The conversation about Black history, anti-racism and decolonising the curriculum among Scottish teachers has come on leaps and bounds in the past year or so. Having delivered many talks, walking tours and workshops for Scottish teachers in these areas over the past few years has given me a good sense of where the concerns, lack of confidence and the limitations of the present educational system lie. I have also been very inspired by how thoughtful and enthusiastic many teachers are to make significant strides towards positive change. However, there are huge variations across the country, and even within cities like Edinburgh where I live and work.
Slavery was an interruption in African history, and must be taught as such.
Empathy and Respect
Many teachers are keen to make up for lost time and ready to wade in. Some, more reticent, rightfully worry about language and delivery. Laying careful groundwork in order to shape and skilfully manage the dialogue that will hopefully emerge in the classroom is very important. We have a long tradition of framing discussion as a two-sided debate which can lead to comparing false equivalencies to ‘win’ an argument and a misguided ‘balance sheet’ approach to history. Using scholarship and perspectives from other countries, particularly those that were colonized, should help to encourage empathy and respect for those on the receiving end of colonialism’s brutality and understand that the same historical events will be understood very differently by the descendants of those nations and communities, not to say the very real legacies of inequality.
The other focus on Black history in Scottish schools, is the American civil rights movement, but one in which the heroes are sanitized and the women and LGBT activists marginalized in the narrative.
Empire and Resistance
Scholarship on Scotland’s role in the Transatlantic slave system over the past couple of decades is beginning to reach a much wider audience. Scots were not just involved in disproportionate ways within the British Empire but also in other empires such as the Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese. As we become more familiar with this topic, it will be important to ensure the story of the Indigenous people of the Americas is told accurately, and that the centuries-long war of resistance by the enslaved and Indigenous across the region is afforded as much respect in both imagery and words as other political revolutions of the period. As Jamaican poet Mutabaruka suggested, slavery was an interruption in African history, and must be taught as such, with at least a brief introduction to West African civilizations before embarking on a topic about chattel slavery.
Civil Rights
The other focus on Black history in Scottish schools, is of course the American civil rights movement, but one in which the heroes are sanitized and the women and LGBT activists marginalized in the narrative. What’s missing is how internationally minded the leaders were; with links to emerging African nations and concern for unjust American wars. Why do we not also study the Black British civil rights movement that was happening at the same time, with a particular understanding of the Scottish context? Other people’s unjust national histories are always easier to accept, but understanding that the social construction of race and racism was heavily influenced by Scottish Enlightenment figures and racist laws created by Britain to manage the empire allow us to understand their damaging legacies here and abroad. Laws can be changed but social attitudes live on.
It’s important for our young people to understand how often the very same powerful elites in society repressed women, the working class and Black people/people of colour.
Decolonising the Curriculum
Black History Month and LGBT+ Month, although running for a couple of decades, are minimally celebrated in Scottish schools, but at this point, we may as well just focus on integrating these histories as fully as possible, particularly as so many of the issues overlap and intersect. It’s important for our young people to understand how often the very same powerful elites in society repressed women, the working class and Black people/people of colour. Decolonising the curriculum will help us understand how the construction of empire affected these intersecting elements and inspire students with examples of stories of real solidarity across interests in the pursuit of freedom for the human family.
