AMDP Inspire Series: Challenging Assumptions – Why is my curriculum white?

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Time: 6.00pm - 7.30pm
Venue: John Galsworthy Building, room 0001, Penrhyn Road campus, Penrhyn Road, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT1 2EE
Price: free
Speaker(s): Adam Elliott-Cooper

"Race", as we all know, is a social construct. It has no biological basis – it was something invented by people but it was constructed to divide the world and order human beings into a hierarchy. When we talk about whiteness therefore, we are not talking about people, we are talking about power. Whiteness is an ideology which says that people racialised as white are morally and intellectually superior to other racialised groups.

Universities have been the primary motor in reproducing this ideology. Only by challenging the, often invisible, whiteness which underpins the dominant intellectual culture, can we build genuinely inclusive and progressive places of learning.

Adam Elliott-Cooper is currently a doctoral researcher in the School of Geography and the Environment at the University of Oxford. His research focuses on black resistance to police violence in post-2011 London. Adam also sits on the editorial board of City.

About AMDP Inspire Series

As part of its Academic, Multicultural and Diversity Programme (AMDP), Kingston University is holding a series of free inspirational talks open to the public.

Please book quickly as places are limited. These speakers are high profile and this is a fantastic chance to hear, first hand, about their experiences.

This initiative for Kingston University students aims to build:

• strong awareness of how culture and experiences shape perceptions of self and others;
• world views; and
• structured thinking skills as an introduction to critical thinking, around the issues of diversity.

As research shows these are all skills which are extremely valued by employers – especially in a global city like London.

For further information about this event:

Contact: Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Unit
Enquiries: contact us online