After an intriguing start, we welcome Professor Frank Keating, a Professor of Social Work and Mental Health in the Department of Social Work at Royal Holloway University of London, and Rianna Walcott, a LAHP-funded PhD candidate at Kings College London and co-editor of an anthology about BAME mental health, The Colour of Madness. We also welcome Jacob Diggle, Head of Strategy & Insight from the charity Mind to provide a response from their organisation to what is said.

Delivered on 25 Nov 2020 at the BPPA Annual Graduate Conference organised online by The University of Manchester in association with the Manchester Chapter of Minorities and Philosophy.

We asked a cross-section of our collaborators and community: What does it mean to be human, now? In these short films 11 contributors respond to the question, generously sharing their personal experiences of life and work during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Listen to a conversation between artist/writer Cheryl Martin and writer Rianna Walcott reflecting on their own experiences of mental health and care practices during and emerging from this global health crisis.

This is an interview with Rianna Walcott, the co-founder of Project Myopia – a student-led initiative to decolonise university curricula. The discussion explores the difference between ‘diversity’ and ‘decolonisation’: how these two concepts relate to and contradict one another. Walcott outlines some of the recent student efforts to ‘decolonise’ the university and we discuss the extent to which this represents a paradoxical ambition, as well as the limitations of attempting to change the university from the inside. Walcott also explores the significance of some practical measures which can be – or have been – put into place when attempting to diversify or decolonise curricula, and we close by discussing the significance of Philosophy in particular with respect to decolonising efforts, and the steps which need to be taken in order to begin the process of ‘decolonising’ philosophy.

This week were joined by the Rianna who is the co-founder of Project Myopia; co-editor of the Colour of Madness and PhD researcher at Kings College London. We discuss whiteness within the academy, decolonising H.E and mental health and illness for Black and Brown people in the UK.
We are particularly passionate during this episode so expect some strong language!

As a black person, simply existing in institutional spaces can be a trial. When these spaces are soaked in colonial legacies, and cater to white cultural norms, expectations and experiences – just navigating these worlds that were not built for you takes an extra level of effort and energy that may be invisible to people around you.