- Visit the Religion, Belief and Faith identities UAL website and answer the questions:
- How could you apply the resources to your own teaching practice?
- How could you integrate the research/work your students do on this subject into your teaching/professional practice?
- Can you cite examples? You will share your thoughts within your groups and comment and share further resources you use in your own context.
I particularly enjoyed reading about Pen Portraits, an icebreaker activity created by Angela Drisdale Gordon, Head of Further Education at UAL. The activity involves the students asking each other a list of questions before sharing the answers to encourage students to open up about their interests. This is a simple yet effective tool that I could utilise in my own teaching practice to encourage students to explore alternative interests and ethical viewpoints.
This activity also encourages the teacher to share their own answers which for me, then adds a ‘trust-building’ element to this exercise, where students get to know the tutor a little better. My belief is that trust between the teacher and student is critical in the teaching-learning environment to help facilitate learning and the objective learning outcomes.
For me, the nature of this activity being a direct way to ask each other their views and opinions is important to encourage the exploration of new and/or unfamiliar cultural practices and belief systems and to inform notions of identity.
In order to encourage student to draw on different cultural references in their work in my own teaching practice,I would encourage students to explore places of cultural reference relevant to their own projects. For example at present, the 3rd year BA Interior Design students are working a project for which the concept of the designs must be based within the King’s Cross area. As a teacher, I have encouraged students to explore places like the Aga Khan Centre (located in King’s Cross) but I could develop this further by encouraging visits to the Black Cultural Archives which is not located in Kings Cross but may still provide significant cultural insight to inform the development of ideas and concepts within their projects.
A particular reference from the Religion, Belief and Faith identities UAL website that interested me was a video entitled ‘A Brief History of Religion in Art’. The video discusses an-iconism (prohibition of the visual depiction of the divine) within art across centuries in history and how in more recent times the modern representation of the ‘divine’ in religion has taken more human-like form. It was interesting to see how depictions of the divine, in Islam for example, came through patterns and symbols and iconographic reference in textile design.
I would encourage my students to visit the Religion, Belief and Faith identities UAL website to cite examples like this and to encourage them to think about how historical practices in art to depict concepts of faith and religion can inform their own work. For example, the Interior Design students who I work with who have chosen to design an interior space which would encourage communication amongst the public could use influence from historical depictions of faith or religion to inform their choices about the interior design – the patterns and symbols that could be utilised on chosen textiles, materials and architectural design could be used to encourage discussion around faith and religion by the users of the space.
● Choose a minimum of 3 headings from the ‘Religion in Britain: Challenges for Higher Education.’ Stimulus paper (Modood & Calhoun, 2015) The PDF can be found on Moodle. Discuss two things you learnt from the text and one question/provocation you have about the text. Write a min. 100 word reflection or no more than 5 minute vlog
The three headings that I reviewed from the Modood & Calhoun (2015) text were Multiculturalism (page 6), Changes in religious demography (page 8) and Minority identities (page 9).
The first heading, Multiculturalism identifies multiculturalism as the ‘institutional accommodation of post immigration ethno-religious minorities’ as a construct of equality. It discusses the global spread of multiculturalist sensibility despite becoming an unpopular construct in the public.
The second heading, Changes in religious demography, discusses the occurrence of secularisation across the 20th century and the rapidly changing religious demographic in Britain as a result of immigration.
The third discusses how minority groups define identity according to colour or nationality although religion takes precedence, particularly as faith is expressed on personal beliefs and shared practices such as diet and dress.
One thing I learnt from these readings is what multiculturalism really means as a social construct and vehicle for equality. In defining what multiculturalism looks like in the public sphere, the text suggests the following:
- anti-discrimination
- sameness of treatment
- toleration of ‘difference’ but respect for difference
- equality as the accommodation of difference in the public space, which comes to be shared rather than dominated by the majority
- The abandonment of the pretence of ‘difference-blindness’ and allowing others, the marginalised minorities, to be visible and explicitly accommodated in the public sphere.
- reversal of marginalisation but also a remaking of national citizenship so that all can have a sense of belonging to it
I’ve always thought about multiculturalism in a more simplistic way, as a construct that promotes equality and acceptance of multi-faith/race/colour identities, but as a result of ‘tolerance’ rather than being ‘accommodating’.
What I have become more aware of from this reading, is the depth of what it means to create a true multicultural society, which extends beyond just acceptance, but branches into the application of layers of inclusive practices (for example, the democratisation of rights which have been reserved for privileged, dominant groups); practices which require meaningful reflection, to identify behaviors, attitudes, policies and procedures that have created resistance in achieving of multiculturalism.
The second thing I learnt from the readings is the extent of the change in the religious landscape across Britain and the level at which secularisation has occurred. British Social Attitudes (BSA) surveys have identified a decline in the number of Christians and in the level of church attendance. In turn, it appears that there has been a shift towards ‘spirituality’ or ‘belief without belonging’ where statistics have identified that ‘belief in a spirit or life source has remained steady at around 35%–40%, and belief in the soul has actually increased’ vs. a decline in the belief of a personal god from over 40% to less than 30% in recent years.
This change can be attributed somewhat to immigration, particularly considering that figures suggest that in 10 years’ time, around one in eight new adults will be of a minority faith, but that the figure for London (a hub for migration) is double the English average.
In my opinion, this change can also be attributed in small part to the rise of the more conscious movement for beliefs and practices e.g. veganism, spirituality, sustainable living etc. and a greater acceptance of what might normally be described as ‘alternative’.