Faith

As illustrated in Kwame Anthony Appiah’s lecture on Creed, the idea of religion or belief is fluid, as it changes with the way it is interpreted. One’s positionality or upbringing often determines the importance or lack thereof in one’s life. It’s interpretation however, is both personal and can be influenced by several external factors – representation in the media, stereotypes etc.

Religion or Faith has been explored in the visual arts for centuries, it’s meaning may have changed over the years but it’s still a part of our identity that is often explored through the arts.

Religion, Belief and Faith identities UAL Website

The case studies and resources are really helpful to build knowledge around how to drive conversations around religion in an art and design context. We all have our beliefs and non-beliefs but is it important to be aware of stepping back from our positionality in this instance? Or more rightly, prioritising the students’ positionality and being open and respectful, in respect to their work and otherwise.

I think ‘Pen Portraits‘ by Angela Drisdale Gordon is a great example of how we can can establish respect and openness for each other’s point of views from the start, both students and tutors. We often have a project in Year 1 that addresses identity but it’s very much a personal project and in large cohorts there are limited opportunities to share with their peers.

However, during the pandemic, as we moved to online classrooms, my colleagues and I introduced an activity called ‘Thing of the week’ at the start of every weekly meeting. Every week one student would share something that was relevant to them – a book they were reading, an app they found useful, etc. Our first ‘thing of the week’ was during the Swiss referendum in March, a Swiss student explained the country’s semi-direct democracy system and the fact that they have referendums on issues about 4 times a year, they are sent literature through the post both for and against the issue and citizens are directly involved in laws that are passed. This week one of the issues they were voting on was the banning head coverings in the country. A muslim student in the class questioned the reasoning and the student shared the arguments that were presented from both sides, also indicated that she was against the banning. A space was created to discuss this matter that wouldn’t have happened otherwise and the muslim student felt supported by her classmates. When it was her turn to present ‘thing of the week’, it was during Ramadan and she gave a wonderful in-depth presentation on the history and significance of the festival, and how she celebrated it.

Race, Religion and Free Speech, the SoN event held in 2016 brings a lot of issues to the forefront that are relevant when discussing Religion in an educational context. Religious Literacy is paramount. Pre conceived ideas and associations made because of stereotyped views in the media can be very harmful.

A question that was raised for me – In an instance where someone is exploring satire in relation to religion, how to we balance being respectful to the religious beliefs of our peers and students and freedom of speech/humour? How do we approach contradictory views in the classroom without compromising our duty of care towards all students?

Reith lecture by Kwame Anthony Appiah

I found the Reith lecture by Kwame Anthony Appiah very logical and rational, however Faith is extremely personal, and logic and rationality often come second to belief. One’s beliefs exist within a larger context of practice often in solidarity within a community, which is not to say that it shouldn’t be questioned.

After listening to Creed, I went on to listen the rest of the lectures on Country, Colour and Culture as I felt all of these elements of our identity are so closely interlinked with Creed.

“Dialogue is not determinism.”

I think this is the most important takeaway from the lecture and how we should perhaps approach everything, especially religion within art and design. As Kawme Anthony Appiah pointed out, “None of us craft the world we inhabit from scratch” so within the pre-existing framework, we must contextualise our beliefs, we have a choice.

Religion in Britain: Challenges for Higher education

Tariq Madood’s writing on Multiculturalism was fascinating. It echoed some of the sentiment from the first blogging task, which reiterated ‘respect for difference, rather than toleration of difference‘.

‘Multiculturalism as a mode of post-immigration integration involves not just the reversal of marginalisation but also a remaking of national citizenship so that all can have a sense of belonging to it.’

I feel like this principle needs to be applied to universities as well where there needs to be less ‘othering’, starting with the abolition of the term BAME.

It surprised me to learn that some pro-diversity advocates are reluctant to extend multiculturalism to include religious groups as it is understood by them to be a ‘voluntary identity‘. That is absolutely ludicrous as for some culture and religion are one and the same thing. How can they use faith as an excuse to exclude them. Equal rights for all, but less for some?

Craig Calhoun’s ‘Religion and Dissent in Universities’ addresses the question I posed earlier about free speech. Causing offence is obviously not encouraged and mutual respect needs to trump any actions. He also recognised that academics don’t always have the knowledge to drive discussions where religion is part of the conversation, but like in several other instances – for example, being actively anti-racist, there is the need for academics to further their religious literacy to understand their religious students better.

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Bibliography

Religion, Belief and Faith identities UAL Website

Reith Lectures: Kwame Anthony Appiah: Mistaken Identities

Religion in Britain: Challenges for Higher education