need to change - these discussions are open spaces for practitioners to come up with actions together. 

2. Resources suggested by those taking part, which they have found helpful - we'll add to these as we go. 

1. Discussion groups

A note on the makeup of this group: the convenor of this group is a white woman, and as we found in our first session, so were most of those who chose to take part. We'd welcome more black and ethnic minority practitioners to join, but are also clear that there is no expectation on anyone to share their experiences if they do. 

Please sign up for the discussion group via this zoom link, you are welcome to attend as many or as few sessions as you choose. Sessions are pencilled in for Wednesdays at 9am, for a max of 90 minutes.

• 17th June: in our first disucssion group we focused on how we can become a more diverse practitioner group, reflecting on the face that our group was mostly made up of white women 
• 1st July: . how are the ground rules we set when we facilitate discussions either contributing to or challenging racism in the room
• 15th July: how does the practice of representative sampling in research and engagement contribute to or challenge racial inequality.  Recording available here
• 29th July: in our second group we will discuss how concepts of co-production and empowerment relate to racial inequality
• 12th August: when we talk about designing inclusive spaces, whose idea of inclusive are we talking about, do we actually mean white spaces?

2. Resources

NB: Resources listed here were recommended by participants in the discussion groups

• Why I'm no longer talking to white people about race, book by Reni Eddo-Ledge
•  White Privilege unmasked: how to be part of the solution, book by Judy Ryde
•  Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo, or Beloved by Toni Morrison, Small Island by Andrea Levy
• For our white friends desiring to be allies, article by Courtney Ariel
• To hell with good intentions, essay by Ivan Illich
• List of anti-racism resources, and another with a more UK focus