The website: Religion, Belief and Faith Identities in Learning and Teaching at UAL is a very useful resource that I had not been aware of before, as a non-religious practitioner, however I now realise how religion has a powerful influence on how we perceive and categorise difference, and it has made me question my own biases, for example if a student declares themselves Christian that I might make an assumption that they are less open-minded than an atheist or agnostic person. I have taught a number of students this year who have incorporated their faith into their art practices, and I would in future encourage them to make use of this resource. Although we have discussed issues of identity regularly, the role of religion as it feeds into identity could be better integrated into future discussions. Some of the Art and Design resources – Visibly Muslim: Fashion, Politics, Faith Emma Tarlo, (2010); Race, Religion and Free Speech (Shades of Noir, 2016); and The address of spirituality in contemporary art, Lois Rowe, (2011) – are also a helpful reminder of the relevance of religion in exposing how the primarily secular art-world and media in this country play back into what bell hooks spelt out as the Imperialist White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy i.e. people who look like the ‘ruling’ class. So I would like to introduce such resources in a seminar / reading group scenario with BA Fine Art students who I teach, as an opportunity to put some of our own preconceptions under the spotlight.

The lecture by Kwame Anthony Appiah on Creed raised some interesting points about how religious scriptures and beliefs evolve over time and reflect their communities. The way he spoke about praxis –knowledge arising through practice – was a useful lesson to think about within art practice. As a feminist and atheist, I found the statement he made that to ‘master’ the scriptures was to know which parts to study and which parts to ignore pretty unhelpful in terms of retaining the notion of a ‘master’ who is expert of such knowledge. If he is allowing room to challenge the canon of the scriptures then why is it only open to be challenged by ‘masters’? Where does this put the rest of us – inside that religion or outside of it – in terms of knowledge?

Conversely, his reflection of the many contrary points of view within religions was a useful reminder for studentship in terms of remembering that critical reflection means bringing together a variety of different views, not just one. We should continue to challenge ourselves to break down pre-conceptions. Similarly with identity, he presented himself not only through his own intersectional identity in terms of race, sexuality and religion, but also demonstrated how this could be presented by yet another point of view depending on how you told the narrative of his parents’ backgrounds.

I would not offer this resource to students as I don’t agree with all of its content.

From the Religion in Britain: Challenges for Higher Education stimulus paper

by Tariq Modood and Craig Calhoun, I selected these three headings to read:

1. Minority identities: I was interested in the statement that “For some, the practices and the identity they express can be more concrete than personal faith; even where there is decline or vagueness about belief, a sense of belonging may persist.”. I recently interviewed a Muslim friend for a video project and she said she wasn’t really religious, she mainly believed in ‘being nice to people’ – but that some of her culture and heritage gave her a religious identity. Although I think of myself as non-religious, this unit made me reflect on my background growing up with parents who follow an Indian mystic (Radha Soami Satsang Beas, see: https://rssb.org/index.html), and my own feelings of embarrassment and stigma that the way my Mum dressed, or objects we had at home, were different to other white people’s. Yet I also have fond memories of going the children’s rooms attached to the spiritual meetings they would attend, of Indian culture and food that I grew up with. I recently met with two Indian colleagues who in passing explained some Indian food they were referencing – when I said I knew and told them about my upbringing they were quite astonished, and one told me that her mother followed the same spiritual guru as my parents! Although neither of us are religious, this has given our friendship and creative relationship as colleagues a new complexion which I really appreciate, and makes me realise that religion has formed my own positionality in some positive ways.

2. Vaguely Christian was a useful provocation, in outlining an assumed (White) vaguely Christian British identity. I argue that this is decreasing rapidly in younger generations, particularly in metropolitan areas. When my parents moved from London to Somerset when I was aged around 10 years’ old, the schools I attended were more Christian, with hymns sung in assemblies. I wanted to fit in, and to be ‘good’, and having never been Christened as a child felt like I should be, and also learned passages of the bible so that I could be confirmed. This was quite a short-lived period, and I have since rejected this linkage between being ‘good’ and ‘fitting in’, which resonates with the paper’s argument that “a vague sense of connection to the Church of England is as much identification with the state as with religion” (Modood and Calhoun, 2015, p.16). However, I need to remember that my own experience and relationship with the Church is not the relationship others have. i.e. someone being Christian does not mean they support Nationalist politics.

3. I was slightly perplexed by Religion and dissent in universities when the writer seemed scornful of university lecturers reacting against introducing segregated wash areas for prayer in the LSE Faith Centre. I do not know enough about the practice of prayer to comment on the segregation itself. However, he defends the segregation in terms of pre-existing gendered toilets – and these in themselves I argue we should get rid of in the University, as they have done in other universities. (In fact, in practice I recently discovered that female and non-binary Sculpture students at Camberwell have taken matters into their own hands and simply ignore the Male toilet sign on their floor.) Surely, as with the lecture by Kwame Anthony Appiah, there is place for us to adapt religious protocols for contemporary contexts, and for one community to influence another? Surely there would be a logistical solution to allow separate people, regardless of gender, to wash separately, as must happen in other e.g. domestic environments? He is similarly defensive of entrenched gendered positions when he says “Discussion of different ‘non-binary’ sexual and gender identities is growing on universities campuses. Liberating for some students, it is unsettling for others.” In our active UAL community we don’t just have discussions of non-binary identities, we have many trans and non-binary students. Any students or staff who are ‘unsettled’ by this needs to address their own prejudices – with help and education as can be supported. The enforcement of gender binaries may have religious justification, but that does not mean it can be left unchallenged. I realise, however, that my own position as someone who is non-religious, cisgendered, and comfortable in terms of my experience nonbinary toilet spaces, may influence my stance here.

Shades of Noir, Faith issue and terms of reference. From the issue publication Higher Power: Religion, Faith, Spirituality & Belief (2017) I selected the interview with Rahul Patel. His use of archives in discovering and supporting minority identities I felt I could suggest as a research method for some of my students in future in putting together contextual references for their practices, as well as potentially using their own e.g. family, cultural archives. I recently had a Year 1 Sculpture student say to me that she is the only Black person on her course and wants to find a community with more Black students. I already let her know about the work of Shades of Noir and student groups she can join– but from reading this I will also encourage her to look at the Black and Asian archives at Chelsea College of Art so that she can see that history of knowledge and belonging that has been nurtured. Rahul’s interview gave a beautiful insight into religious communities as being like refuge and ‘opium’ from an ugly, racist world outside and I would like to draw on this sense of creativity in the vision of a community outside of dominator UK culture in future work.