Faith

Religion, Belief and Faith Identities in Learning and Teaching – UAL website

I had never seen the UAL website Religion, belief and faith identities in learning and teaching before. I wasn’t aware that it existed and to be honest I had never thought of religion as an important matter for Higher Education.

This UAL website enlightened me and I now realise that if religion is not an important factor in my life it is not true for a fair percentage of the population and therefor for a good proportion of my students. Indeed, UAL chaplain Mark Dean reveals in the Shade of Noir’s interview[1] that a UAL survey shows that 50% of UAL students identify as religious and of those who don’t, only a small minority identify as atheist. Similarly, when we look at the data of the Global Religious Landscape Worldwide All Population[2] it is clear to see that the number of people identifying as religious has increased for all religions in the last 10 years.

The website also questions the interaction between art and religion throughout history and the way this relationship can be incorporated in teaching practice. It shows different publications such as OOMK which emphasis on the expression of religious women in general and Muslim women in particular. It seems though that not many religions were covered and as it represents the students’ work one can wonder as to why the publication is not more representative of the different students’ religious identities.

The website also contains many case studies. One of them is Veil by Sara Shamsavari. Her work is about the celebration of Muslim women who wear the veil in different styles in order to express their individual identities. It is a vibrant example of the relation between art and religion which in turn shows the importance of highlighting prejudice and perception against the reality of cultural expression.

Reflecting on religion in order to make sure that my teaching is respectful and aware of it is paramount. It is also important because religion has shaped the identities of religious and to a lesser extend non-religious students. It is part of their intersectionality.

How could you apply the resources to your own practice?

The very first application for my own practice is that I now will be able to refer my students to this website and to its numerous case studies. I will also encourage my students to approach the theme of religion in their work and to reflect on the plurality of religion, its impact on society and its importance on people’s life.

Throughout this Inclusive Teaching & Learning in Higher Education unit I have come to realise that I need to be more influential in the themes and casting chosen by my students for their films. I used to say that as a production tutor my role was to make sure that the students could realise their ideas and I didn’t think that I should discuss and challenge when necessary their creative vision.  Today, through discussions and by referencing films engaging with different topics such as race, gender, sexuality, disability, faith and culture, I want to expand the students’ visions so that they embrace and represent all kind of themes, topics and point of views. I will of course always respect their vision but my guidance will not stop at just production matters and will now encompass societal, creative and spiritual point of view. I am therefore working on creating a new workshop that would challenge bias in scriptwriting, the creation of film drama and casting.

How could you integrate the research/work your students do on this subject into your teaching/professional practice? Can you cite examples?

Reflecting on religion made me realise that I might have been insensitive to one of my students’ religious identity. Indeed, he wrote a script about two parents who come to the UK from India to bury their grown-up son who died after a racist encounter. Although I was very empathic with the themes of racist and of bereavement I failed to understand the religious aspect of it. Indeed, he wanted a scene where the parents would burn a big painting made by their son by the beach. I saw that shot as a health and safety hazard that would not be authorised by the British authorities and failed to perceive the religious aspect of it.

I now see that the true meaning of this shot is a religious parable as Hindus regard an open-air cremation as the most auspicious way to release the soul from the body in order to be reincarnated. Working together, we have already found ways of achieving a safe and secure shot (albeit on a smaller scale and using CGI) and I will discuss with him his true intentions and will make sure to apologies for my lack of understanding and sensibility.

I extracted few lessons from this experience. The first one is that I need to be aware of my own bias and be more sensitive of all religious aspects with my students. I also need to be more informed and to learn about different religions so that I can understand better my students’ intersectionalities.

Religion in Britain: Challenges for Higher Education

Chapters studied:

Religion and knowledge of religion in UK Universities

Religion and dissent in universities

Religion as a public good

The first aspect of religion that I have learnt while reading these articles is the increase in religious concerns either for a better inclusion of religion in public life or the opposite.  Indeed, it seems that the secular aspect of Western societies is today put in question while a growing part of the population refute religion in itself. We can see these growing tendencies in countries such as France, Turkey, Poland, Ireland or America to name just a few.

Being non-religious, I also hardly never had thought about the presence of a Chaplain in most universities in the UK and was totally ignorant of how that presence is financed. I realised that although chaplains seem to be “leaders of multi-faith dialogues and communities” it is fair to say that in the UK they are mainly Anglican and other faiths are often represented through them but not by them. Dialogue is indeed welcome but representation is also necessary.

To me religion is about freedom. Freedom to have a faith and to practice this faith, freedom not to have a faith and not to belong to a religious community. Religion is also a very personal matter as it implies that an individual makes a choice. A choice to believe in specific creeds, a choice to life one’s life following these set of beliefs and of course a choice not to believe.

It seems that what we are lacking the most when we think of religion in our societies is the lack of respect of that freedom of choice and conversation should be more about education in order to respect all faiths and non-faith rather than being about the inclusion of religion in our public life. Indeed, when one calculates the number of churches, mosques, temples and other religious building that there is in the UK one realises that religion is very present in our everyday lives. Having religion represented in the decision-making process of our daily life would only be beneficial if all religions and non-believers were represented which in the end would only be a representation of humanity. The reality that we are experiencing today is that only one set of beliefs is over powering all others which in turn creates an exclusive society obeying to a very narrow set of religious rules.

