The Black Undergraduates Studying 'Unconventional' Degrees

The Black Lives Matter movement didn’t just lead people out onto the streets, it also sparked conversations around the inclusion of Black voices in academia, and decolonisation of the curriculum.

The underrepresentation of Black students at higher educational institutions is nothing new. In 2019, the number of Black students entering university dropped for the first time in a decade, and only 5 percent of British students from Black Caribbean families successfully gained a place at more prestigious institutions, like Oxbridge.

Students doing a degree outside of the stereotypical or traditional scope of people from Black communities are even less visible in higher education. When Black people make it into university, they are broadly thought to study degrees such as Law, Medicine and other popular STEM-related subjects, often associated with the phrase “Black Excellence”, because of the connection to obvious career trajectories and the positive perceptions associated with them.

These achievements should rightly receive praise – no one’s saying people can’t tweet “Black Excellence” to celebrate someone getting a First in Engineering – but Black people aren’t a monolith, and neither is the spectrum of academic interests or abilities in our communities. The overwhelming focus on more traditional subjects can mean that conversations about Black students navigating university are centred around this majority, excluding those studying the arts, humanities and social sciences.

I spoke to five Black undergraduates who are currently studying these “unconventional” subjects.

Decolonising the curriculum is something the department has been talking about for years, and something they brought out is a whole module about decolonising Anthropology. But someone mentioned they did this module, and what they didn’t like about it was that it felt like the teachers weren’t even involved and the students were doing it by themselves.

The only time Black anthropologists were mentioned is when it has something to do with oppression and slavery. So I’m there thinking, ‘Where are my Black material anthropologists? Where are my Black anthropologists that are talking about primates? Why is it always oppression?’

What makes studying anthropology as a Black person different from studying STEM or Law as a Black student is that, when it came to the BLM movement, I could see myself really analysing what I’d learnt and thinking about what the future is going to look like through an anthropologist’s lens. It made me think about how my course could learn from this moment and incorporate what Black people are saying into the curriculum.

I feel like being a Black individual and a Black male individual has allowed me to use my own perspectives and see texts through different lenses that perhaps my other friends may not be able to fully understand or appreciate.

I did have a few Black students on my course, which I was quite grateful for. I think, in seminars, that really helps the dynamic, because when we were studying something like Childish Gambino, or any other Black figures, it was nice to have a well-represented body of students discussing and sharing.

I know there’s a traditional view of what the subject of English is like, and what English at degree-level is, but coming to Warwick has almost surpassed my expectations, because what I’ve studied and what I’ve been able to write essays on has been so different from what I thought it would be like.

When Nollywood and [the 2003 film] Osuofia in London came up, I was nervous at first, because I’m a Nigerian on my course, and I’m like a spokesperson here, and I don’t know if they’re going to get all the references, laugh for the wrong reasons and understand the nuance.

I remember talking to my lecturer, who said there is satire to it – there is a whole parody to colonialism, because instead of going to Nigeria, Nigeria is going to London. I’m happy she showed that movie, even though other students didn’t get all the nuance.

Asking for as much depth into Nigerian films, Nigerian history, African history – whatever you want to look into that you think is niche – shouldn’t be something that is big. We’re at university, after all, to expand our thinking. I feel like the same should be done whether it’s Medicine or Film. If there’s something interesting or being explored in a different part of the world, you should look at it. So it is frustrating sometimes to not see that reflected in action.

I think, if you’re a Black student and you feel you’re a minority on your course, use that to your advantage. I know that, walking away from this year, if nobody else has written about Nigerian and Danish film, at least I have. And I’m happy about that, and I can say that.

Just because languages isn’t a typical subject for someone in a Black household, it doesn’t mean it is second-best, because it’s not.

Languages is one of the degrees that has a lot of work. Okay, maybe I only have ten contact hours a week, but I have so many different deadlines. In a week, I could have two essays due, translations, grammar work with so many different skillsets being used and tested all the time. People assume you’re just learning a language, doing some grammar and you don’t really have much going on, but I actually have so much going on.

Having things like BAME-specific subject masterclasses so people can get a bit of a taste of what the degree entails would improve diversity. I actually delivered my subject’s masterclass for the ACS Access Conference. I really enjoyed doing that, and I feel like more things like that can help people learn for themselves what they would be doing, and also help to inform and have those conversations with their parents and with their families.

In terms of decolonising the curriculum, I feel like it definitely needs to happen in languages as well. I feel like languages are kind of overlooked. People assume that it ticks the boxes because you speak about Latin America and not just mainland Spain.

With career events that are often organised through ACS or groups that focus on Black students, a lot of them focus on business, law firms and internships that I probably won’t be suited for or interested in. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an event aimed at Black students at an NGO or geographical institution.

The first image of “Black Excellence”, I don’t think Geography fits into it at all. “Black Excellence” should include all of us, but obviously it doesn’t. Your degree choice should be celebrated for sure, but respected as a minimum.

The reading list obviously needs improvement to decolonise the syllabus, but I think so do the staff themselves. If you’re learning about waste disposal methods in Kenya, it’s great if you have members of staff who have gone there and done research, but I think it means a lot more when it’s someone from that background. It’s not the same thing to just go for a few years to conduct research.