Shades of Noir
Interview with William Whitcombe:
The chaplain and interfaith advisor for LCF & LCC
I chose this article as I wanted a perspective that was not a student or teaching staff and it was interesting to hear his views that ‘faith, religion and spirituality’ can increase creativity and I would like to have seen this part expanded.
From my teaching practice perspective, we don’t currently specifically discuss faith and design however we do have students for whom their faith is the starting point for their design thinking and the projects chosen for their final projects. Religion and faith could be integrated as a part of ‘the human experience’ discussions and within the context of human-centered design which we cover in Global Design Futures or the Design Management and Innovation unit.
This would support William’s suggestion that arts educators can show ‘interest and a willingness to engage with the stories that students of faith want to have’, in response to this unit I have chosen to supervise two students next term who are specifically considering design projects connected to their faith and the Shades of Noir case study detailed below has contributed to both my confidence and interest in these projects and working with the students to understand how they see the connections between their faith and design practice.
Kwame Anthony Appiah – Mistaken Identities
This resource gave me some of the most interesting and useful insights however I was a little less clear on how it could inform my teaching practice, but it offered an alternative and previously unconsidered view on the value of faith
As an atheist, I sometimes find discussions around faith a little tricky to navigate at times. Key areas which resonated and gave me pause for thought were the idea that doctrine means little without practice and that increasingly doctrine is being driven by practice. In some ways this has parallels with creative, design, and arts studies, that it is through practice that we change, learn, and reinterpret. This could be an interesting discussion point, how does practice manifest in both faith and in creative studies, can they inform one another in any way? This could be a more ‘comfortable’ way for students to discuss their own and one another’s definitions of faith.
Kwame says that if ‘scripture can’t be reinterpreted then it cannot survive’ and that the idea of ‘one true way’ is used to both strengthen and defend doctrine whilst at the same time it is the basis of a critique of faith. That identity is constantly changing and being redefined is key to the survival of faith.
The concept of religion as a ‘verb, not a noun’ has given me an alternative way to understand other’s faiths and the value of faith beyond that which it gives the individual, the importance of faith in the community, and the positive impact it can have if practiced as Kwame Appiah describes.
Religion in Britain: Challenges for Higher Education (Modood & Calhoun, 2015)
– Secular states and public regions
– Western European moderate secularism
– The ‘vaguely Christian’ UK
The two articles on secularism explored the unseen matrix of religion behind our public institutions and making the hidden visible, arguments such as organised religion ‘builds social capital and production of attitudes’ resonated with me. There is a possibility that in a secular society, we assume religion has less influence on society and sits in the individual domain.
The funding of ‘religious schools or religious education’ by the state in all EU countries was new to me, however, I would question whether religious education and religious schools are so easily connected in this way. I personally feel the teaching of religious education is important, it encourages students to understand the ways in which organised religion connects with the fabric of the state and the public good or bad that can emerge from such a relationship. I feel this is an important educational principle and encourages critical thinking in a way that perhaps religious schools may not, where doctrine is taught and religious practice observed. In this sense, I would agree that RE should be included in curriculums of state education and therefore funded by the state.
This is further supported in the article ‘The Vaguely Christian UK’, where it is argued that there is a ‘thin grasp’ of religion’s place in British history and that religion is unevenly taught and disconnected from other important fields such as politics, and sociology.
Calhoun’s discussion around multiculturalism helped me think again about how race, religion, and ethnicity are often conflated, and how this might present itself in my teaching practice and my understanding of the students on the course (MA Design Mgt) where we have students from over 10 different regions of the world.
Key learnings/reminders
- The way in which religion presents itself in the UK – ‘elite led official religiosity’ (think Coronation!) or debates around multiculturalism
- The conflation of race, religion, and ethnicity
Extended reading:
Shades of Noir Case Study | Faith
I found the focus on the role that teachers have in facilitating fair and equitable discussions, important and personally relevant. If a student does not feel safe or have confidence that the teaching staff can effectively facilitate in-class conversations around faith and how faith might influence their design or creative work this will both stifle debate, lead to a lack of confidence in the student, and impact on their learning outcomes.
It is interesting that the staff member felt the need to disclose that she was an atheist – the article does not give any context for the discussion that took place – was this in the context of an overall discussion about faith to which the staff member was contributing or simply an ‘announcement’ to the tutor group? Should this disclosure have not been made at all or, if it was in the context of everyone sharing, then perhaps a caveat, such as… “I am an atheist however I recognise and support your own personal faiths”. So far, I have never made any disclosure of my own personal faith or absence of faith
I am supervising two students whose final major projects are focused on Muslim fashion and the design of prayer mats, this article felt like a useful reminder for my discussions with those particular students, how to ensure they feel comfortable openly discussing their faith and the impact it has on all elements of their lives from fashion choices through to prayer rituals. I could use this resource as part of our opening discussions around their projects.
References
BBC (2016) Mistaken Identities, Kwame Appiah, 22nd October, (online video). Available from https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07z43ds
Terms of Reference Journal from Shades of Noir (SoN) Faith
Terms of Reference Journal from Shades of Noir (SoN) Faith
Modood & Calhoun, 2015 Religion in Britain: Challenges for Higher Education