Jacob Fairless Nicholson (KCL) - 2016-17 Students
jacob.fairless_nicholson@kcl.ac.uk

Learning anti-racism: a cultural geography of anti-racist education in London, 1970-1990

This project will investigate anti-racist education enacted by/in schools and other learning environments in London, 1970-1990. Drawing on newly deposited archive collections across London and oral history interviews, the research will explore the experiences of young people and children, and their carers/parents and teachers, who participated in anti-racist programs. Developing an MA thesis on anti-racism provision in the Inner London Education Authority, this project examines anti-racist education in formal spaces (schools, classrooms, and syllabuses) as well as sites of informal education (youth groups, exchanges). It will provide novel insights into the diverse spaces through which anti-racist education was practiced, and the wider value of these spaces for social change, and will uncover the networks of diverse government, civil society and individual actors that made anti-racist education happen. Amid current debates about migration, the project stands as a timely reminder of the role of formal and informal education spaces in challenging exclusionary narratives.

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