Education

Academia looks like a pint of Guinness to me – diverse below, but not at the top


A lot of my work examines counterculture, race, ethnicity and religion – and challenges some western paradigms. In my early days I had to work hard to convince research directors of the value in supporting such research aims, and academic peers of the need to expand our subject discipline and research approaches. It’s tough, because I, along with other BAME academics, feel that we are fighting implicit bias on a number of levels.

Firstly, how you look, linked to a presupposed stereotype of academic naivety and inexperience – sometimes disguised with comments of exotic curiosity.

Secondly, we face an overly critical and dismissive reception to the new concepts and sources that we’ve introduced, as niche, tribal or superstitious. Opposition to us as academic actors and our work ranged from a lack of acceptance of the significance of the contributions concerning non-Western literature; or an honest yet naive admission that institutions did not have people in positions to make the necessary judgements. And there’s a risk of impostor syndrome: feeling that you’re an outsider if you don’t see enough role models or hear success stories.
Also, some of this meant actually overcoming biases against me as a person of colour, where perversely there was an accusation of implied ethnocentrism and bias on my side – questions that I don’t think a white person would face. You simply don’t encounter the same levels of politics and diplomacy at play in the sciences, where content is more cut and dried.

Science, law and medicine have tried and tested career paths, but with humanities less so, and that’s problematic because of fees. I’m all for balance, but we could probably do a better job of mapping out career paths after humanities degrees.

▲ Jonathan Wilson was a LinkedIn’s Top Voice for 2019



Jonathan Wilson was a LinkedIn’s Top Voice for 2019

Master’s courses that focus on black history or literature can be fantastic – but I do wonder if you are a person of colour whether you need another qualification that signals that you are black. I’d probably want to study something to overcome stereotyping – Persian poetry, for instance. The humanities are about having an intimate working knowledge of language and rhetoric – and that can cause people to respond emotionally and close doors prematurely. Students might feel they’re not communicating in their authentic everyday voice. Can the work of Pulitzer prize-winning Kendrick Lamar, Nobel prize-winning Bob Dylan, Jean-Michel Basquiat or Jimi Hendrix sit alongside that of Ovid, Robert Burns, van Gogh or Beethoven? In my world yes, but many may need help with their cultural baggage.

For years we’ve been saying we need more diversity among senior academics, but I don’t see the progression of homegrown minority scholars. I call it the “pint of Guinness” syndrome – diversity below but not at the top. We want to get to the stage where colour, gender and age don’t matter – how do we get there without losing minds who can challenge labels?

Prof Jonathan Wilson is a marketing academic and holds a Doctor of Letters from the University of Dundee



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