Race Reflections AT WORK
83 episodes - English - Latest episode: 16 days ago -The place to reflect on all things inequality injustice and oppression at work. You tell us what is up and will do some thinking will do some research and will propose some possible solutions so that together we can make the workplace work for everyone. Your workplace dilemmas, your challenges and your queries at work. Join Guilaine Kinouani every first and third Monday of every month!To send us your queries, questions and dilemmas please email [email protected]
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Episodes
RE-RELEASE: Location of Disturbance and Scapegoating
April 15, 2024 00:00 - 14 minutes - 9.8 MBIn this re-released episode first published on 15th March 2021, Guilaine reflects on why institutions often turn on those who allege racism. She considers some of the group processes at play using as illustration the treatment of Meghan Markle and responses from that interview. Location of disturbance and scapegoating are presented as frames to formulate victimisation and retaliation within institutions. Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music...
Consent
April 01, 2024 00:00 - 19 minutes - 13.6 MBIn today's episode Guilaine reflects on consent, in relation to her research on whiteness, her lived experience, and the implications of this issue within the workplace She begins with a basic definition of consent, then she details some experiences related to going out dancing that she recently experienced, and links them to the wider issues that her research explores. Part of the theme that has come up again and again in her data is patients talking about experience of whiteness in the cl...
Feedback!
March 18, 2024 01:00 - 19 minutes - 13.5 MBIn today's episode Guilaine reflects around a listeners query asking "how do we get mangers to understand how biased they are when it comes to the feedback that they give to employees of colour." After briefly questioning the terminology of bias and unconscious bias, she looks at the evidence from organisational psychology, considering how empirical evidence shows that marginalised employees tend to receive poorer quality feedback. Even though the research isn’t always intersectional what ...
Whitelash
March 04, 2024 01:00 - 20 minutes - 14.3 MBIn today's episode Guilaine reflects on the phenomenon and social dynamic of what has been called whitelash, a combination of white/whiteness and backlash. The term was coined by African-American journalist Van Jones to describe the backlash of White America coming together to reject what had been seen as a liberalisation of the USA under Obama. And in a more general sense it describes the sense of grievance, the sense of anger, the sense of frustration that originates from people racialis...
Surviving Whiteness at Work
February 19, 2024 01:00 - 17 minutes - 11.9 MBIn today's episode Guilaine continues to look forwards towards Race Reflections path in 2024 and beyond. She announces a future book that will be coming from Race Reflections, our first book as an organisation. That book is Surviving Whiteness at Work: reflections on defiance, resistance and transformation It will aim to describe the working of Whiteness in the workplace through the lived experience of our team and community members, and what ways they have found helpful to grow, to surviv...
Race Reflections in 2024
February 05, 2024 01:00 - 20 minutes - 14 MBIn today's episode Guilaine looks forwards towards Race Reflections path in 2024. She starts by wishing everyone a Happy New Year, followed by a brief reflection on global violence, specifically in Gaza and Congo, a topic she will return to in more detail in a future podcast later this year. Then she outlines what is planned and being developed for Race Reflections over the next 12 months: As Guilaine’s training is as a specialist clinician she wants to use this skillset more and will be ...
RE-RELEASE: Podcasting and Power
January 22, 2024 01:00 - 34 minutes - 23.5 MBIn this re-released episode first published on 4th April 2022, we explore the relationship between podcasting and power, both how podcasting has replicated and interacted with existing power systems, and how it offers a radical space for marginalised voices to create freely without gatekeepers. We think about how The Podcast Industry has developed into just another industry/workplace incorporating the issues inherent in those industries and workplaces. We look at the history and present of...
RE-RELEASE: Thinking critically about feelings
January 08, 2024 01:00 - 21 minutes - 15 MBIn this re-released episode first published on 21st February 2022, Guilaine reflects on the particular dynamic where a person with power reacts to accusations of structural harm by saying that they feel unsafe. She considers how affect and feelings are conditioned and shaped by social context, histories and structures, and how feelings can play a role in protecting and enforcing social (dis)order and the status quo. She encourages us to consider how words and discourses can harm people, and...
