Covert Racism

In today's episode Guilaine reflects on how covert racism functions, in particular within the cultural context of the UK.She begins by defining covert racism as a form of racialised bias/discrimination that is not explicitly, overtly and obviously manifested. This results in the people experiencing it being faced with issues of deniability, ambiguity and a near impossibility for redress, becoming mired in questions of what is counted as specific evidence of motivation for the racism.This topic was inspired by the work she is doing for her new book about whiteness in the workplace. She expands on experiences she documented in her book Living While Black and on reflections she had with her book White Minds.She then poses the question of how we get to a place of mutual understanding and of recognition of covert racism. She considers the ways to prove convert racism and locates three forms of proof:  Historical resonanceEmpirical dataLived experienceShe concludes that by thinking about systems, statistics and probabilities it is possible to prove covert racism if there is a real desire to do so, and wonders if the ways we have to try to achieve justice are an obstacle in terms of finding and using this proof. Living While Black: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/442992/living-while-black-by-kinouani-guilaine/9781529109436White Minds: https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/white-mindsSubscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts.

How Black women and others experience discrimination at work while pregnant In today's episode Simone reflects on how Black women and others experience discrimination at work while pregnant, linked in to Black Maternal Health Week that took place in April earlier this year, organised by the Black Mamas Matter Alliance: https://blackmamasmatter.org/They consider the range of people who experience pregnancies, and define and explore the spectrum of gender identities, and discuss the relationship of biology and gender. They use the article  Black Birthing Persons Matter—All of Them by Zahada (Kiersten) Gillette-Pierce: https://info.primarycare.hms.harvard.edu/perspectives/articles/black-birthing-persons-matter as a jumping off point as well as drawing on their own research around reproductive journeys of transgender and non binary people.Then they look at "'Oh gosh, why go?' cause they are going to look at me and not hire": intersectional experiences of black women navigating employment during pregnancy and parenting by Mehra et al: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36627577/Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts.

In today's episode Guilaine reflects on a the situation in Burkino Faso and what we can learn from that in relation to the workplace. How we can see the ways that whiteness, colonialism, and coloniality are playing out and glean insights into the working of those systems of domination. Fundamentally she urges us to pay attention to how what happens within the macro (ie the geopolitical level) has impacts and implications on the meso (ie the institutional functioning within workplaces) and the micro (ie our own psychological functioning and the way that we relate to one another.)Some previous podcasts that this episode is in communication with:Tensions between Black employees: https://www.buzzsprout.com/admin/1623760/episodes/15451884-tensions-between-black-employeesCharacter Assassination: https://www.buzzsprout.com/admin/1623760/episodes/16003086-character-assassinationPersonal Position Statement on Palestine: https://www.buzzsprout.com/admin/1623760/episodes/16170006-personal-position-statement-on-palestineReflections on a trip to the Congo: https://www.buzzsprout.com/admin/1623760/episodes/14947769-reflections-on-a-trip-to-the-congoExtraction: https://www.buzzsprout.com/admin/1623760/episodes/15301647-extractionMusings on the complex politics around race, Africa and the Miss Universe competition: https://www.buzzsprout.com/admin/1623760/episodes/16261736-musings-on-the-complex-politics-around-race-africa-and-the-miss-universe-competitionSubscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts.

In today's episode Guilaine reflects on a question she has received in multiple settings about how scapegoating operates, and why specific people might be targeted as scapegoats. This query is very prominent in the work she does and is a major part of her current doctoral thesis. She expands around the thinking previously shared on the podcast about both scapegoating, and the location of disturbance, covering basic definitions, existing psychological theories and her own more group analysis focused thoughts.She covers the ideas around repetition compulsion that locate the reasons people are scapegoated generally within their inner lives and backgrounds, but also calls this out as potentially toxic victim blaming, asking us to consider the structural and systemic factors at play. She doesn’t have a final answer, and perhaps no final definitive answers exist for situations so influenced by many lenses and contexts. But she offers many angles and potential theories along with some advice on how to approach scapegoating within groups. Location of Disturbance and Scapegoating: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1623760/episodes/8127268Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts.

In today's episode Guilaine reflects on when Diversity, Equality and Inclusion policies, procedures, rules and regulations, become blockers to achieving, or advancing, diversity, equality and inclusion within the workplace. Or as she prefers to see define it blockers to combating inequality, injustice and oppression  getting in the way of achieving liberation.She shares her observations around how these instruments designed for social progress eventually become corrupted by the status quo serving only to maintain the apparatus of oppression or domination. She thinks about how these mechanics function. She isolates three specific ways that DEI policies and procedures operate:Social performanceHelping to ensure (at least in the mind of the institution) legislative compliancePreempting defence and anticipating what charges may be made against the institutionShe also considers how written statements of intention and aspiration can be blurred into being seen as statements of fact, and how this can obscure our understanding of actions taken, and position institutions as over-identified/indistinguishable with these positions.She finishes by considering what can be learnt from this and ways to mitigate these effects.Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts.