As the French writer and philosopher Voltaire said “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to death your right to say it”, similarly I do not believe in a faith, but I will defend one’s right to believe in a god.

Shade of Noir: Case study

It is clear to see that religious expression is today more diverse and visible than it used to be. In one hand this is a positive change as it shows a better inclusivity in society but unfortunately this doesn’t mean necessarily a better respect of the right to have a faith that is different than the accepted norm and so therefor visibility can also mean being targeted.

Religious extremism and societal amalgams have been the base for the verbal and physical aggressions’ increase seen in our society today. As in many cases, education, honesty, representation, courage and a sincere desire for self-growth are the remedies to this deplorable situation. All of these tools for better understanding, respect and inclusion do not belong to a specific religion. They belong to humanity and society at large needs to do a better use of them.

Kwame Anthony Appiah: Mistaken Identities

Before lessening to Kwane Anthony Appiah’s lecture, I had always thought of religion as a fix set of beliefs that one had to adhere to cognitively in order to put them in practice in everyday life. I became an atheist when I started questioning these set of beliefs specifically when looking at them through the prism of women equality and homosexuality.

Although I fully respect the right to have a faith and the desire to belong to a religious community, I feel that religion today is still relying on outdated scriptures in order to justify and maintain a patriarchal ideology. Kwane Anthony Appiah’s lecture made me realise that these set of beliefs have evolved throughout history and are still evolving today albeit rather slowly.

There is also a certain bias that only religion can make you a better person and that following a specific set of beliefs is the only way to reach a stage of purity, sanctity or enlightenment. An example of this bias can be seen in a question that was asked by a gentleman (an expert in religious identity) after the lecture. His question can be summarised as such: what kind of things fills the hole that atheists and non-believers have as they do not believe in a religion? Rightly, Kwame Anthony Appiah’s response was that he was sceptical of the existence of this hole.

What Kwame Anthony Appiah made me understand is that emphasising on religious community rather than on religion is indeed an attractive proposition to counter these restrictive beliefs and bias.

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UPDATE: FRIDAY 28TH MAY

I have met why my student who wanted a shot of a fire by the beach during a production workshop. I asked him what this shot meant to him and he replied that it was a parable for Hindu religious tradition and an important aspect for his film and to him. I explained that I had realised the true meaning of his shot after our last encounter and I apologised for not being sensitive to it at the time. His body language expressed surprise. We talk again about creative ways of achieving his vision and agreed on ways of doing it. The conversation was more meaningful and there was a new bond between us. Unspoken but real. At the end of the session he thanked me for understanding him and I thank him for teaching me how to be a better teacher.

[1] Higher Power: Religion, Faith, Spirituality & Belief. Shade of Noir. Dec 2017 P 24 & 25

[2] Higher Power: Religion, Faith, Spirituality & Belief. Shade of Noir. Dec 2017 P18 & 19

Bibliography:

UAL (2008), Religion, Belief and Faith Identities in Learning and Teaching. https://religiousliteracy.myblog.arts.ac.uk/

Calhoun, C. and Modood, T. (2015), Religion in Britain: Challenges for Higher Education. Leadership Foundation. http://www.tariqmodood.com/uploads/1/2/3/9/12392325/6379_lfhe_stimulus_paper_-_modood_calhoun_32pp.pdf

Kwame, A.A (2016), The Reith Lectures: Mistaken Identity series, Creed. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07z43ds

Shades of Noir (2017), The Little Book of Big Case Studies.

https://www.shadesofnoir.org.uk/education/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Shades-of-Noir-Case-Study-Faith-WEB.pdf

Shades of Noir (2018), Higher Power: Religion, Faith, Spirituality & Belief

https://issuu.com/shadesofnoir/docs/higher_power

Shade of Noir (2017). Queer Bodies.

https://issuu.com/shadesofnoir/docs/queer_bodies_online

One Of My Kind – OOMK Zine 

http://oomk.net/index.html

Shamsavari S. Website

https://www.sarashamsavari.com/londonveil#1

Ferlazzo L (2020). Responding to a Colleague Who Makes a Racist Comment. Education Week

https://www.edweek.org/leadership/opinion-responding-to-a-colleague-who-makes-a-racist-comment/2020/09?fbclid=IwAR1MvmEXSdH3XKhRyFSyRmmF2ceGqKmoD04Tt7wJHTuFhmgi4Kjq0WspyDY

Turnbull H. (2013) Inclusion, Exclusion, Illusion and Collusion. TEDx Talks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdV8OpXhl2g&ab_channel=TEDxTalksTEDxTalksVerified

Black O. (2016) Are You One of Us? What Behavioural Science Reveals on Inclusion. TEDx Talks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOlynlKPR-8&ab_channel=TEDxTalksTEDxTalksVerified