Interrogating Spaces is a podcast series that examines ideas around inclusivity and attainment in Higher Education. Each episode will explore democratic and decolonised teaching practices through dialogue with practitioners as well as staff and students from University of the Arts London.
This podcast is brought to you by the Academic Enhancement team at UAL.
For more information and resources please visit:
https://www.arts.ac.uk/about-ual/teaching-and-learning-exchange/resources/academic-enhancement-resources

Interrogating Spaces Podcast

This playlist contains the full podcast 'About Inquilab' as well as its 5 separate chapters.

Outraged by the brutal murder of George Floyd many individuals within higher education (HE) were incensed, leading to a collective realisation of the imperative for transformative action. In response, Dr. Gurnam Singh, Jheni Arboine, and a small cohort of UAL staff and students made a decisive commitment to establish a distinctive reading group—Inquilab. This group distinguishes itself by embracing an unapologetically radical approach, with its foundation rooted in the principles of decolonisation, anti-racism, and flattened hierarchies. Inquilab’s primary objective is to foster an authentic space where UAL staff and students can converge, encouraging the exploration and contemplation of radical pedagogy and practices within a supportive, open, and organic space. 

In the podcast we hear from Inquilab’s founders about the context, values and ideas that were behind its beginnings and how it has since developed into its 3rd year. Participants and contributors tell us what brings them back and how the unique qualities and approaches that Inquilab embraces makes it a very different kind of discursive space. We hear about what it means to be able to bring your true self to a studio setting and how that fundamentally reconfigures hierarchies to create a greater sense of belonging and community for both staff and students.

About Inquilab Podcast

In this episode of interrogating spaces, Dr Emily Salines takes us on an exploration of feedback practice, and how we might take a more compassionate approach.

The impact of feedback on student learning is well documented in educational literature. We also know that it is a critical area of practice where the emotional impact of assessment is at play. We speak with a number of practitioners, teachers and students to set out to map a framework for compassionate feedback practice and how we might enact it 

The questions we are asking are:

How can we harness feedback to support learning in a way that does no harm and supports students?
How can we use feedback to foster belonging?
Can compassion help us? And what would compassionate feedback look like?
This work is part of the QAA collaborative enhancement project on ‘Belonging through assessment: pipelines of compassion’ with UAL, Glasgow School of Art and Leeds Arts University.

Compassionate Feedback

This panel discussion on pass/fail assessment in arts higher education took place online during the ‘Belonging through assessment: Pipelines of compassion’ symposium on 21st October 2021. The symposium forms part of the QAA Collaborative Enhancement Project 2021 and is a partnership between University of the Arts London (UAL), Glasgow School of Art and Leeds Arts University (LAU). The discussion between invited speakers: Professor Sam Broadhead (LAU), Dr Neil Currant, (UAL) and Peter Hughes, (LAU) is facilitated by Dr Kate Mori (Academic Engagement Manager, QAA).

The discussion explores the potential of pass/fail as a compassionate approach to assessment and explores the challenges in changing practice and policies from the perspective of staff, students and the wider institution. A fascinating conversation that explores the complexities of feedback and assessment and implications for student belonging.

For more information please visit: https://belongingthroughassessment.myblog.arts.ac.uk/

Pass/ fail assessment in arts higher education

This polyvocal podcast tells the story so far of Inquilab / Ink-Lab; an alternative reading group based at University of the Arts London.
 
Outraged by the brutal murder of George Floyd many individuals within higher education (HE) were incensed, leading to a collective realisation of the imperative for transformative action. In response, Dr. Gurnam Singh, Jheni Arboine, and a small cohort of UAL staff and students made a decisive commitment to establish a distinctive reading group—Inquilab. This group distinguishes itself by embracing an unapologetically radical approach, with its foundation rooted in the principles of decolonisation, anti-racism, and flattened hierarchies. Inquilab's primary objective is to foster an authentic space where UAL staff and students can converge, encouraging the exploration and contemplation of radical pedagogy and practices within a supportive, open, and organic space.
 
In this podcast we hear from Inquilab’s founders about the context, values and ideas that were behind its beginnings and how it has since developed into its 3rd year. Participants and contributors tell us what brings them back and how the unique qualities and approaches that Inquilab embraces makes it a very different kind of discursive space. We hear about what it means to be able to bring your true self to a studio setting and how that fundamentally reconfigures hierarchies to create a greater sense of belonging and community for both staff and students.

Contributors:
Jheni Arboine
Nadia Idle 
Deshna Mehta
Dr Gurnam Singh
Dr. Manrutt Wongkaew

Music:
Thank you to Shaheed Bhai Mewa Singh for allowing us to use their music in this podcast

Sound recording credits: 
Tim Kahn for the recordings of a Black Lives Matter protest in Portland, Oregon, 7th June 2020

Production and Editing:
This podcast has been created and edited by Gemma Riggs

About Inquilab (Full podcast)

This is part 4 for the About Inquilab Podcast, where contributors discuss concepts of decoloniality in relation to higher education and how it might manifest in practice and through the Inquilab reading group

About Inquilab Section 04: Decoloniality and Higher Education

What does it mean to bring your 'self' into your teaching practice and how might this create a more inclusive learning environment?

About Inquilab Section 03: Self, truth and lived experience

We hear extracts of an Inquilab session from July 2023 and hear from participants about what it felt like to be in the session. During this session participants were asked to share objects that meant something to them whilst the group painted their own watercolour

About Inquilab Section 02: What Does An Inquilab Session Feel Like?

We hear from Inquilab founders who describe how the reading group came about and what key ideas, methodologies and principles it embraces

About Inquilab Section 01: Introduction - What is Inquilab?

This episode of Interrogating Spaces profiles the latest Decolonising the Arts Curriculum exhibition at Central St Martins library, curated by Rahul Patel (Lecturer on MA MA Culture, Criticism and Curation at Central St Martins and Educational Developer at UAL’s Teaching and Learning exchange).

It features conversations with the five featured artists (Maria Bendixen, Dr Jo Shah, Tobi Falade, Siyan Zhang and Joanna Mamede) about their displays within the exhibition. Through the ideas at play within each of their artworks, we gain insights into diverse positions on decolonisation.

The feature is introduced by Rahul Patel.

Decolonising the Arts Curriculum: Personal Narratives

This episode of interrogating spaces features a conversation between South African filmmaker Rehad Desai and Sandra Janette Poulson who studies Fashion Print at Central St Martins. They come together after a screening of Rehad’s film ‘Everything Must Fall’ which charts the #feesmustfall movement that took South Africa’s Higher 
Education institutions by storm in 2015. They discuss the film and its implications for universities and pedagogy from a global perspective.
The film screening was programmed by Rahul Patel, Lecturer on MA MA Culture, Criticism and Curation at Central St Martins and Educational Developer at UAL’s Teaching and Learning exchange.

Everything Must Fall: A conversation between Rehad Desai and Sandra Janette Poulson

Interrogating Spaces examines ideas around inclusivity and attainment in Higher Education. In each episode we speak with staff, students and practitioners to explore democratic and decolonised teaching practices.

Interrogating Spaces is brought to you by the Academic Enhancement Team within the Teaching and Learning Exchange at the University of the Arts London.


For more information please visit 
https://www.arts.ac.uk/about-ual/teaching-and-learning-exchange/academic-enhancement

About Inquilab (Full podcast)

Interrogating Spaces / Academic Enhancement at UAL