Page 16 - ELG1709 Agu-Sep Issue 450

FEATURES & COMMENT

I attended examiner
training with a WAYS OF DEALING WITH
room full of white RACIST BEHAVIOUR:
middle-class women

who thought n Don’t ignore it. Deal with racist behaviour head on. Speak
out if you can to managers, co-workers and friends.
I was there to
serve lunch n Grow a thick skin and don’t allow it to get to you. It can
be tough and stressful dealing with racist behaviour. Talk to
someone you trust to help you cope.
we do have anti-discrimination laws that
employers have to abide by, there are some n Don’t let it hold you back from applying for jobs that you
that still maintain discriminatory practices in want. If we don’t challenge the ignorance it will continue in
their hiring policies. A good academic paper to the same way without ever changing.
look at is Racism in the ELT industry by Ahmar
Mahboob and Caroline Lipovsky, written in n People of colour experience racial micro-aggressions
2009. every day, with the perpetrators denying they have done
Most staffrooms in EFL still consist anything wrong. Remember, you’re not imagining it. If you
predominantly of white teachers. At the above feel something is wrong, then it probably isn’t just your
school in Covent Garden, only two out of sixty imagination.
teachers were non-white. State sector Esol is
an exception to this. n Try to differentiate between racist actions and racist people.
In 2003, doctoral research by Dr Mahboob,
then at Indiana University, said, ‘we only have Racist actions are the result of growing up in a culture where
anecdotal evidence that employers prefer to racism is normal. A racist person is someone who is driven by
hire white native speakers to other speakers as prejudice and is unlikely to change.
language teachers. A native speaker will have
a higher chance of being hired than a non- n Speak up if you see racist behaviour towards
native speaker.’ colleagues.
I don’t think things have improved at all
since this was written, and its a topic that is
all-too-often ignored.

RESEARCH: Racism in ELT is ‘widespread and well-documented’

Varinder’s personal story of a an American - of non-white descent. CVs were turned down on the spot
non-white woman teacher in white Neither fits the idealised image of because of their ‘non-native’ names. I
male dominated transnational ELT the fabled ‘native speaker’ that has mean, surely, a proper ‘native speaker’
shows how deeply discriminatory the been sold to students around the should be called John Smith, not
profession has become. It shows that world. Such attitudes aren’t limited to Muhammed Said. I could go on. But
being perceived as a ‘native speaker’ students, though. to recount all the instances of racism
has often nothing to do with your In a recent analysis of native in ELT documented in academic
mother tongue, but everything with speakerism in Japan, researchers literature, let alone by such poignant
being white and Western-looking. Kubota and Fujimoto highlight and telling personal accounts as that
This might shock you. You might the story of a American teacher of shared by Varinder, would take a
think that Varinder’s story is but one Japanese ancestry who felt that she whole book.
unfortunate example. And we can’t was always seen and talked about Unfortunately, racism in ELT
generalise from it. Surely such a nice by her colleagues as a Japanese is widespread. It is also well-
profession as ELT can’t be that racist? American. On the other hand, documented.
It can. It is. And the extent of racism her American colleague of Italian The question that we should all ask
in ELT is shocking. descent would never be referred to ourselves, though, is: what can we do
In his 2014 MA thesis, Vijay Anil as an Italian American. He was simply about it
Ramjattan presents narratives of ten American.
English teachers from ethnic minorities He had something she lacked: he nMarek Kiczkowiak
in Toronto, Canada. Similarly to was white and Western-looking. And is an EAP lecturer
Varinder, they face incredulous looks it’s not even your non-white looks at the University
and racist comments from students. that can give you away. Racism and of Leuven and is
You don’t have to look far to find prejudice in ELT run much, much founder of TEFL
similar accounts. In a 2016 paper, deeper. A study of recruitment policies Equity Advocates:
Eljee Javier presents stories of two in the Gulf countries gives examples of www.teflequityad-
English teachers – a Canadian and American and British teachers whose vocates.com

editorial@elgazette.com 15

p14-15.indd 3 8/25/2017 11:05:57 AM