Appearance
December 18, 2023 01:00 - 19 minutes - 13.2 MBIn today's episode Race Reflections' Associate Disruptor Simone reflects on workplace issues surrounding people's appearance, how appearance is policed, and how that relates to respectability politics and white supremacy. They first discuss how appearing Palestinian or showing solidarity with Palestine during the current genocide intersects with how people's appearances are policed in general, specifically looking at this issue from a US perspective. Then they consider how dress-codes in s...
Thinking about feeling, feeling about thinking
December 04, 2023 01:00 - 17 minutes - 11.7 MBIn today's episode Guilaine takes us on a freeform reflection and roundup of her thinking and feeling in 2023. From the publication of her second book White Minds to the writing and collating of her third book Creative Disruption she shares her position as someone who doesn’t identify as an academic due to the violence she has experienced as a Black woman in academia and psychology (something she explores in both these books.) She then gives us an introduction to Creative Disruption beginn...
RE-RELEASE: Toxic White Femininity
November 20, 2023 01:00 - 20 minutes - 14.1 MBIn this re-released episode first published on 5th July 2021 Guilaine takes the Tiktok trend of "white women fake crying" as a jumping-off point to consider a slightly different take on intersectionality in relation to white womanhood. She reflects on the reasons why black people and people of colour find these videos disturbing or triggering, and explore "toxic femininity" which she define's as when white fragility meets the constructions of white femininity. More on the TikTok trend: ht...
Money, money, money
November 06, 2023 01:00 - 27 minutes - 18.8 MBIn today's episode Guilaine expands on her thinking around money which she has previously covered a little on the podcast and on the Race Reflections website. She specifically reflects on the relationship between money and attachment, considering internalised scarcity, social class and social deprivation, framing her thoughts around her own background and lived experience. This episode was inspired by the work she was doing for the Freud Museum Conference about the relationship between psych...
Locating Anxiety & Staying Safe
October 16, 2023 00:00 - 9 minutes - 6.66 MBThis episode of Race Reflections at Work is about managing anxiety with the help of holistic/ alternative approaches while at work/ in employment, as well as some suggestions TW: Admin, Comms and Engagement Lead Dionne talks about the triggers of anxiety while navigating spaces around her - often being the only minority. Resources to read: https://www.rtor.org/2019/02/21/mental-health-and-chiropractic-care/ https://thehouseclinics.co.uk/learning-hub/stress-and-anxiety-how-chiropractic-c...
Proximal Ambivalence
October 02, 2023 00:00 - 20 minutes - 14.1 MBIn today's episode Guilaine explore and defines the concept of proximal ambivalence and proximal dynamics. She begins with the recent incident covered in the news that highlighted issues of anti-blackness within communities of colour, specifically in this context south asian communities in the UK. She reflects that whilst it's important to avoid overgeneralising it's also important to draw parallels and see patterns when they occur. She goes on to talk about some of her experiences of these ...
RE-RELEASE: Black Authority in the Workplace
September 18, 2023 07:00 - 16 minutes - 11.4 MBThis is re-released episode first published on 5th April 2021 hosted by Guilaine: There are many challenges black leaders must contend with, that is for certain... In this episode we consider why black authority in the workplace continues to attract resistance, hostility and sometimes sabotage and reflect on some of the challenges of black leadership within white institutions. To do this, we make links to historical configurations, colonial relations and the expectation of black servitude....
RE-RELEASE: Racial Trauma at Work
September 04, 2023 00:00 - 20 minutes - 13.9 MBIn this re-released episode first published on 1st March 2021 (our first ever episode) Guilaine reflects on what is racial trauma? How does it manifest in the workplace? She considers the distress that racism can cause in the workplace and explores the experience of Harvinder, a research assistant whose well-being becomes so adversely affected by his experience of discrimination and victimisation, he is forced to resign. She asks why it matters that those in positions of power within organi...
