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Topic: multiculturalism

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This lecture is week 11 lecture, however, we have switched islamophobia with multiculturalism lecture.

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The UK government should renew its efforts to define Islamophobia

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The UK government should renew its efforts to define Islamophobia

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This news article will be read in class

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By dropping its work in this area, the government risks being complicit in a surge of abuse of British Muslims

From the tide of Islamophobia that surged across online spaces during the Covid pandemic, to the increase in attacks on mosques and Islamic institutions in the UK over the past three years, a series of Conservative governments have failed to tackle anti-Muslim hatred.

Back in 2021, the UK government announced that it would establish a working definition of Islamophobia, a task it deemed necessary in order to combat rising anti-Muslim sentiment, while supposedly protecting freedom of speech. However, much to the consternation of leading Muslim organisations, including the Muslim Council of Britain, it was confirmed last October that work on the definition's formulation had ceased.

That decision has been reached as Muslims continue to face the largest number of hate crimes of any faith group in the country. Last summer, the Islamophobia Response Unit reported that its clients have faced abuse ranging from having prayer mats stolen and damaged, bacon placed into their lunches by colleagues at work and being physically assaulted in public.

Research published by Hyphen in June 2022 revealed that 69% of UK Muslims currently in employment said they had experienced some form of Islamophobia at work.

The Tory party has drawn accusations of rampant Islamophobia, from the leadership down to ordinary party members. Former prime minister Boris Johnson in 2018 compared Muslim women who wear the burka to "letterboxes" in a Telegraph comment piece. The monitoring organisation Tell Mama found that the incidence of anti-Muslim hate crime rose by 375% - from eight incidents the previous week, to 38 in the week after Johnson's column was published.

Islamophobia is also rampant among Tory inner circles. In 2020, Nus Ghani, a government minister, claimed she was sacked from her role in the Department for Transport because of her faith. Ghani said that when she asked for an explanation it was stated her "Muslimness was raised as an issue".

No wonder that the Conservatives would be hesitant to propose a definition many of its own members would fall foul of it.

The refusal to establish a definition gives currency to those who wish to portray Islamophobia as a matter of debate

There is, of course, an already existing definition of Islamophobia drawn up in 2018 by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on British Muslims, with broad political support. In March 2019, the Labour party moved swiftly to adopt APPG's definition, explaining that it was crucial in tackling the rise of far-right extremism. The Lib Dems also adopted the definition. The Tories, meanwhile, continue to drag their heels.

The APPG on British Muslims defines Islamophobia as "rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness".

Constant delays over publishing an official definition has real-world implications, not least because it means that police officers will lack the necessary powers to act on anti-Muslim attacks.

As former Conservative attorney general Dominic Grieve QC admitted in November 2018 in his foreword to the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims' definition of Islamophobia, a lack of a definition of Islamophobia was "playing a major role" in undermining integration and cohesion in local communities, leaving many Muslims feeling far more isolated from wider society.

Most damning, though, was evidence pointed out by the APPG on British Muslims, that the "lack of a widely adopted working definition of Islamophobia was leading to an increase in Islamophobic abuse in society to devastating effect".

While some might be keen to group Islamophobia with racism or other forms of targeted abuse, an official definition is needed because Muslims across Britain deserve the right to define the unique prejudice they face. Rather than just being racism, Islamophobia is a specific form of discrimination that targets people because of their faith as well as their perceived "Muslimness".

A working definition is also necessary in order to tackle inequality and discrimination against Muslims in employment, education, criminal justice and access to housing. As the charity, the Aziz Foundation highlighted in a 2021 report titled The Missing Muslims: Unlocking British Muslim Potential for the Benefit of All, this kind of structural and institutional discrimination can result in British Muslims not believing they can or should participate in public life or vote in elections.

The report stated: "The Commission has also heard, forcefully expressed to it, the fear of many Muslims that, even in seeking to participate in public life or to work on a cross-community basis, they become subject to a much greater degree of adverse scrutiny, or to allegations about their motivation, than would be considered normal or acceptable for their non-Muslim counterparts."

The refusal to establish a definition also gives currency to those who wish to portray Islamophobia as a matter of debate. It is worth noting that this is an active choice the government has made by emphasising the importance of its own definition after rejecting the APPG's attempt in 2019, stating that it would have a negative impact on free speech.

The recent review into the government's controversial Prevent scheme, shows how Islamophobia has passed what Baroness Sayeeda Warsi described in 2011 as the "dinner table test". The report was overseen by the government's hand-picked reviewer William Shawcross, a former chairman of the Charity Commission, who himself has made Islamophobic remarks. They included the claim in 2012, made when he was director of the Henry Jackson Society, that "Europe and Islam is one of the greatest, most terrifying problems of our future".

