During this project around my interviews and my drawing I have also been reading. Below you can find four references from my readings that I felt were espeically formative for my project.
Sara Ahmed: Complaint!
Sara Ahmed has been incredibly helpful for me during my ARP. Her book Complaint! was a good reminder of the power of collective action. I really want this to come across in my work as well.
“Collectivity was a way to share the cost of complaint. Rather than each of us being on her own, we would stand together” (Ahmed, 2021).
“Motivated by how we saw one another targeted and attacked, we intervened collectively. We were protective of one another.” (Ahmed, 2021).
Bell hooks: Teaching to Transgress
In Teaching to Transgress hooks says “I believe that students are currently not being provided with enough information and support to understand how much agency they have in the classroom” (Hooks, 1994).
After a year of listening to my colleagues at Camberwell or even my classmates in the PgCert I have also come to realise that many staff members also do not understand how much agency they have at work. So, I wanted my work to remind myself of the agency I have.
The other MA: How to Set up an Art School
Since I also work at an alternative art school, I have been looking into bringing resources from other alt schools into my research. I found this quote by Emma Edmonson, Director of The Other MA very helpful.
“Transparency is key for accountability, fairness and honesty and we try to implement it across the programme and the art school. We see criticism as care, and we don’t always get it right but are open to hearing if we don’t. Having it all out to see means others might actually be able to give helpful feedback. Being transparent means that failure can be seen publicly, and failure is a space to learn from.” (Edmonson, E. 2025, p.107)
adrienne maree brown: emergent strategy
“How we are at the small scale is how we are at the large scale. The patterns of the universe repeat at scale. There is a structural echo that suggests two things: one, that there are shapes and patterns fundamental to our universe, and two, that what we practice at a small scale can reverberate to the largest scale.” (Brown, A. 2017, p. 54)
You cannot start tackling social justice as an individual on a global scale. We need to grow internally first. And let it ripple out into the world. This is something I am keeping in mind when developing my work around social justice education.
Full Bibliography:
- Ahmed, S. (2021) Complaint! Duke University Press.
- Ahmed, S. (2012) On Being Included: Racism and Diversity in Institutional Life. Durham, N.C. ; London: Duke University Press.
- Ahmed, S. (2017) Living A Feminist Life, Duke University Press.
- Hooks, bell.Teaching to Transgress : Education As the Practice of Freedom, Taylor & Francis Group, 1994. ProQuest Ebook Central,
- Edmonson, E. (2025) How to set up an Art School. Southend on sea: The Other MA
- Richards, M, C. (1989) Centering: in Pottery, Poetry, and the Person. 2nd edn. Conneticut: Wesleyan University Press.
- Brown, A.M. (2017). Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds. Chico, CA: AK Press.
- Arao, B. and Clemens, K. (2013). From safe spaces to brave spaces a new way to frame dialogue around diversity and social justice. [online] pp.135–150. Available at: https://www.anselm.edu/sites/default/files/Documents/Center%20for%20Teaching%20Excellence/From%20Safe%20Spaces%20to%20Brave%20Spaces.pdf.
- Mingus, M. (2019) Transformative Justice: A Brief Description , https://transformharm.org/. Available at: https://transformharm.org/tj_resource/transformative-justice-a-brief-description/.
- Wallman, S. (2022) Our members be unlimited : a comic about workers and their unions. Scribe Publications.
- Sparrow, J. and Wallman, S. (2024) 12 Rules for Strife.
- Chodipilli, K. (2020) Escape the Drama Triangle – Leadership Tribe US, Leadership Tribe US. Available at: https://leadershiptribe.com/escape-the-drama-triangle/.
Policies read:
- UAL Staff Charter
- UAL Dignity at Work Policy
- UAL Professional Boundaries Guidance
- UAL Line Manager Expectations
- UCU Bullying Guidance Documents