Sideways Sociology: UK Anti-Racism
Sideways Sociology: UK Anti-Racism
Podcast Description
Three activists. Their ideas, their work, their lasting importance.In this special short series of audio essays from the Sociological Review Foundation, three expert guests introduce us to key figures in the story of UK anti-racism, illuminating how they show us what that term really means – and what it takes – but also how their work and ideas speak to sociology, too, and deserve to be better known.Starting the series, John Narayan – Chair of the Council of the Institute of Race Relations – explains Ambalavaner Sivanandan’s take on global technology, exploitation and anti-racist resistance. In the second episode, A.S. Francis celebrates Gerlin Bean as the “mother of the Black women’s movement” in the UK, whose life of committed activism exemplified theory in action – and whose story leads us to ask how we represent individual activists who so passionately valued the collective. And in the third episode, Hannah Ishmael – former archivist at Black Cultural Archives – describes the importance of the determined archivist and educational activist Len Garrison, whose work raises crucial questions about history and identity, self-esteem and self-recognition.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast delves into themes of anti-racism, social justice, and the historical context of Black activism in the UK. Key topics include global technology’s role in discrimination as discussed by John Narayan, the impact of Gerlin Bean on the Black women's movement highlighted by A.S. Francis, and the educational contributions of Len Garrison described by Hannah Ishmael. Specific episodes illustrate these themes by presenting historical narratives and critical analyses of each activist’s work and its relevance today.
Three activists. Their ideas, their work, their lasting importance.
In this special short series of audio essays from the Sociological Review Foundation, three expert guests introduce us to key figures in the story of UK anti-racism, illuminating how they show us what that term really means – and what it takes – but also how their work and ideas speak to sociology, too, and deserve to be better known.
Starting the series, John Narayan – Chair of the Council of the Institute of Race Relations – explains Ambalavaner Sivanandan’s take on global technology, exploitation and anti-racist resistance. In the second episode, A.S. Francis celebrates Gerlin Bean as the “mother of the Black women’s movement” in the UK, whose life of committed activism exemplified theory in action – and whose story leads us to ask how we represent individual activists who so passionately valued the collective. And in the third episode, Hannah Ishmael – former archivist at Black Cultural Archives – describes the importance of the determined archivist and educational activist Len Garrison, whose work raises crucial questions about history and identity, self-esteem and self-recognition.
How can archives fight racism? How can progressive educational resources tackle the harm of discrimination? Why have millennia of British history so often been presented through a reductive and harmful white gaze? Hannah Ishmael – lecturer in Digital Culture and Race at King’s College London – introduces Len Garrison, an activist, archivist and determined educationalist who worked to improve education, particularly for minoritised populations – and to disprove and displace assumptions about the history of Black presence in the UK. Garrison was central in creating ACER – the African Caribbean Education Resource project – and became a leading founder of BCA – the Black Cultural Archives – in Brixton, where, with others, he enacted his conviction that archives have the power to change the reality and representation of people’s lives.
After hearing Hannah’s essay, you’ll be led to rethink the very meaning and valueof archives – as well as the nature and potential of anti-racist education today. Featuring reflection also on the work of Bernard Coard and Stuart Hall, and the importance of attending deeply to what people do as well as what they write.
Find out more at thesociologicalreview.org
Readings
- How the West Indian Child Is Made Educationally Sub-normal in the British School System – by Bernard Coard (1971)
- More about the life and work of Stuart Hall
- The early Black Education Movement (BEM) and the Black Supplementary Schools Movement (BSSM)
- More about the African-Caribbean Educational Resource project and the Black Cultural Archives
- Obituary of Len Garrison – by Mike Phillips (The Guardian, 2003)
- More about Audre Lorde and the American civil rights activist Queen Mother Moore
- The National Archives introduction to The Brixton Uprisings of 1981
- British Activist Authors Addressing Children of Colour – by Karen Sands-O’Connor (2022)
- Benjamin Zephaniah reads Len Garrison's poem “Where Are Our Monuments”
Episode Credits
- Author: Hannah Ishmael
- Producer: Alice Bloch
- Sound: Emma Houlton
- Music: Joe Gardner
- Artwork: Kieran Cairns-Lowe
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