Shawcross was left to conduct the Prevent review, arguing for a greater focus on Islamist extremism, rather than the threat posed by an emboldened and increasingly active far-right, as highlighted last December by UK lawmakers. That someone like Shawcross was appointed to the role to begin with shows how little the government cares about the concerns of Muslims.

Why aren't Muslim allowed to define the prejudice they encounter? Why is our suffering defined by people who have never experienced Islamophobia? It is clear that an element of UK society exists that doesn't want to come to terms with the reality and ugliness of anti-Muslim discrimination. The government's refusal to adopt the APPG definition of Islamophobia should be viewed in that light.

Selected stories

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The UK government should renew its efforts to define Islamophobia

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By dropping its work in this area, the government risks being complicit in a surge of abuse of British Muslims

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Topic: crime

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Topic: ethnicity and migration in the uk

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Topic: role of the media

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Topic: theories of citizenship

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LC561_REM_Week 7 Theories of Citizenship

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Topic: the history of migration in the UK
(it is recommended that you skim the information in this slide show, as w5 is more related to the assignment)

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Age of Migration - Chp 3 Theories of Migration

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Age of Migration - Chp 3 Theories of Migration

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Please pay attention to this chapter as it summarises all the important theories of migration, in addition to illustrating criticisms of the theories. It is crucial that you learn these theories as you need to incorporate some of them in your assignments (case study - portfolio).

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Solve the crossword through identifying the words listed below. You are also required to define the concepts that you have identified. The answer key is attached.

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You can access the definitions of basic concepts we have learned in class.

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Topic: theories of modern migration

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This article was read in class, and the students spent time answering questions relating to crime and media. This article explores the creation of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities by Prime Minister Boris Johnson after the death of George Floyd. Though classroom discussions, this Commission has been criticised in class. The aim of this activity was to practice critical thinking skills.

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When the death of George Floyd in the US inspired protests about racial injustice across the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson set up the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities to examine inequality in the UK.

Now its 258-page report covering health, education, criminal justice and employment has been published. But what does it say?

The commission acknowledges that it was established as a response to the Black Lives Matter movement and the upsurge of concern about race issues it inspired. It says it owes the mainly young people behind the movement a "debt of gratitude".

But it sets out a generational divide between younger activists and the commissioners who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, saying: "Our experience has taught us that you do not pass on the baton of progress by cleaving to a fatalistic account that insists nothing has changed".

It also criticises "bleak new theories about race that insist on accentuating our differences" and an "increasingly strident form of anti-racism thinking that seeks to explain all minority disadvantage through the prism of white discrimination".

That diverts attention from other reasons for the success or failure of minority groups, including those relating to the "culture and attitudes" of those communities, the report says. It rejects terms such as "white privilege".

Old class divisions have lost traction and identity politics is on the rise, fuelling "pessimistic narratives" about race, the commissioners say. While single-issue identity groups can do good work in protecting the vulnerable, they also "raise the volume" on these pessimistic viewpoints.

"Put simply we no longer see a Britain where the system is deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities," the commission says. It says racism is too often used as a "catch-all explanation" for disparities and impediments for people from minority groups.

Examples where ethnic minority communities "rightly felt let down", such as the Grenfell fire or the Windrush scandal, sparked "genuine national grief".

The commissioners suggest that inequalities such as the higher death rates from Covid-19 among some ethnic groups are explained by factors such as their occupation or housing rather than direct discrimination. "Outcomes such as these do not come about by design, and are certainly not deliberately targeted," they say.

It urges a detailed examination of the cases of racial and ethnic disparities and criticises the use of the term BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) as "no longer helpful" because it "disguises huge differences" between minority groups.

Too much data in the UK only breaks down ethnic groups according to the "big five" of white, black, Asian, mixed and other, making it harder to see differences within ethnic minorities such as black African and black Caribbean communities, the report says.

Many of the poor outcomes were due to family breakdown, the report suggests. It also says huge geographical inequalities can be the underlying causes of racial disparities.

The commissioners say it was "a revelation how stuck some groups from the white majority are" and it decided its recommendations should be "designed to remove obstacles for everyone".

Although the commissioners cite opinion polls showing there is wide acceptance among the population of the UK as a multi-ethnic society, they suggest social media "enormously amplifies racist views".

It says the "dominant narrative" tends to draw attention to issues such as this abuse rather than progress in society, such as that 40% of NHS consultants are from ethnic minorities.

Social media abuse, where people can find themselves targeted in their own homes, is a "unique torment", the report says. It says platforms such as Facebook and YouTube with a huge user base have provided racists with a new, more public way to inflict pain on their victims.

