Racism is normal : Here exemplified by the hegemony of white voices in the original Bibliography and the absence of social justice content. Also in the failure to meet the commitment made in UAL’s Anti Racism Action Plan (2021, p.11).
Action : Introduce diverse themes and minoritised authors to the Bibliography and create a more accessible ‘Starting Research’ page using visual carousels, sections to include headline social justice themes mirroring UALs research expectations.
Experiences and knowledge of minoritised people / counter-storytelling and voice: Evidenced by the absence of materials authored by minoritised creators, and defecit of materials reflecting minoritised students’ and members of staff experiences and positionalities.
Action : Diversify the listings. Find more ways to seek out student voice in the creation of resource recommendation materials (for example through use of library borrowing data and links on Moodle pages), and continue to invite more diverse reading lists from courses for inclusion. Create sustainable resource review and update systems.
Intersectionality : Demonstrated by the emphasis on historically established texts from within a narrow institutional frame. The absence of materials supporting research on race and Black art history is matched by absence of resources to explore gender, sexuality, religion, disability, and other identities or communities, plus the less-than accessible, text-based presentation of the listing.
Action : Create inclusive resources supporting research for art and cultural context across minoritised communities and identities. Ensure resources with intersectional themes cross-populate several sections demonstrating intersectional applications. Develop an accessible visual web-page.
Interdisciplinary : The exhaustive-seeming granularity of the existing Bibliography exemplifies a sort of purism of the theoretical and themed sections. The introduction of more broadly curated lists can encourage praxis in research, presenting disciplines, social topics and theory as parallel research work-streams.
Action : Structure the new ‘Starting Research’ page with broader access points; listing practice disciplines, social justice themes and theory texts, populated using borrowing data from the library system to reflect student voice, and organise reflecting learning outcome expectations.
Critique of dominant ideologies : Bibliographies and reading lists created by academics and librarians carry assumptions of expertise and authority, but also become bottlenecks, where intentions to decolonise and diversify are buried under workloads and immediate priorities. Challenges to orthodoxy can feel uncomfortable and hierarchical.
Action : Propose an alternative parallel resource to the bibliography, using borrowing data to drive resource inclusion, including transparency about this method of selection, foregrounding student voice and peer recommendation ahead of academic and librarian resource selection. Recommendations will continue to drive borrowing making the process more cyclical.
Interest convergence : UAL students are expected to include social justice or social context elements in their research. Introducing texts to support identities, communities, justices and intersectional themes will support the full UAL cohort, in addition to increasing representation and belonging for minoritised students and staff.
Action : The revised resource pages will be available and recommended to all courses and units using more explanatory and directive Moodle content for Camberwell Fine Art and Painting, and leading directly to the new more visual and accessible ‘starting research’ page.
References
Leung, S. Y., and López-McKnight, J. R. (2021) ‘Introduction: This is only the beginning’, in S.Y. Leung and J. R. López-McKnight (eds.) Knowledge justice: Disrupting library and information studies through critical race theory. The MIT Press, pp. 1-41.
UAL (2021) UAL anti-racism action plan summary. Available at www.arts.ac.uk/about-ual/strategy-and-governance/anti-racism-strategy (accessed on 29/12/2025).