Becoming an Antiracist- The Podcast

In this first episode of Season 2 I am joined by esteemed Educators Naheeda Maharasingam and Nelson Bayomy to discuss the practice of anti-racism in schools and the impact of the pandemic on the learning and teaching experience.

Nelson Bayomy is an English Language teacher and Manager for Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing at Leyton Sixth Form College.

Twitter:

@nelsonbayomy

@leyton6thform

Reading: All About Love by bell hooks

Naheeda Maharasingam is a Local Leader of Education (LLE), a Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching and Leader of Rathfern CCT Teacher Research Network. She is steering group lead for the Embedding Race Equality work across all Lewisham schools.

She is Headteacher at Rathfern Primary School, a diverse and dynamic inner London primary school. She is passionate about values which enrich her vision and permeate her school culture, pedagogy and curriculum with a focus on disrupting the trajectory for disadvantaged pupils.

Rathfern is : A Research Hub for the Chartered College of Teaching, lead for the Humanities Hub for Lewisham.

In this final episode of Season 1, i'm joined by Dr Peter Olusoga. Dr Olusoga is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Sheffield Hallam University  and holds an Associate Professor II position at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences. His current research focuses on stress, burnout and wellbeing in sports, with a particular interest in high-performance environments and elite coaching. In addition to research, Dr Olusoga is a Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society (BPS), is an active sport psychology consultant, and host of the Eighty Percent Mental podcast which you should also definitely check out after you've finished listening to this!

You can follow Dr Olusoga on Twitter: @PeteOlusoga

In this episode i'm joined by Professor Kehinde Andrews. Professor Andrews is the UK's first Professor of Black Studies, at Birmingham City University, where he led the establishment of the first Black Studies programme in Europe, the Chair of the Harambee Organisation of Black Unity, and editor in chief of Make It Plain. He is the author of Back to Black: Retelling Black Radicalism for the 21st Century.

You can follow Kehinde on social media: 

Twitter: @kehinde_andrews

In this episode i'm joined by Myira Khan, Accredited Counsellor, Coach and Supervisor. Myira delivers workshops and presentations internationally through her wellbeing coaching organisation Grow To Glow. This conversation highlights not only the importance of self- care in anti-racism work, but the complexity of self-care in practice. 

Myira has kindly shared a reading list for those interested in exploring some of these ideas further: 

Reading List 

• Whiteness and White Privilege in Psychotherapy by Andrea L. Dottolo & Ellyn Kaschak 
• Me and White Supremacy by Layla F Saad 
• White Privilege by Kalwant Bhopal 
• The Dynamics of Power in Counselling and Psychotherapy by Gillian Proctor 
• The Challenge of Racism on Therapeutic Practice by Dr Isha Mckenzie-Mavinga 
• Biased by Jennifer L. Eberhardt 
• Sway (Unravelling Unconscious bias) by Pragya Agarwal 
• Transcultural Counselling by Zack Eleftheriadou 
• Difference and Diversity in Counselling by Sue Wheeler 
• Black Issues in the Therapeutic Process by Dr Isha Mckenzie-Mavinga 
• Race, Culture and Counselling by Colin Lago 
• Racial Identity, White Counsellors and Therapists by Gill Tuckwell

In this episode i'm joined by Pran Patel, to discuss and de-mystify the 'de-colonizing the curriculum' movement. 

Pran makes reference to lots of incredible scholars. For details on the references he makes as well as additional resources for further insight into the topic, please visit Pran's website: https://theteacherist.com/about/ 

In this episode we have Early Years specialists Jamel Carly Campbell and Liz Pemberton joining us to discuss systemic racism in Early Years and what needs to happen to help us move forward. 

You can follow Jamel and Liz on Twitter: 

Liz: @lizpemtbnm

Jamel: @JamelCarly

In this episode i'm joined by Karl C. Pupé to discuss a debate that has emerged between educators on social media... whether or not teachers should be able to say the 'N' word out loud, if it is mentioned in the literature being explored (e.g. Of Mice and Men).

This conversation is about the importance of understanding the racial trauma experienced in the school space and in particular, through the teacher/student dynamic. 

You can follow Karl on Twitter : @actionheroteach 

In this episode I'm joined by Dr Javeria Shah, a scholarly activist, academic at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London, and founder of the Social Performance Network project which is a de-socialising activism project.

In this episode we discuss the ever- changing language used to define/categorise racialised communities. Over the last decade the terms BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) and BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) have been used in the UK legislative and political context. In this episode Dr Shah and I critique the use restrictive and homogenising terms that fail to reflect lived realities and embodied identities. 

You can follow Dr Shah on Twitter: @JS_Diaspora

And the Social Performance Network: @SocialPerforma2

In this episode, I am joined by Bilal Harry Khan to discuss what it means to engage meaningfully in antiracist practice. 

Bilal is a Diversity and Inclusion facilitator, award winning podcaster and plantain advocate from NW London. Having worked across the world facilitating sessions with a wide range of staff in industries from education to charity to tech to law he believes in creating the space for uncomfortable conversations to drive meaningful change. 

You can follow Bilal on Twitter: @TweetsByBilal

"The opposite of racist is not, not-racist.... it is antiracist"- Ibram X. Kendi