Glossary

John Amaechi stars in a brilliant video for BBC Bitesize where he explains the difference between being anti-racist and being non-racist.   You can (and should) watch it here. He describes anti-racists in this way: “Anti-racists are constantly looking around to say, what tools do I have available to make it clear that this [racism] is not acceptable?”  He contrasts this with non-racists who do not join in with racism but do not challenge it because “They do not want to rock the boat.”

BAME is an acronym for Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic and is used to describe all non-white people.

A lot of people are critical of terms like BAME because they cover a beautifully diverse range of individuals yet present it as a homogenous group.

BIPOC is an acronym for Black, Indigenous and Person of Colour.

In common with a lot of acronyms it is criticised because it covers a beautifully diverse range of individuals yet presents them as a homogenous group.

Black is a term for describing a racial group.  It has a narrow meaning, often shown by writing it with a lower-case ‘b’, and broader meaning, often shown by writing it with an upper-case ‘B’.

In its narrow sense, black describes someone of African or Caribbean descent.

In its broad sense, Black is a political term that describes everyone who is not of the majority racial group.

BME is an acronym for Black and Minority Ethnic, in many cases where it was used it has been replaced with BAME (see above).

In common with a lot of acronyms, it is criticised because it covers a beautifully diverse range of individuals yet presents them as a homogenous group.

Afua Hirsch is especially critical of BME which she describes as a ‘tool of avoidance’ in chapter 4 of her book ‘Brit(ish)’.  By this, she means it is used by people who wish to avoid talking about black people and prefer to use an indirect term.

Colonisation in its strict sense is about planting flags and adding territories as colonies to an empire.

In its broader sense it describes spaces or environments that are dominated by the ideology of the dominant group.  These spaces may feel white or masculine meaning that people of colour or women feel uncomfortable or excluded.

Colonisation may manifest itself in tangible things like statues of slave traders in prominent locations but it may be more subtle and less easy to identify.

A colonised curriculum is one that reflects the ideology of the dominant group.  It tends to be mono-cultural, reflecting one perspective and ignoring others.

In a colonised curriculum you may see certain important events ignored because the dominant group feel uncomfortable, for example a history course might ignore British involvement in the slave trade.  It may focus in its reading lists on white, male authors.  It may be taught by white men.  These things tend to marginalise the voices of minority or oppressed groups.

Colour-blind refers to people who say they do not see colour.  In her book Brit(ish) Afua Hirsch writes: “In Britain we are taught not to see race.  We are told that race does not matter.  We have convinced ourselves that if we can contort ourselves into a form of blindness, then issues of identity will quietly disappear.”

This refusal to see racial difference is a form of racism usually only claimed by those of the dominant racial group hence some theorists referring to it as ‘white transparency’.  It is really a refusal to see on’e own privilege, as Yasmin Alibhai-Brown writes in the foreward to Kalwant Bhopal’s book Write Privilege: “Privilege is never consciously recognised or defined. …Think of it as a collective mental block.”

Critical Race Feminism is a branch of Critical Race Theory (see entry below) that focuses on the experiences of Latino and Black women.  It holds that the experiences of these women are different from the experiences of Latino and Black men and from the experiences of white women.

This is an anti-essentialist theory (see entry above) that says the cause of oppression for women of colour is not just their race, nor is it just their feminity but it is both.

Critical Race Pedagogy is a branch of Critical Race Theory (see entry below) that holds that education is endemically racist.

Critical Race Pedagogy holds that States use educational policy as a tool of oppression.

Critical Race Pedagogy argues that only explicitly liberatory projects can resist this endemic racism.

Critical Race Theory (CRT) developed out of the Critical Legal Studies (CLS) movement of the 1970s and 1980s.  CRT developed because of the alleged failure of CLS to adequately acknowledge race and racism.

David Gillborn is widely acknowledged as one of the UK’s most prominent Critical Race Theorists and he has written that CRT “spans many disciplines and the work often crosses epistemological boundaries.  There is no single authoritative statement of CRT rather, it is a developing perspective with constant changes and debate.”  There are however common themes central to CRT, these are that:

• Racism is endemic and normalised in society,
• Racism is in every subject or academic discipline,
• Civil rights law do not protect minority racial groups,
• Liberalism and claims of neutrality or objectivity are flawed,
• The experiences, culture and stories of people of colour should be better represented.

The deficit model describes a policy that aims to advance equality and inclusion but focuses on a perceived deficit in the people it is trying to support.  An example would be introducing resilience training in a workplace for women to help them deal with sexist comments from male colleagues.  This shifts the responsibility onto the victim and avoids having to make changes to workplace culture.

Forms of discrimination are often divided into direct and indirect discrimination (see entry below).   These are distinctions that the law also makes.

Direct discrimination is when someone is treated less favorably because of a protected characteristic (see entry below) i.e. disability, gender, or race.