Ableism and Saneism in the workplace
August 21, 2023 06:00 - 19 minutes - 13.6 MBIn today's episode Race Reflections' Associate Disruptor Simone reflects on the issues and experiences around disability, mental health and neurodivergence in the workplace. They begin by defining the terms/identities/concepts ableism, disablism, saneism, visible/invisible disability, mental illness, neurodivergence and intersectionality. Then they consider how many of these terms overlap and are often umbrella terms for each other, and that they depend on the people/institutions that are ...
RE-RELEASE: The Black Advocate
August 07, 2023 00:00 - 21 minutes - 14.9 MBIn this re-released episode first published on 2nd August 2021 we think about the dynamics at play in someone finding themselves in the role of being "The Black Advocate" (or any other position of advocating for marginalised groups) in the workplace. Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. To send us your queries, questions and dilemmas please email [email protected]
Neurosis, racism and envy
July 17, 2023 00:00 - 27 minutes - 19 MBIn today's episode Guilaine reflects on the relationship between racism, neurosis and envy. She begins by going over an earlier article she wrote which expanded on Fanon’s theories around these areas and considers neurosis in classic anaylytic theory defining it as phenomena/processes that occur when we can’t confront something in the world, or in ourselves, or in others, because it provokes too much anxiety. So that anxiety expresses itself in some other ways, usually unconsciously. She the...
Whiteness as Narcissism
July 03, 2023 00:00 - 17 minutes - 11.8 MBIn today's episode Race Reflections' Membership Engagement Coordinator Janedra Sykes talks about Whiteness and White Supremacy Culture as narcissism in (and outside) the workplace. She starts by reflecting on her personal experience in relations to this topic, how she came to consider racism through a public health lens and how her work on this takes Black women as her primary audience and aims to give them toolkits to use to navigate this terrain. She outlines Christina Sharpe's concept of...
White Minds
June 19, 2023 00:00 - 24 minutes - 16.6 MBIn today's episode Guilaine reflects on the new book she is writing: White Minds Pre-order: https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/white-minds She considers the process of writing her second book, gives an overview of the book's focus and thinks about what she has learned about being a writer and author. She talks about how her writing style is difficult to define because it mixes theory and ideas with personal anecdotes and auto-ethnography. And how, whilst she has tried to keep bot...
Trans and Non-binary at work
June 05, 2023 00:00 - 20 minutes - 14 MBIn today's episode Race Reflections' Associate Disruptor Simone reflects on the issues and experiences around being trans and/or non-binary within the workplace. They begin by defining the terms/identities/concepts of transgender, non-binary, cisgender and intersectionality. Then they look at how even before trans and non-binary people reach the workplace they have often experienced discrimination at home, school and further education, and how we all exist within systems that force conformi...
RE-RELEASE: Envy
May 15, 2023 00:00 - 22 minutes - 15.4 MBIn this re-released episode first published on 21st June 2021 we think about how the so called "deadly sin' of envy can play out in the workplace in relation to racial dynamics and inequality. We consider the distinction between envy and jealousy and the underlying motivations behind these feelings and what they look like within the contexts of whiteness and work. Further reading: Neuroses of whiteness, white envy and racial violence Living While Black: The Essential Guide to Overcoming R...
RE-RELEASE: Introduction to Beyond Bias
May 01, 2023 00:00 - 18 minutes - 12.6 MBIn this re-released episode first published on September 6th 2021, in response to a listener's request, we give an introduction to one of our most requested interventions our training course, Beyond Bias. We cover a little bit about it's content and some of its learning objectives, and give some context for why Guilaine designed the course, and the journey that the training takes you on. Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music or wherever you ge...
The Talk
April 17, 2023 00:00 - 11 minutes - 8.15 MBIn today's episode Race Reflections' Admin, Comms and Engagement Leading Boss Dionne inspired by a panel at Priya Joi's book launch, talks about The Talk. She reflects on the differences between brown and Black people's relationship with talking to their children about racism and how that influences and impacts how they enter into and experience the workplace. She begins with sharing her personal experiences, considers how an American-centric approach to these issues can overlook the nuance...
