Peekaboo We See You: Whiteness

‘Whiteness is as elusive as it is pervasive; we know it is everywhere yet it seems to lie ‘elsewhere’’. Moreton-Robinson, A. (Ed.). (2004) 

Social justice may not be able to have real impact unless the construct of whiteness is able to be discussed, explored and considered.

‘Racism is based on the concept of whiteness–a powerful fiction enforced by power and violence. Whiteness is a constantly shifting boundary separating those who are entitled to have certain privileges from those whose exploitation and vulnerability to violence is justified by their not being white’ (Kivel, 1996, p. 19)

This Terms of Reference (ToR) aims to explore concepts of whiteness, this includes but is not exclusive to ‘white supremacy’ (Twine, 1998) ‘white fragility’ (DiAngelo, 2011) ‘white feminism’ (Mirza,1997) and ‘white privilege’ (McIntosh, 1988).   This is with particular framing within arts education and industries.

Whilst Shades of Noir have always promoted the voice, experience and expertise of intersectional (Crenshaw, 1991) marginalised communities, within our primary sector the arts, we can not ignore that this sector is starkly white (Richards, Finnigan 2015).  The data from Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) in the article by Nona Buckley-Irvine titled ‘Universities’ shame – unpicking the black attainment gap’ http://wonkhe.com/blogs/analysis-universities-shame-black-attainment-gap/ verifies this.  Whilst in the article they did not put a magnifying glass on arts education, this is what we found from the data: 

1. Within UK Higher Education the number of specialist Arts institutions are less than 25.  The data with the article includes 18, Courtauld Institute of Art, Glasgow School of Art, Leeds College of Art, Norwich University of the Arts, Plymouth College of Art, The Arts University Bournemouth, The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, University for the Creative Arts,  University of the Arts, London, Goldsmiths College, Ravensbourne, Conservatoire for Dance and Drama, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama 00, Royal Academy of Music, Royal Northern College of Music, Royal College of Music, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance 
2. Out of 18 institutions 14  had 0% Black students listed as graduating and 13 had 0% black or Asian students graduating in 2015/2016
3. Amongst the 5 institutions that had some representations of graduates of colour, the 1 institution that had only Asian representation had 0% Asian graduates gaining 1st 
4. Of the 4 that had both representation of Black and Asian graduates only 1 institution had less than 15% difference in attainment between black students and white students gaining 1st and 2:1
5. Out of the 18 institutions none of the institutions that have dance, music or drama in their title had any graduates of colour listed
6. The largest attainment was between black and white graduates gaining a 1st and one institution was nearly at 30%

From the work of Higher Education Academy (HEA) and Equality Challenge Unit (ECU) we know that whilst this is a sector wide issue for home students and graduates of colour, this is the same across this sector for international students and graduates of colour too.

This ToR aims to transcend blame, but instead to consider the history, development and impact of the nuances of whiteness in the hope of developing understanding and most importantly opportunities to present ideas and experiences that may be a catalyst for transformative practices, which move whiteness from a normative construct of oppression into something else. 

‘Whiteness,’ like ‘colour’ and ‘Blackness,’ are essentially social constructs applied to human beings rather than veritable truths that have universal validity. The power of Whiteness, however, is manifested by the ways in which racialized Whiteness becomes transformed into social, political, economic, and cultural behaviour. White culture, norms, and values in all these areas become normative natural. They become the standard against which all other cultures, groups, and individuals are measured and usually found to be inferior’. (Henry & Tator, 2006, pp. 46-67).