Hend Rashed and Princess Banda join us to explore race, equity, and liberation in UK academia, sharing insights on dismantling institutional racism and reimagining what anti-racist education can truly look like. Recorded on 5 July 2023.
In this episode, we are joined by Dr Hend Rashed and Princess Banda to explore what anti-racism looks like within UK higher education. Hend, a physician and trailblazer, founded a Race Equality Working Group at the University of Sheffield’s Medical School and co-authored a paper on tackling racial inequalities in medical education. Princess, a DPhil candidate at the University of Oxford, brings her expertise in medical anthropology, Black maternal health, and curriculum decolonisation to the conversation. Together, we unpack how anti-racism is defined, particularly comparing UK and US contexts, while exploring themes of equality, equity, and liberation. We discuss the different forms of racism: individual, interpersonal, institutional, and structural, with Hend and Princess offering honest reflections from their experiences in Russell Group universities in the UK. We also discuss the impact of social media, the myth of meritocracy in academia, and what it means to create meaningful, long-lasting change. This is a nuanced, enriching, and timely conversation, one we hope inspires deeper thought and continued action within educational spaces. Referenced in the podcast:
• the National Museum of African American History and Culture outlines different definitions of racism.
• Equality, equity and liberation: tackling racial bias
• Affirmative action: US Supreme Court overturns race-based college admissions. In Grutter v. Bollinger, the Supreme Court upheld the use of race as one of many factors that can be considered in a holistic admissions process. However, in the 2023 Students for Fair Admissions decisions, the Court ruled that race-based admissions violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
• The Complicated History Behind BLM's Solidarity With The Pro-Palestinian Movement
• Dr. Camara Phyllis Jones the gardener's tale - video, paper
• In 2019, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) inquiry looked at the nature of racial harassment in publicly funded universities in England, Scotland and Wales and produced a report on tackling racial harassment.
• Sheffield BAME Medics Society which Hend co-founded and paper co-authored by Hend on Strategies to tackle racial inequilities in medical school (https://doi.org/10.1111/tct.13413)
• Kline, R. 2014. The snowy white peaks of the NHS: a survey of discrimination in governance and leadership and the potential impact on patient care in London and England. London Middlesex University. https://doi.org/10.22023/mdx.12640421.v1