It suggests social media companies too often fail to even enforce their own terms and conditions, and they should face "substantial penalties - and public naming and shaming".

Contrary to public perception of rising hate crimes, the report says they may be declining, according to the Crime Survey of England and Wales. But it still equates to 142 racially-motivated hate crimes a day.

Praise for 'immigrant optimism'

The report looks for explanations as to why some ethnic minority groups do better than others, and it finds one in some educational research which suggests an important factor is "immigrant optimism".

In the education system, black African, Indian and Bangladeshi pupils perform better than white British ones, taking into account socio-economic status. Ethnic minority pupils also have higher aspirations at 14 than white students - with the exception of boys from black Caribbean backgrounds .

The research suggests that recent immigrants devote themselves more to education because they see education as a way out of poverty.

The commissioners say it may explain why pupils from black African backgrounds have better attainment in education than students with black Caribbean heritage, despite similar levels of neighbourhood deprivation, prejudice, and poverty.

Minorities who have been long-established in the UK, particularly if they have faced racial, social and economic disadvantage, may be the least optimistic about social mobility, the report says.

New arrivals to the UK have seized on educational opportunities and achieved "remarkable social mobility", making education the "single most emphatic success story of the British ethnic minority experience".

A bigger proportion of ethnic minority students attend university than white British ones, the report says. People from white British backgrounds have the best outcomes at top universities, but the commissioners suggest this is a "selection effect", due to a smaller, better qualified cross-section of the white British population going to university.

It says from early years onwards, family, geography and poverty are the main reasons for poorer outcomes in education.

The report says some groups need extra support, including black Caribbean, mixed white and black Caribbean, traveller of Irish heritage, gypsy and Roma groups, as well as Pakistani boys from low socio-economic backgrounds, and lower socio-economic status white British pupils.

But it compares racial attainment gaps to the US and finds they are about eight times smaller in the UK.

It acknowledges that teaching is "overwhelmingly white" but says the causes for differences in the rates of exclusions and suspensions "cannot be reduced to structural racism and individual teacher bias".

Teachers from ethnic minorities have faced "pushback" from senior staff when they push for a broader curriculum, the commissioners say. It suggests opportunities for a more inclusive portrayal of British culture are being missed, even when colleagues from ethnic minority backgrounds are proposing them.

But it says British history is not just one of "imperial imposition", with a more "complex picture" of ideas travelling back and forth, cultures mixing and "positive relations". "All this makes up the British story, our story, which has episodes of both shame and pride," the report says.

It says to develop a sense of citizenship and to support integration, pupils should be exposed to the "rich variety of British culture" and the influences on it, from classical civilisation to modern immigration.

The commissioners note there have been calls to include topics such as the Commonwealth contribution to the World Wars, major race relations events such as the Bristol Bus Boycott in 1968 and Commonwealth writers such as Derek Walcott and Andrea Levy.

Family breakdown is one of the main reasons for educational failure and crime, the report says. "Family is also the foundation stone of success for many ethnic minorities," it adds.

The commission said it had "great concern" about high rates of family breakdown in some communities, with 63% of children from black Caribbean backgrounds growing up in lone parent families compared to a UK average of 14.7%. Lone parenthood is much lower than average in south Asian and Chinese families.

The report says it is not "passing judgement", "allocating blame" or saying "two parents are always better than one", but stressing they may need extra support from extended families or community groups.

It also says "governments cannot remain neutral here" and minsters should look at initiatives to prevent family breakdown.

Stop-and-search a 'critical tool'

The commissioners criticise widely-cited figures that black people are nine times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people, saying the nationwide figures do not take into account the different sizes and characteristics of local populations.

They produce figures for London alone, where the bulk of searches are carried out, which show black people are nearly four times more likely to be searched.

Stop-and-search is a "critical tool for policing when used appropriately, and lawfully", the report says. But it says there needs to be more transparency and accountability about why it is deployed.

It quotes a suggestion by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services that the fact that most searches are for drugs does not suggest it is targeted on the most high-priority crimes.

"Is stop and search tackling the war on drugs? Or is it removing knives from our streets?" the commissioners ask, calling for greater clarity from police and government.

The report also suggests that more Class B drug possession offences where it is for personal use only should be dealt with outside of the criminal justice system.

Amid concern about the disproportionate numbers of people from ethnic minorities dying in the pandemic, the report says this is mainly due to increased risk of exposure through their occupation, as well as living in urban areas and multi-generational households.

It says that overall ethnic minority groups have better outcomes than the white population in terms of life expectancy, overall mortality and for many of the leading causes of mortality.

"This evidence clearly suggests that ethnicity is not the major driver of health inequalities in the UK," the commissioners say, pointing to deprivation, geography and different levels of exposure to key risk factors as the main issues.

