Degree courses focused on the “undertakings of white people” have made universities racist, according to a review by a Russell Group institution.
As reported by the Telegraph, the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent undertook a joint review of their connections to the slave trade, and set out how these have created a legacy of “racism” at the institutions. Here’s an extract:
They pledged to make slavery reparations as a result of their review, which found that the universities’ “racially unbalanced curriculum” ignores the “equally significant efforts of people of African descent”. The report does not state in which specific subjects this parity of achievement has been ignored.
Its authors, a group of Nottingham academics, concluded that “these are issues that require urgent and sustained attention”.
Under the pledge made following the review, the universities are set to devise a plan for reparative justice to atone for links to slavery, and mitigate “enduring detrimental legacies”.
No definitive plans have yet been made to address the issues raised in the report.
The report was overseen by a steering group that included six people appointed by the two universities who “identify as black”. Authors credited their “biological proximity to the historical atrocity of slavery” with raising awareness of “ongoing emotional pain” throughout the project.
The report into the connections between Nottingham universities and the slave trade stated that key benefactors, the 6th and 7th Dukes of Portland, benefited from slavery despite both having been born after abolition.
Descendants of family members who may have directly owned slaves benefited from the social and “cultural capital” that came with wealth initially generated through forced labour, according to the report.
Such cultural capital, the report states, may include the aristocratic cultural conventions of “reading classical European literature” and “travelling to historic landmarks”.
The conclusion of the report has previously been criticised by the family of the late 7th Duke of Portland, who died in 1977.
It said that the form of inherited guilt suggested in the report raised “troubling ethical implications of holding descendants accountable for the actions of their ancestors”.
The report, which will form the basis for future work as the universities of Nottingham plan an approach to making reparations, comes after controversial changes to the curriculum.
In August, The Telegraph revealed that the University of Nottingham had removed the term “Anglo-Saxon” from university module titles as part of efforts to refute “nationalist narratives”.
The university offers a leading course in Viking and Anglo-Saxon history and literature, but US academics in particular have campaigned against the term “Anglo-Saxon” because it suggests a distinct, native Englishness.
Teaching staff have taken steps to ensure that module content aims at “undercutting nationalist narratives” and “essentialist ideas” about nationality, meaning the belief that English identity is distinct and confers fundamental characteristics.
As the only university in the country to offer a Viking studies course, the faculty has also sought to address concerns about Dark Age peoples by seeking to “problematise the term ‘Viking’”.
A University of Nottingham spokesman said: “The report was commissioned by the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University to explore the role of transatlantic slavery in the formation of the two institutions.
He added: “The publication of this report is the first step in acknowledging historical links and will act as a catalyst to an open dialogue with respect to reparative justice.
There’s more on this story here.