In today's episode Simone reflects on the invisible and unpaid labour that students of colour do within higher education.They use the article The Invisible Labor of BIPOC Students by Stephanie Tavares: https://www.ncan.org/news/560484/The-Invisible-Labor-of-BIPOC-Students.htm as a jumping off point, drawing on their lived experience within higher education.They talk about how activists are often coopted into doing DEI work for universities and how this work is invisible, unpaid, watered down and hindered. And how collage administrations exploit their students around these areas and the impacts this can have on BIPOC students.They then talk about changes that could be made to improve these conditions but also how there is so much resistance to these changes.Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts.

Today's episode is a follow up to this previous episode: Money, money, money: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1623760/episodes/13872328Guilaine begins by reflecting on how her specific collection of intersections interact with her relationship to money/worth, considering what it means to be a Black woman from the inner-city and how that collection of identities chimes more with her experience than the term working class. She thinks about how race, migration and class interact with and sometimes obscure each other, particularly when anti-Blackness is added to the mix. And also the very specific experiences, cultures and conditions that are experienced by generations living in the impoverished areas of cities.Then she discusses a recent change she noticed in how she was approaching setting her rates as a speaker and thinker around racial trauma, and how she is going about resetting herself, changing the energy she puts out and reestablishing her boundaries. She then muses on the reasons why people in similar situations might undervalue themselves. Then she speaks to organisations and coprorations about how they need to interrogate their approaches to payment and race, particularly because money is always hot territory around race because of the history that exists there.Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts.

In today's episode Simone reflects on how racism operates in higher education environments. They begin by thinking about their lived experiences within education both as a student and as a professor. They consider how “gifted and talented” programs are a tool of white supremacy and the obstacles for Black people in terms of attending higher education. Reflecting on the stark contrast between the demographics of the students and the predominantly Black and brown janitorial, maintenance and service workers who keep the institutions running.They then look at the article Black Workers and the University by Lilah Burke  https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/10/27/black-workers-universities-often-are-left-out-conversations-about-race-and-higherThey finish off by looking at activism and union actions that have worked to confront and change conditions for Black workers within the academy. Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts.

In today's episode Guilaine begins by reflecting on how people who are racialised as Black who are introverts are treated at work, her thoughts on this are still cooking but she has been noticing more and more testimony and stories from Black people about these experiences.She begins by thinking about the ways she herself is an introvert. Then she asks some questions:Have you noticed that Black people who are introverted tend to be maligned and face particular racialised challenges in the workplace?Have you noticed that when Black people get into disputes or conflicts in the workplace it is important for them to provide reassurance to the rest of the team and make it clear that they are okay? She calls this an expectation of Emotional Transparency.Have you ever noticed that Black people who keep themselves to themselves in the workplace are expected to reveal themselves and be readable/accessible to others?She names and frames all of the above as The Black Mirror Phenomenon. And then muses about how it is formed, how it operates  how it connects to theories around colonialities and blackness and projection, and the risks that it creates in terms of group dynamics and the outcomes these dynamics have on racialised individuals She ends by considering some potential solutions and strategies to navigate this phenomena.Authenticity in the workplace: https://www.buzzsprout.com/admin/1623760/episodes/10665249-authenticitySubscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts.

In today's episode Simone reflects on the tokenism of corporations and other workplaces in the ways they treat Black people and people of colour. They begin by thinking about some scenes in season 2 of the TV series Severance which represent this dynamic and which have resonating with many viewers of colour. Then they consider the current situation in the USA where the Trump administration is seeking to destroy “DEI”, the emptiness of DEI programs in general, and the failure of corporate culture to both do adequate DEI work, and to respond to these current cultural and political attacks.They then look at this article: The tokenism trap: 7 ways it can hurt your workplace https://recruitcrm.io/blogs/tokenism-in-recruitment/They go through its recommendations but also heavily critique it, pointing out the problems in the way it frames and thinks about DEI, and the ways that it is representative of corporate and structural issues within White Supremacy. For example the framing of DEI as something that you do to make your corporation more profitable rather than something you do because it’s the right thing to do. When doing this they also draw on their own work being hired to do mediation within corporations and also their lived experience.Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts.