Blogging activity 2: Faith

Religion in Britain: Challenges for Higher Education

This stimulus paper made me question whether religion is something public or private, and made me consider important issues in the context of HEIs. I agree with Modood that we have a duty of care towards our students, and we need to consider also religious literacy and equality, beyond racial and sexual equality. This relates to the UAL Ethics for Making resources, and I wonder whether religion is much considered within the UAL Climate, Racial and Social Justice principles.

In the brief I recently developed for the BA (Hons) Fashion Jewellery course at LCF, I encouraged students to value identity, diversity, and cultural sustainability. Although most students had the same nationality, it was fascinating to witness that they developed diverse responses to the brief, drawing on their unique stories of identity and belonging. At the same time, many of them focused on Buddhist practices as an element of their culture that they wanted to sustain, through their jewellery designs.

I will definitely consider religion as an element of culture in my exploration of cultural sustainability going forward, e.g. for the Collaborative Challenge brief on ‘Decolonising Fashion and Textiles’ which I am developing, and in the ‘Fashion Practices for Social Change’ elective unit which I will deliver in a.y. 2024/2025. Building on this experience, as well as Reina Lewis’s research on modest fashion and faith, in the Collaborative Challenge brief which I am developing, I will create space to listen to diverse cultural and religious groups, and encourage dialogue across diverse students.

Overall, given that Universities are places of learning, I believe that we – as educators – have a responsibility to create safe spaces for dialogue and nurture our students to create positive social change, considering religion, and valuing diversity rather than dealing with it as an issue.

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

I really enjoyed reading the Terms of Reference from SoN as they highlight the need to create safe spaces, manage difficult discussions around race in HEIs, and consider tailored access to information for people with disabilities.

I particularly liked the interview with William Whitcombe, the Chaplain & Interfaith Advisor for LCF and LCC. I found it very relevant to my work which is concerned with socio-cultural issues of sustainability. I often provide pastoral care to my students, and this interview equipped me with suitable information to support religiously diverse people.

Considering the multi-faith world in which we live and work, I have witnessed that religion is an important strand of identity and culture for many students and can also influence their creative practice. For instance, I have supported an MA Fashion Futures student of mine in developing her research proposal on the influence of religion and ethics in sustainable fashion businesses. Initially, she worried that the focus of her project was too narrow (as it is not much discussed in current literature and practice of fashion) and was struggling to recruit participants for her primary research. I supported her to pursue this very original study, in which she deeply believed, and in the end, she managed to use creative methods to develop an ethical framework for exploring and embedding religious values in fashion organisations.

This example, and the text by William Whitcombe remind us to discover the spiritual side that exists in all of us. My main take-away is an awareness that it is our responsibility to find our unique entry point, and embark in a spiritual journey, facilitating dialogue with our students to support them in using the power of creativity to activate positive change.  

Kwame Anthony Appiah Reith lecture on Creed

Listening to the Reith Lecture by Kwame Anthony Appiah, I was fascinated by the positionality statement with which he opened his lecture. A key topic in this lecture which resonated to me is the consideration of religion as a social practice that can bring people and communities together. This reminded me of the importance to nurture students in developing skills of critical reflection and interpretation of artistic practice, also considering the socio-cultural context in which they operate. In my teaching practice, I tend to encourage my students to adopt a localist approach, and develop authentic fashion designs, grounded on a personal and spiritual approach to sustainability.

I recently supported an MA Fashion Futures student of mine at LCF in developing a practice research project aimed at designing a “religious” store or installation for second-hand fashion, in order to shape stronger and sustainable communities. I encouraged her to explore the links between religion, architecture, and fashion, and invited her to participate at a Summer School in Italy together with other students in Architecture from Monash University (Australia) and Central Saint Martins (UK).

Overall, when we bring together students from different practices, cultures and faiths, we need to facilitate a safe space for dialogue that encourages co-existence rather than prevalence of one dominant religion. I agree with Kwame’s argument that religious identities – like all identities – evolve. With this in mind, in a student project brief I am developing for the Collaborative Challenge unit, I will invite the students to engage with culture not as a fixed return to our roots, but as routes through which we travel, and our culture changes and develops. This way, I hope the students will develop culturally meaningful fashion and textile artefacts that express their shifting identities, and potentially include their diverse religious beliefs.

*** I commented on Eleni’s post on Faith ***