'If Racism Vanished for a Day' - book launches sharing experiences of Bristol children
UWE Bristol led the research - a UK first - with the findings hoped to bridge a gap in reading material currently available
The University of the West of England has led a research project into the impact of racism on primary school aged children.
The UWE Bristol research project - named 'RESPECT' - started back in 2021, and is said to be the UK's first, as these 10 and 11-year-olds from three inner city primary schools are the youngest in the country to have taken part in research on this important topic.
Thanks to these efforts - led by lead researcher and Associate Professor Dr Verity Jones - a new book is to be released tomorrow (November 4), sharing the perspective of these primary school-age children by considering what life would be like without racism.
To mark the release of 'If Racism Vanished for a Day', some of the pupils are set to attend the launch event at Watershed alongside their parents, teachers and academic from UWE Bristol.
Featuring drawings and thoughts made by the pupils, the book not only reflects their real life experiences, but also aims to raise awareness and offer advice to teachers and parents on how to discuss racism with young people.
The children said: “We made this book because racism is not okay, and we want people to understand the way it affects us. Our book is about what it would be like if racism vanished for a day, and we hope that reading it will help people think about how they can change what they do. Racism is a really big deal. It shouldn’t have existed in the first place.”
During their findings, researchers discovered that children experience racism just like adults do - in multiple contexts and with multiple groups.
This includes at home, when out and about, and during their time at school - with family, friends and from strangers.
Researchers say the impact of racism on younger children's mental health and wellbeing has been 'constantly' overlooked in the UK - and is why they engaged with more than 100 children and teachers to conduct this study.
Dr Verity Jones said: "A couple of years ago, a piece of research found that we only know racism takes place from secondary school upwards. We knew it happens with young people too, but there was no research to back that up. Thanks to funding from UKRI, we worked with three primary schools in Bristol and listened to and tried to understand their experiences of racism.
"Children's experiences of racism are really varied. They are deeply affected by institutional racism - that's depicted in the media and also experienced in person too. These 9 to 11-year-olds were remembering things that were happening when they were at 4 years old. These were really difficult conversations we were having."
The fact that there's so very little literature on racism in children below secondary school age is precisely why UWE Bristol led the way in conducting this new line of research.
Dr Jones added: "When adults talk to children, they can sometimes want to protect them. So, quite often you deny their agency, because you're saying you can't have those conversations. We need to realise we need to listen from these kids' experiences, and learn how to make things better.
"That's where the book comes in. In our new book, we try to have a positive focus. One of the points asks, 'if racism was gone for a day, what would you feel like?' - and that's where the word maps come from. They'd feel 'free' and 'proud'. But if that's how they'd feel if racism wasn't there, then how do they feel right now? What's the impact on their wellbeing?
"What we're hoping is the book and other resources will be embedded within schools - and not just within Black History Month. We're also hoping policymakers take note so we can enable positive racial literacy across education and into the workplace."
The book has been co-produced and illustrated by 17 children who were involved with the study, who all focussed on a number of sentences to make them think about racism from different perspectives of life.
Dr Jones concluded: "I think a lot of people think it's difficult to talk about racism to young people, and it can be quite uncomfortable as an adult and as somebody who's white. And let's face it, teachers in the UK are predominantly white - yet we work in a diverse and multicultural society. So, a lot of it has been through discomfort and feelings, but we spoke with our advisory group who said we should just be really open - and that's exactly what we did, to help amplify their lived experiences.
"This has been a huge privilege to work on - and for me, having the opportunity to amplify their voices and hopefully see small changes that hopefully go onto big changes - that's exactly what this has been about."
The research concluded many of the young children they spoke with are 'deeply affected' by institutional racism - with their paper saying 'racism is complicated and is experienced in many different ways'.
The ‘If Racism Vanished for a Day’ book is available here, as well as in ebook or print.
You can read more about the research here.
You can check out the mental health research network Emerging Minds here - who funded the research project.
Find out more about Luci Gorell Barnes here - who led the bespoke arts-based workshop, where the initial 80 children took part in the first stage of research.