RE-RELEASE: Transference in the Workplace
April 03, 2023 00:00 - 20 minutes - 13.8 MBIn this re-released episode first published on May 3rd 2021 Guilaine considers the influence of the past on the present by exploring the concept of transference, what it means and how it might manifest in the workplace. This episode is all about making present-past links to better make sense of conflicts, tensions and race-based difficulties at work. Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. To send us your quer...
The intersection of trauma
March 20, 2023 01:00 - 16 minutes - 11.1 MBIn today's episode Guilaine reflects on a question that was posed to her recently: "When it comes to racial trauma, don't we bring some baggage that may make us more vulnerable than others, and if so should we address that baggage?" Building on the work she has done around the intersection of trauma in her book Living While Black and other work by her and others in terms of empirical studies and wider theory, and then applying that to the workplace. Living While Black: https://www.penguin....
Anti-racist and anti-oppressive work in groups and in community
March 06, 2023 01:00 - 17 minutes - 12.1 MBIn today's episode Race Reflections' Assistant Disruptor Lucia offers some reflections on how group work and community work can help or support people in developing their anti-racist approach to work. She looks at the advantages, drawbacks and limitations of working in groups. She begins with a definition and with her personal experience of being a client and a therapist and finding the most effective healing happening within group therapy. She sees group work as a space that allows people t...
Pain
February 20, 2023 01:00 - 19 minutes - 13.7 MBIn today's episode Guilaine reflects on Black and brown people's relationship with pain, particularly Black women's relationship with pain and distress. And from this also the relationship between pain and associated issues such as accessing health services and self compassion. She begins with a personal disclosure that one of her younger sisters recently nearly died and considers how pain played into this. She then uses this as a case study and jumping off point to move away from an indivi...
RE-RELEASE: Writing While Black with Jendella Benson and Annabelle Steele
February 06, 2023 01:00 - 35 minutes - 24.4 MBIn this re-released episode first published on October 4th, 2021, we are joined by head of editorial at Black Ballad (and author of Hope & Glory) Jendella Benson, and teacher (and author of Being Amani) Annabelle Steele to talk about how they navigate the workplace and the publishing space as Black women. The conversation reflects on Black representation, Black motherhood, authorship, self care and Black literature. Jendella Benson: http://www.jendella.co.uk/ Black Ballad: https://blackb...
Reflecting on 2022
January 16, 2023 01:00 - 22 minutes - 15.6 MBIn today's episode Guilaine reflects and thinks back on the things that have stood out for her during 2022. What is she left with, what have been the biggest stories, the biggest moments and the biggest lessons? She considers how the world cup final has brought up a lot for her and others around homelessness, homeness, displacement and migration. She engages with this from an autobiographical, auto-ethnographical position and discussed her lived experience here. What does it mean to black a...
Class and classism from a psychosocial perspective
December 05, 2022 01:00 - 18 minutes - 12.7 MBIn today's episode Race Reflections' Assistant Disruptor Lucia returns to reflect on class and classism. She shares her thoughts around these concepts and what they may represent within our current systems of oppression. She covers reasons why it's difficult to clearly define class or different class groups and then gives a definition of classism as the belief that a persons social or economic station in society determines their value in that society which creates prejudice pr discrimination...
Can Black employees ever be authentic in the workplace?
November 21, 2022 01:00 - 18 minutes - 12.7 MBIn today's episode Guilaine responds to a listener question: Can Black employees ever be authentic in the workplace? She answers the question with some other questions and reflects on the issues surrounding them. The first is: Is authenticity a desirable aim to achieve for Black people and organisations? She comes to the conclusion that their is a strong case as a general rule for the importance of workplace authenticity in improving culture, morale, well-being, organisational turnover a...
