Join us on Bluesky for #LTHEchat on Wednesday 17th June at 8pm BST with guest Iwi Ugiagbe-Green (@profiwi.bsky.social) to reflect on how we can create brave, caring and purposeful spaces for conversations about inequalities in higher education.

Conversations about inequalities are important because, without naming inequalities, they cannot be acknowledged or addressed. Nor can their impact. For example, without naming race, racism does not exist (Kishimoto, 2018). Race is an example of a social construct: an idea that exists through collective agreement and operates as a system of power and discrimination. As American lawyer, professor and civil rights activist Professor Derrick Bell explains, ‘the reality is that we live in a society in which racism has been internalized and institutionalized’ (Bell, 1991).

Recent societal events have shown us that engaging in conversations about inequalities with intention, empathy and care is more important than ever. The ongoing and sustained injustices endured by minoritised and marginalised communities remind us of the importance of human-centred conversations, accompanied by a call to action, in understanding and addressing these inequalities. Afro-feminist scholars have explored how the philosophy of Ubuntu — ‘I am because you are’ — based on our interconnectedness with one another and the collective, can be used to mould and shape social relations that enhance, for example, race and gender justice (Tamale, 2020, pp. 221–229; Diouf et al., 2023).

What is clear is that, if our current political climate tells us anything, it is the importance of being intentional and active in listening to others with whom we might not agree, who may or may not look like us, and who may be very different from those with whom we would naturally communicate. It is important that we work together to try to come to a place of understanding, rather than simply reply.

To hold space in our universities for conversations that move us forward, we need to be intentional about adopting collective principles through which communities of care can operate. We also need to mediate difficult conversations in ways that give due regard to perspectives with which we may not agree.

We will spend an hour together sharing our experiences of mediating difficult conversations, giving space to different views, and exploring ways in which we might be able to talk about inequalities bravely. This is an opportunity to step into a space in which we may feel uncomfortable, but where we can also experience growth.

References

Bell, D. (1991) ‘Racism is here to stay: Now what?’, Howard Law Journal, 35(1), pp. 79–94.

Diouf, E., Dyer, U., Asali Ecclesiastes, A. and Gilbert, M. (2023) ‘Our Ubuntu: A Black feminist turn’, Agenda, 37(2), pp. 32–43. doi: 10.1080/10130950.2023.2229572.

Kishimoto, K. (2018) ‘Anti-racist pedagogy: From faculty’s self-reflection to organizing within and beyond the classroom’, Race Ethnicity and Education, 21(4), pp. 540–554. doi: 10.1080/13613324.2016.1248824.

Tamale, S. (2020) Decolonization and Afro-Feminism. Ottawa: Daraja Press.

Speaker bio

Iwi has worked in higher education since 2000. Her first ten years were in a range of financial administration and accounting roles before she transitioned into academia in 2010. Since then, she has delivered sustained educational excellence in higher education and established a track record of successfully leading innovative, impactful and strategic projects that enhance student opportunity, experience and outcomes. She is recognised nationally and internationally as an intentionally inclusive leader whose praxis is rooted in Ubuntu: ‘I am, because we are’.

Iwi describes herself as an academic activist: a positive agitator who is unapologetic in her commitment to student success. She is very proud and grateful to have recently been promoted to Professor of Equity in Education and to be the 84th Black woman professor in the UK. She was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship in 2025.