Unsettling Spaces: Higher Education Institutions in the United Kingdom

Institutions of higher education in Britain pride themselves on being open, liberal spaces of learning and social engagement. However, many establishments, particularly the prestigious ‘old’ universities, are predominantly White, despite the implementation of a range of progressive, anti-racist, multicultural policies and practices. This chapter draws on both national discourses and research conducted in a major civic university to argue that it is necessary to confront myths of academic liberalism, the ideology of professional academic autonomy and the historical and contemporary processes that continue to shape university racisms. The picture revealed is one of unsettling rather than transformative spaces, where there are contests over power, intellectual authority and ethnic identity, but where there is also cultural containment through hegemonic practices.