Equality of opportunity or formal equality (see entry below) means that opportunities should be open to everyone.  Proponents of this theory argue that opportunities and therefore benefits are then distributed according to merit.

Critics of formal equality of opportunity argue that because society is unjust opening opportunities up to everyone on its own will not remedy inequality.

Formal equality of opportunity can be compared with substantive equality of outcome (see entry below).

Equality of outcome or substantive equality looks at the outcomes of a process to see if it has achieved equality.  This is in contrast to formal equality of opportunity (see entry above) which looks at the inputs.

Proponents of this theory argue that if there is inequality of outcome then the process must be unjust.  Examples of inequalities of outcome include the gender pay gap and BAME award or attainment gap.

Essentialism is a theory that holds that we have essential characteristics that are a necessary part of who we are. These essential attributes are a necessary part of who we are and how we function.  The theory has developed from Plato’s ‘idealism’ which holds we all have an essence.

Essentialism holds that there are essential experiences that are common to everyone who shares those essential characteristics.  For example, all women will have comparable experiences of oppression because of their gender.

Anti-essentialism (see entry above) rejects essentialism.

Ethnicity is used by many people as a synonym for race (see entry below) however they are different.

Both race and ethnicity are social constructs, which means there is no difference between people of different races or ethnic groups except that which society creates.

Ethnicity is a way of classifying different groups of people usually on the basis of a common language and shared culture.  In contrast, race is a way of classifying people usually on the basis of physical, behavioral, and cultural attributes such as skin colour.

Race is therefore something we are born with and into.  Ethnicity is something we acquire as we grow up, often based on where we live and who we associate with.  People can therefore acquire multiple ethnicities.

Forms of discrimination are often divided into direct and indirect discrimination (see entry above).   These are distinctions that the law also makes.

Indirect discrimination is when everyone is treated the same way, regardless of a protected characteristic (see entry below) but that people with a certain protected characteristic are disadvantaged.

For example a policy that requires all staff to start work at 8am may disadvantage anyone with caring responsibilities for school age child.  Statistically woman are more likely than men to have caring responsibilities so would be more likely to be disadvantaged by this policy.  This policy would therefore be indirectly discriminatory on grounds of gender.

Institutional discrimination is where whole institutions like the police or schools operate in a way that is discriminatory.

Sir William Macpherson chaired the inquiry into the death of Stephen Lawrence.  The inquiry found that the police were “institutionally racist”, a form of institutional discrimination and that this led to the racist killers of Stephen literally getting away with murder.

Macpherson found that the police operated in a way that meant black victims of violent crime were less likely to receive justice and that this was a form of institutional racism.

Institutional discrimination does not necessarily mean that individuals within the institution are racist, sexist, homophobic etc… and the discrimination may be unintentional.

Interest convergence is part of critical race theory (see entry above) and is credited to Derk Bell.  It holds that at certain points it is in the interests of white powerholders to give minority racial groups what they are asking for.  The interests of the majority and minority racial groups have converged.  Critical race theorists argue that many of the advances in racial justice that have been achieved are examples of interest convergence.

Interest divergence is when it is in the interests of white powerholders to disadvantage minority ethnic groups which David Gillborn describes as: “a period where White powerholders perceived an advantage in even greater race inequity.”

Intersectionality is an anti-essentialist (see entry above) theory.

Intersectionality holds that oppression or privilege can be experienced because of the intersection of multiple facets of our identity.  For example, a white man might experience privilege in his work environment not because he is a man and not because he is white but because he is a white man.  In the same environment, a black man and a white woman might experience prejudice.  The white man is not advantaged because he is a man or because he is white, he is advantaged because he is both.

IPOC is an acronym for Indigenous or Person of Colour.  It is similar to BIPOC (see entry above).

In common with a lot of acronyms, it is criticised because it covers a beautifully diverse range of individuals yet presents them as a homogenous group.

A micro-aggression is an action that on its own seems trifling.  They are casual, frequent comments or behaviors that are hostile and are experienced because of who someone is.  Whilst each instance of a micro-aggression might be able to be excused on its own the cumulative effect of a series of micro-aggressions can cause serious harm.

Certain individuals encounter constant micro-aggressions because of a protected characteristic (see entry below) like race or religion.  This can lead to what appear to be over-reactions to a minor incident which are then blamed on the victim.

Micro-exclusions are subtle ways in which individuals are made to feel unsettled or uncomfortable in a certain environment because of who they are.  They can have the effect of isolating the individual and making it harder for them to participate.  These environments are often held to be inclusive spaces and this means that the lack of participation may be blamed on the victim.

POC is an acronym for Person of Colour.  It is similar to BIPOC and IPOC (see entries above).

In common with a lot of acronyms, it is criticised because it covers a beautifully diverse range of individuals yet presents them as a homogenous group.