Reaching a milestone
November 07, 2022 01:00 - 24 minutes - 17 MBIn today's episode Guilaine reflects on reaching a milestone within the PHD she is currently undertaking. She gives the lowdown on what she's been working on, discusses some of the challenges she has encountered and what she has learnt so far, and she discusses where she stands in relation to the research and some of the implications for her and for Race Reflections. Her study looks at whiteness, at time and space, at memory, with focus is on developing a group analytical frame for address...
RE-RELEASE: Surviving the Workplace While Black
October 17, 2022 00:00 - 18 minutes - 13 MBIn this re-released episode first published on Jun 7, 2021 we consider surviving the workplace while black. We reflect on the workplace conditions of previous and current generations of black people, particularly black women. We think about three strands that are navigated when working while black: 1. Inequalities and structural racism which impacts physical and mental health. 2. Experiences of discrimination, interpersonal racism and bullying which intersect with structural issues. ...
Challenges and accountability during anti-oppressive change processes
October 03, 2022 00:00 - 21 minutes - 14.5 MBIn today's episode Race Reflections' Assistant Disruptor Lucia offers some thoughts and potential approaches to how to navigate organisational or community change processes that come out of anti-oppressive or anti-racist work. These reflections are inspired by regular responses and questions posed by participants during the delivery of Race Reflections training. She considers practical ways to apply theory to practice, thinks about anti-oppressive work as counter cultural, suggests expecting...
Imposter Syndrome
September 19, 2022 00:00 - 17 minutes - 11.8 MBIn today's episode Race Reflections' Academic Lead/Scholar Scout Mel Green takes us through her personal relationship with imposter syndrome and it's effects on black women. She thinks about concepts like over productivity, burnout, breakdown, authenticity, assimilation and what bell hooks calls the "mind/body split". She uses her experience as a case study and reflects on the tactics and realisations she has found to help her deal with these experiences. She links her experience to this st...
RE-RELEASE: Aversive Racism
September 05, 2022 00:00 - 20 minutes - 13.9 MBIn this re-released episode first published on 19th April, 2021 we consider aversive racism. Specifically, how the fear of being called racist, the fear of confronting racism and the avoidance of difficult race-related conversations by white managers, can lead to exclusionary interpersonal dynamics and cultures of marginalisation within institutions which can have significant adverse consequences on the welfare, morale and/or workplace experience of colour. Subscribe, rate and review on Ap...
Podcasting and Power Part 2
August 15, 2022 00:00 - 28 minutes - 19.4 MBIn today's episode we return to exploring the relationship between podcasting and power, this time looking at how "Prestige" podcasting has replicated and interacted with existing power systems. We look at some of the worst cases of podcasts being made with a colonialist mindset, and then look at The Trojan Horse Affair and how that avoided the traps of previous prestige podcast journalism and how it was mostly dismissed by the wider media landscape. This episode is hosted by Race Reflect...
Social Media
August 01, 2022 00:00 - 22 minutes - 15.3 MBIn today's episode Guilaine is back to talk about social media, particularly twitter, and the ways this platform has helped both Guilaine personally and Race Reflections as an organisation. She goes over how she came to use social media as a professional platform, considers the advantages, opportunities and gifts that using this platform have created for her and for RR, and reflects on where she stands in terms of some of the controversies and criticisms that exist around twitter and social ...
Empathy in the Workplace
July 18, 2022 00:00 - 15 minutes - 10.9 MBIn today's episode Race Reflections' Lead Associate Disruptor Dr Furaha Asani talks about empathy, and lack of empathy, in the workplace. She thinks about definitions of empathy and sympathy and how empathy can function as an action. As a case study she reflects on a personal experience of not receiving empathy and support at work within a racialised context. She considers how gaslighting and self-gaslighting can operate within these kinds of dynamics. And when thinking about solutions she n...
Whiteness In Psychotherapy
July 04, 2022 00:00 - 26 minutes - 17.9 MBIn today's episode therapist and Race Reflections' Assistant Disruptor Lucia talks about whiteness in psychotherapy. This episode is for everyone but particularly for people either working within the therapeutic traditions, or people who are current or future service users. Drawing on the existing Race Reflections training resources she looks at the ways that whiteness and violence have framed therapy during it's history and present, issues with therapists not being sufficiently trained arou...