They also suggest that the lack of evidence of an impact on health outcomes casts doubt on whether black and South Asian communities are "suffering from systemic racism throughout their lives" that negatively affects their health, education, income, housing and employment.

There was "no overwhelming evidence" of racism in the diagnosis and treatment of mental health conditions.

But the report says there needs to be more research into disparities in maternal mortality.

It stresses that the number of deaths overall is low, but between 2016 and 2018, among every 100,000 giving birth, 34 black women died. Among Asian women the rate was 15, and for white women it was eight.

'Diversity training does not work'

Research for the commission suggests that over the last 50 years, many first generation immigrants experienced downward social mobility, but the second generation have "caught up, and in some cases, surpassed, white people".

But it says this progress has mostly taken place in the last two or three decades and it has been "imperfect and mixed".

People from ethnic minorities are more likely to have persistent low incomes and among young people unemployment rates are high even for Indian and Chinese people who "comfortably outperform the white average in education and incomes overall and generally benefit from positive stereotypes".

It says discrimination is "likely to be a part of the story", with experiments showing ethnic minority candidates have to apply for about 1.6 times the number of jobs to get the same number of responses as a white person.

But the report says: "Diversity training and policies that treat people differently according to ethnicity does not work." And it recommends policies such as name-blind applications and mentoring rather than quotas.

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'Immigrant optimism' is praised while some anti-racist approaches face criticism by the commission.

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Topic: status groups

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Race and ethnicity are two concepts related to human ancestry. Race is defined as "a category of humankind that shares certain distinctive physical traits." The term ethnicities is more broadly defined as "large groups of people classed according to common racial, national, tribal, religious, linguistic, or cultural origin or background."

Ethnicities share a cultural background. Mea Shearim neighborhood, just outside of Damascus Gate in Jerusalem, is populated mainly by Haredi Jews.

Photograph by John Stanmeyer

Religious customs also play a part in ethnicity. Here, worshipers celebrate the blessing of the water and washing of the Ethiopian Patriarchs' feet on Holy Thursday in the Old City in Jerusalem.

Photograph by John Stanmeyer

As legal scholar Tanya K. Hernandez writes, "The social experience of being consistently viewed as distinct is what informs a racial identity, not a shared culture." People who share an ethnicity may speak the same language, come from the same country, or share a religion or other cultural belief or expression.

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Race and ethnicity don't show up at the genetic level, but the concept of race still forms the human experience.

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Topic: problematising race

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Topic: the rise of the concept of ethnicity

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This worksheet is important for the assignment, as it outlines the structure and details of the case study portfolio.

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Please utilise module handbook to access information on learning outcomes, assignment deadline, module schedule (lectures) and marking criteria.

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Giddens and Sutton (2021)

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Black identity and 'the new ethnicities'

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Black identity and 'the new ethnicities'

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This text from Giddens and Sutton (2021) book will be read in class.

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This worksheet created by my colleague Mr. Dilan should be answered by using the 'Race and Ethnicity Explained' article.

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The failure of state multiculturalism in the UK?

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The failure of state multiculturalism in the UK?

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Recommended reading

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I recommend you to read this article to use it for the 3rd and 4th part of the assignment which is on social problems and tackling those social problems based on the minority ethnic group you have chosen.

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This information sheet involves the following topics: in-group, out-group, the racialised other, push and pull factors in migration. You can also access some exercise questions.

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An Intersectional Feminist Approach to Migration - Recommended Reading

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An Intersectional Feminist Approach to Migration - Recommended Reading

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The concept of intersectionality is highly relevant to the second part of the portfolio, which is on the ethnic identity construction of the chosen minority ethnic group or category of migrant in the UK. Additionally, it is a core concept if you will specifically explore gender.

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These theories are closely related to the identity construction of ethnic minorities and the social problems they experience. Additionally, they can be used as a solution for the social problems.

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The pseudo-science of race and ethnicity

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The pseudo-science of race and ethnicity

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This worksheet is the summary of the following article: https://www.ethicscenter.uci.edu/files/docs/fabulous_mentoring/2022/03%20The%20Pseudo-Science%20of%20Race%20and%20Ethnicity.pdf

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Please watch before the first class.

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Kahoot Quiz on Concepts of Race, Ethnicity and Migration 

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Kahoot Quiz on Concepts of Race, Ethnicity and Migration 

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Join a game of kahoot here. Kahoot! is a free game-based learning platform that makes it fun to learn - any subject, in any language, on any device, for all ages!

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Worksheet on the news article 'Race Report: what are the key points?'

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Worksheet on the news article 'Race Report: what are the key points?'

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Answer these questions through reading the article on the Commission on Race and Ethnicity Disparities