51Âþ»­

Decolonising 51Âþ»­ invites you to join its upcoming sessions: ‘A construction of race and identity: A case study of Bangladeshis and Somalis in Tower Hamlets’ on Wednesday 8 February and ‘Performing Race’ on Monday 13 February.

Decolonising 51Âþ»­ is the university’s initiative, which encourages staff and students to examine the everyday norms of university life to identify and eliminate systems, structures and behaviours that create disadvantage for minoritised people.

• A construction of race and identity: A case study of Bangladeshis and Somalis in Tower Hamlets
• With: Dr Fatima Rajina, Legacy Action Fellow, Stephen Lawrence Research Centre, 51Âþ»­
• Wednesday 8 February, midday–1pm
• Hugh Aston Building, room 1.51, and via Microsoft Teams

Dr Fatima Rajina will share her research exploring Somali-Bangladeshi relations in the London borough of Tower Hamlets, speaking about the making and unmaking of race. Previously, Dr Rajina has conducted research focusing on Bangladeshi Muslim communities in Tower Hamlets, Birmingham and Luton with a lens on citizenship and transnationalism. Her Phd research at SOAS delved into the changing relationship with dress and language among East End Bangladeshi Muslims. She will share her findings, insights and observations.

For any queries, please contact Kaye Towlson.

• Performing Race
• With: Dr Javeria Shah, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London
• Monday 13 February, midday–2pm
• Via Microsoft Teams

Drawing on her practice and research which conceptualises socialisation and racialisation as 'social performance' and her recent contribution to the , Dr Javeria Shah will challenge us to re-frame our conversations on race and associated dynamics. She proposes a shift towards a holistic, contextual, and less polarised discourse moving away from a centralisation whiteness and erasure of melanated communities lived realities.

For any queries, please contact Kaye Towlson.

Biography:

Dr Javeria Shah is a cultural sociologist and interdisciplinary scholar with expertise in policy, media education, sociology, and the visual arts. Specialising in person-centred research that interrogates and re-frames societal positioning(s) of the individual and their self-identity formation, her current research is strongly focused on the conceptualisation of socialisation as ‘social performance’.

2018 saw the bringing together of various strands of her practice and research to establish the This evolving community of practice exemplifies a digitally convergent and socially engaged platform, focused on connecting understandings of ‘social performance’ and inequality using concepts of ‘social theatre’. The network works collaboratively with academic and practitioner communities from within the arts, humanities, and social sciences to extend dialogue and practice that interrogates and explores, socialisation, to consider its impact on the way we live and formulate our self-identities – alongside offering consultancy services on these themes.

Dr Javeria Shah holds an academic role at Central as Programme Leader for Learning Development and Inclusion, which sits under Learning, Teaching, and Inclusion. This role includes oversight of Learning Skills (which offers informal learning development to Central’s full student body) and supporting the Director of Learning, Teaching, and Inclusion in embedding equity across all strands of Central’s pedagogic provision. Alongside this, she teaches Screen Studies (MA Acting for Screen) and modules on research practice and decolonising research for the London Arts & Humanities Partnership (LAHP) and am the founding chair of the Global Majority Staff Network.

Dr Javeira Shah is a visiting academic at several institutions including the University of Winchester, the University of Arts London, and the Centre for Race, Education, and Decoloniality, Leeds Beckett University where I also hold an associate staff position.  She is also an associate at MA Education Consultancy CIC, bringing her into contact with a broad range of clientele on their journey to anti-racism. She is a member of the steering group of the International Network for Anti-Racist Educators.

Dr Javeria Shah holds a diverse engagement portfolio in academic, researcher, and scholarly activist capacities. This includes memberships of the UCL Centre for post-14 Education and Work, the TATE affiliated Digital Maker Collective, facilitation of the ‘Performing Activism’ working group for the University of Manchester based SVR Network, reviewing and consultation capacities with Parliament’s Knowledge Exchange Unit, a decolonising film and media education expert at the Chartered College of Teaching, and membership of the advisory board for the Young Vic’s INNOVATE project.

Outside of academia, she is an engaged activist and artist who uses improvisation and multimodal platforms including spoken word, folk punk, and photography-based art to conceptualise issues of identity and diaspora.