Whiteness In Psychotherapy
July 04, 2022 00:00 - 26 minutes - 17.9 MBIn today's episode therapist and Race Reflections' Assistant Disruptor Lucia talks about whiteness in psychotherapy. This episode is for everyone but particularly for people either working within the therapeutic traditions, or people who are current or future service users. Drawing on the existing Race Reflections training resources she looks at the ways that whiteness and violence have framed therapy during it's history and present, issues with therapists not being sufficiently trained arou...
Racial Bias and Blackness in teaching and higher education
June 20, 2022 00:00 - 25 minutes - 17.8 MBIn today's episode, Race Reflections podcast producer Dave talks to the newest team member Mel Green about her experiences and scholarship around racial bias in teaching and higher education. She covers her time working in pupil referral units, primary schools, online teaching and higher education and the systemic and personal challenges that has sometimes involved. And she shares tips and strategies for navigating, mitigating and combating these dynamics. Some links to things mentioned in...
Authenticity
June 06, 2022 00:00 - 17 minutes - 11.7 MBIn today's episode, in response to a question from a listener, Guilaine reflects on authenticity in the workplace. She considers the issue in relation to a recent study that showed that black employees were more resistant to returning to the workplace post lockdown. She thinks about how the burden for "fitting in" is often placed on those who carry the difference, and how institutional racism and assimilative pressure impacts on the ability of racialised people to feel authentic and "real" a...
Reflecting on two years of running a social enterprise
May 16, 2022 00:00 - 24 minutes - 17 MBIn today's episode Guilaine reflects on and celebrates the first two years of running Race Reflections as a social enterprise. She maps out the history of how Race Reflections grew from a blog to an organisation and business, and considers the personal and structural challenges, thinks about what she has learned and what she has found difficult about the process. Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. To send ...
First Race Reflections Relaunch of 2022
May 02, 2022 00:00 - 15 minutes - 10.8 MBIn today's episode Guilaine is back (with another cameo from her kitten Jazzie) to talk about the first Race Reflections relaunch of 2022. She talks about the challenges, achievements and changes that Race Reflections has had as part of its journey during its first 18 months as a social enterprise, and introduces the return of Race Reflections Academy, our new Radical Scholarship Fund, our relaunched membership options, our refreshed website, and our upcoming academic outreach work. Subscr...
Misogynoir in the Workplace
April 18, 2022 00:00 - 18 minutes - 12.7 MBIn today’s episode we explore misogynoir in the workplace and the power and positionality of the Black woman in the corporate world. Misogynoir, a term coined by Moya Bailey in 2010, identifies the intersection of Black women and "the persistence of sexist and racist biases in both media and politics, and the unique blend of both that black women experience." Engagement and Comms lead, Dionne discusses her understanding of the issues in the corporate world, whilst reflecting on some common c...
Podcasting and Power
April 04, 2022 00:00 - 34 minutes - 23.5 MBIn today's episode we explore the relationship between podcasting and power, both the ways that podcasting has replicated and interacted with existing power systems, and ways that it offers a radical space for marginalised voices to create freely without gatekeepers. We think about how The Podcast Industry has developed into just another industry/workplace incorporating the issues inherent in those industries and workplaces. We look at the history and present of podcasting and ask you to con...
Black, British, In Business and Proud
March 21, 2022 01:00 - 29 minutes - 20.2 MBIn today's episode we are joined by Black Business Network founder Shari Leigh to talk about the Black, British, In Business and Proud report. She talks about the issues, actions and solutions suggested by the survey of more than 800 Black people in Britain. Black Business Network: https://www.blackbusinessnetwork.online/ BBIBP Report: https://www.blackbusinessnetwork.online/bbibpreport Black Investor 360 Conference and Exhibition: https://www.blackinvestor360.com/ This episode is hosted...