Sociology Department Statement on Black Lives Matter

As staff and doctoral students in Sociology, Social Work and Media & Cultural Studies at Lancaster University, we want to voice our grief and outrage at the brutal murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery in the USA (i), deaths which have ignited Black Lives Matter protests across the world, including in our own city of Lancaster. We recognise that police brutality and systemic racism are problems that are not confined to the US and that we must also turn our gaze to, and act in, our own institutions and local communities.

We condemn anti-blackness and all forms of racism.

We stand in solidarity with our BAME students and staff, and local communities.

We recognise that urgent and significant work is needed to address racism in higher education. We welcome the recent commitment of our Vice-Chancellor to the Race Equality Charter and look forward to working with our colleagues to ensure Lancaster achieves membership and accreditation.

Accompanying these global protests is the need for deep and sustained reflection on racist violence and racial inequalities, and the persistence of anti-blackness and other forms of racism in our societies. The academic subjects of Sociology, Social Work, Media and Cultural Studies and Gender and Women’s Studies have long been concerned with power, inequalities, and injustice. As scholars in these fields we want to restate our collective responsibility to practice anti-racism, including speaking out, dismantling institutional forms of racism within universities, decolonizing education, and progressing alternatives to oppression, injustice and inequalities. In doing so we commit to engaging in a sustained programme of action to realise these goals.

#BlackLivesMatter

Signed in collective agreement,

Staff and Doctoral Students, Department of Sociology, Lancaster University

(i) In doing so we join our Sociology colleagues at the University of Glasgow who issued the following statement on 9 June 2020: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/socialpolitical/research/sociology/blogreflections/currentdebates/headline_725787_en.html