'White Thinking' and the failed promise of diversity in Scottish heritage
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Strathclyde
Department Name: English
Abstract
'White Thinking' and the failed promise of diversity in Scottish heritage
This project responds to a key challenge in the Scottish heritage sector: what is the next step in transitioning small-scale diversity projects in Scottish heritage organisations to more sustainable, and structural, forms of organisational and cultural change? While various organisations have signalled a commitment to longer-term changes, the innovation in this project is focused on bridging the gap between the wealth of smaller-scale anti-racist heritage projects taking place in Scotland today (which are often led by individuals and/or small collectives), and the 'promise' of structural change in a sector which is predominantly white and from higher socio-economic backgrounds.
The title is taken from Lilian Thuram's book, White Thinking: Behind the Mask of Racial Identity (Hero: 2021). The book asks, 'What does it mean to by white? Beyond just a skin colour, is it also a way of thinking? If so, how did it come about, and why?'. Thuram's career spans football (he is France's most capped player) and anti-racist activism. Thuram, and one of the translators of White Thinking will be leading some of the project's work at Kelvingrove Museum to ask how and why the white gaze determines and fixes representations of racialised minorities as fringe, exotic, and inferior. If they are represented at all.
The project responds to the call of Museums and Galleries Scotland's report Empire, Slavery, and Scotland's Museums (2022) to 'ensure anti-racism is embedded in [museum] workplaces and public spaces'. Through practice-led interventions involving stakeholders across education, heritage organisations, and communities, this project brings together organisations of different sizes, and with unique challenges, to create a community of practice. Our partners include the Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights, the David Livingstone Birthplace Museum, HMS Unicorn, Kelvingrove Museum, Museums and Galleries Scotland, the Royal College of Surgeons and Physicians of Glasgow, and the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Our outputs include anti-racist step-change plans for organisations, a new exhibition on the history of South Asian medical professionals in Scotland, community co-designed resources on the legacy of David Livingstone, workshops for curators, and a programme of public events for Black History Month Scotland.
This project responds to a key challenge in the Scottish heritage sector: what is the next step in transitioning small-scale diversity projects in Scottish heritage organisations to more sustainable, and structural, forms of organisational and cultural change? While various organisations have signalled a commitment to longer-term changes, the innovation in this project is focused on bridging the gap between the wealth of smaller-scale anti-racist heritage projects taking place in Scotland today (which are often led by individuals and/or small collectives), and the 'promise' of structural change in a sector which is predominantly white and from higher socio-economic backgrounds.
The title is taken from Lilian Thuram's book, White Thinking: Behind the Mask of Racial Identity (Hero: 2021). The book asks, 'What does it mean to by white? Beyond just a skin colour, is it also a way of thinking? If so, how did it come about, and why?'. Thuram's career spans football (he is France's most capped player) and anti-racist activism. Thuram, and one of the translators of White Thinking will be leading some of the project's work at Kelvingrove Museum to ask how and why the white gaze determines and fixes representations of racialised minorities as fringe, exotic, and inferior. If they are represented at all.
The project responds to the call of Museums and Galleries Scotland's report Empire, Slavery, and Scotland's Museums (2022) to 'ensure anti-racism is embedded in [museum] workplaces and public spaces'. Through practice-led interventions involving stakeholders across education, heritage organisations, and communities, this project brings together organisations of different sizes, and with unique challenges, to create a community of practice. Our partners include the Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights, the David Livingstone Birthplace Museum, HMS Unicorn, Kelvingrove Museum, Museums and Galleries Scotland, the Royal College of Surgeons and Physicians of Glasgow, and the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Our outputs include anti-racist step-change plans for organisations, a new exhibition on the history of South Asian medical professionals in Scotland, community co-designed resources on the legacy of David Livingstone, workshops for curators, and a programme of public events for Black History Month Scotland.
