Kick-off Event: European Universities as White Spaces? Challenges and Visions

Digital Kick-off Event on Friday, April 29, 10-12 Uhr CET
"European Universities as White Spaces? Challenges and Visions" with Prof. Kalwant Bhopal (Birmingham, Head of Centre for Research in Race & Education)

Link to the Announcement

This kick-off Event will serve as an introduction to the topic and to the project itself. It is supported by the Diversity Coordination Office of the JGU in Mainz.

The target groups are:
- Public Opening Lecture: Everyone interested in the topic, within the FORTHEM Alliance and beyond
- Project Presentation, Networking and Feedback Session: All members of the FORTHEM Alliance universities and their partners

Programme:
10:00    Welcome & Introduction with greeting from Vice President Prof. Stephan Jolie (Mainz)
10:15     Public Opening Lecture by Prof. Kalwant Bhopal:
Black and Minority Ethnic experiences in higher education: social justice, inclusion and white privilege
This lecture will examine how Black and minority ethnic staff and students remain marginalised in higher education. It will provide statistical data on the inequalities experienced by staff and students, followed by empirical research on Black and minority ethnic academics in UK and US higher education. By drawing on empirical research, the lecture will also explore how processes of whiteness and white privilege work to perpetuate the white space of higher education. The lecture will conclude by examining possible ways forward for higher education to engage with a socially just agenda for the inclusion of all groups.
12:00    Project Presentation, Networking and Feedback Session
Participants can get informed on the upcoming events, give their feedback and to engage in the further development of the project.

Presentation of the keynote speaker:
Kalwant Bhopal is Professor of Education and Social Justice and Director of the Centre on Research on Race and Education at the University of Birmingham, UK. Kalwant’s research focuses on the achievements and experiences of minority ethnic groups in education. She has conducted research on exploring discourses of identity and intersectionality examining the lives of Black minority ethnic groups as well as examining the marginal position of Gypsies and Travellers. Her research specifically explores how processes of racism, exclusion and marginalisation operate in predominantly White spaces with a focus on social justice and inclusion. From 2017-2019 she was Visiting Professor at Harvard University in the Graduate School of Education. Her recent book, White Privilege: the myth of a post-racial society was published by policy press. Her new book (with Martin Myers) Elites and the making of privilege will be published by Routledge in 2022.