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The UCL History Department’s Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Network was established in June 2020 with one overarching aim: to create a more welcoming, representative and inclusive environment for all our students and staff.
‘BAME’ is a useful category but not without some inherent problems; we want to emphasise that we interpret it as widely as possible. We understand, for example, the need to differentiate the diverse experiences and challenges faced by different ethnic and racial groups, not only for students from the UK, but also those from abroad. We understand that some of the issues faced by BAME students relate to wider social inequalities, such as access to higher education. We also understand that ‘BAME’ can be an uncomfortable label, and that it can sometimes disregard or generalise individual experiences. But we aim to always keep these and other issues in mind and hope that ‘BAME’ will usefully serve as a starting point to better represent the collective experiences faced by students and staff in the department. And we hope to work collaboratively with the UCL History LGBTQ+ and UCL History First-in-Family networks in pursuit of our common goals.
Over the academic year, the network hopes to serve its members in the following ways:
- as a social space, by providing opportunities for students and staff to meet, chat, network, connect, and collaborate;
- to provide a ‘safe space’ where students can seek advice and support in the interests of their welfare;
- to give members, as stakeholders, a platform for engaging in productive discussions relating to academic matters such as teaching and learning within UCL History; and,
- to support students in developing their careers, inside or beyond academia, through targeted initiatives and mentorship.
As the network develops, it will serve as a platform for initiatives and events tackling issues pertinent to its members, raising awareness, and giving voice to problems relating to the different communities classed under the label ‘BAME’.
The network is open to all students and staff: undergraduates, taught postgraduate students, research students, postdoctoral researchers, academic staff, and professional services staff. For more information, please email: History.BAME@ucl.ac.uk.
UCL History BAME Network Community:
If you’d like to get in touch with a current UCL History student within the BAME Network for help and support, you can view the UCL History BAME Network Community page here. Please note that this page is accessible to UCL staff and students only.