Organisations
- University of Strathclyde (Lead Research Organisation)
- Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery (Collaboration)
- Museums Galleries Scotland (Collaboration, Project Partner)
- David Livingstone Trust (Collaboration)
- Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (Collaboration, Project Partner)
- The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (RCPSG) (Collaboration)
- Glasgow Life (Project Partner)
- David Livingstone Birthplace Museum (Project Partner)
- HMS Unicorn (Project Partner)
- Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons (Project Partner)
- Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights (Project Partner)
- Thuram Foundation (Project Partner)
Title | Educational Resource DLBM |
Description | resources to support decolonial museum experience |
Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
Year Produced | 2025 |
Impact | resources to open new conversations about race |
Title | Educational Resource Kelvingrove |
Description | resources to support decolonial education |
Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
Year Produced | 2025 |
Impact | resources to support school visits |
Title | HMS Unicorn Zine |
Description | Zine to facilitate new audiences to engage with HMS Unicorn |
Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
Year Produced | 2024 |
Impact | Community co-produced zine to help diversify audiences |
Title | RCSPG Postcards |
Description | Illustrative postcards for RCSPG |
Type Of Art | Artwork |
Year Produced | 2024 |
Impact | Improving awareness and understanding of the contribution of South Asians to medical practice in Scotland |
Title | contribution to Glasgow City of Empire Exhibition |
Description | Contribution of materials and influencing design and pre-cursor intervention panels hosted at Kelvingrove to develop the exhibition |
Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
Year Produced | 2024 |
Impact | audience engagement (general public) |
Description | Through a combination of practice-led interventions across heritage organisations of varying sizes and scales we developed a series of practical tools and case studies that reflect on the challenges of embedded anti-racism in the Scottish heritage sector which are attuned to the societal, policy, and cultural specificities of Scotland. |
Exploitation Route | Final Report, Case Studies, Community of Practice |
Sectors | Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
Description | Our approaches to anti-racist heritage have helped to develop new initiatives which extend beyond this project (for example, forms of organisational and culture change within organisations and the breadth and depth of work on inclusion). |
First Year Of Impact | 2022 |
Sector | Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
Impact Types | Cultural |
Description | DLBM |
Organisation | David Livingstone Trust |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Designing educational resources on black life and history |
Collaborator Contribution | Supporting the testing of the resource and offering a permanent home to the resource |
Impact | Educational resource for schools (fully designed and tested) |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Kelvingrove |
Organisation | Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Working with Kelvingrove through EDI in Scottish Heritage and White Thinking to deliver their Museum of Empire interventions which then led to a permanent exhibition. |
Collaborator Contribution | Leading the design and delivery of a permanent exhibition. |
Impact | Intervention boards in Kelvingrove followed by contributions to a permanent exhibition with educational resources and curator training (on empire). |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | MGS |
Organisation | Museums Galleries Scotland |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Coordinating sector-wide dissemination of findings especially through Delivering Change Project |
Collaborator Contribution | Helping to design final outcomes and identifying sympathetic packages of work in the sector |
Impact | Contributing to final report and disseminating findings to museum professionals |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | RCPSG |
Organisation | The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (RCPSG) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Designing and delivering engagement events; producing resources and research to support inclusion work within the college. |
Collaborator Contribution | Supporting design and delivery. |
Impact | Doors Open Day event; public talk; resources for exhibited material; engagement with communities. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | SoAoS |
Organisation | Society of Antiquaries of Scotland |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Learned Society |
PI Contribution | Supporting an action plan for organisational change |
Collaborator Contribution | Collaborating to design action points for organisational change |
Impact | Organisational plan for diversity at a structural and operational level (primary impact: culture change) |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | HMS Workshop series (2 in total) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Engaging with minoritised communities to understand barriers to cultural belonging |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
Description | Interactive tour of DLBM |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | tour of DLBM focused on developing decolonial educational resources |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
Description | RCSPG - Open Doors |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Open Doors event which included exhibition and information on South Asian doctors |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
Description | RCSPG BHM |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | BHM public event |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
Description | RCSPG portrait launch |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Launch of first portrait of female fellow of college (who was also a South Asian woman) with supporting research led material. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
Description | Thuram Curators workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Event with curators on developing anti-racist practice |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
Description | Thuram public event |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Flagship public event on racism and heritage |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
Description | Thuram schools workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Engaging schools with anti-racism in heritage settings |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |