Sour goes the last of the summer wine
Undeterred by his experience of racist abuse in the heart of Brontë land, a Leicester academic has joined a study to explore racism in rural England
THE personal and the political combine for university researcher Dr Viji Kuppan as he embarks on a study of racism in rural England. You might say he's facing his demons, only they're not really his; they're ours.
Racism is insidious; woven into the structures of our society. Rooted in disparities of power, imposed perceptions of social rank, and deliberately diminished considerations of human worth, it erodes and denies our common humanity. But for all that, it's the banality of the everyday where it finds sustenance.
“[I]t is not only spectacular moments of racist hostility that affect us,” Kuppan said. “Racism is structural and is solidified in systems of power such as the media and police.
“It can also be communicated in very mundane ways: through avoidance, silence, laughter, stares, gestures or mutterings when people of colour enter ordinary rural places, such as banks, churches, hairdressers, pubs, retail stores, or schools.”
Originally manufactured to justify slavery, and later colonialism – a live issue very much to this day – it has long-since become a self-perpetuating engine of oppression, long after its originating purpose faded into the background.
Racism pervades, it poisons, and it continues to generate much harm.
People from ethnic minorities bear the brunt – obviously – but it's not just the direct perpetrators that are at fault; white privilege often renders us blind to racism's pernicious presence and its effects. One way or another, it's incumbent on us all to exorcise this dehumanising demon.
Easier said than done, that's why knowing and understanding it matters – hence the rural research programme.
Kuppan knows what we're talking about in more ways than one. Given his ethnic heritage, it's perhaps no surprise – sadly – that he's endured direct experience of racist abuse. But he is also versed in the subject matter as an experienced social scientist.
He has previously researched racism and other forms of discrimination within football fan culture as part of his doctoral study. In a very real sense, then, he brings this expertise as well his lived experiences of racism in rural areas to the project.
“Some years ago, I visited the West Yorkshire village of Haworth for the first time. It is a place steeped in literary history, famed for its association with the Brontë sisters, who once lived in the village,” Kuppan said.
“With its cobbled streets and characterful shops and cafes, [Haworth] exudes an enchanting olde worlde charm. Nestled amongst the weathered hills and windswept moorlands of the southern Pennines, this rugged landscape conjures the atmosphere of classic texts, like The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Wuthering Heights. It may be hard to imagine then, that racism occurs in this most literary and English of places. But it happened to me.”
The incident he recalls is shocking: “On the threshold of a public house that my (white female) partner and I planned on eating in, a white man brandishing a large knife, and barring our entrance, ferociously bawled: ‘You crippled P****! I’d like to kill and burn the lot of you.’
“Our swift withdrawal from the scene may very well have saved me from being physically injured or worse, but the traces of that shock and fear have stayed with me.
“The next day, on the same cobbled streets, another white man shouted ‘P****’ followed by ‘go back home’. This is my home, and these are not isolated incidents, as countless other Black, brown and Asian people have similar stories to tell.”
Horrifying. And a shameful blight on Yorkshire's name, but 'God's own county' is no more free of racists than any other part of England; just ask cricketer Azeem Rafiq.
A study in racism
On that note, let's turn to the Rural Racism Project: Towards an Inclusive Countryside; Kuppan is part of a Leicester University team spearheading the study. The aim is to build on earlier research that revealed how racist incidents have been routinely overlooked, minimised, and unchallenged in rural areas, so in a sense it's looking to tackle a blind spot.
No doubt, racism is often assumed to be an urban issue, but as Kuppan's chilling anecdote, and this earlier research highlights, it is anything but.
The two-year project, which was commissioned by the Leverhulme Trust, involves a cross-disciplinary team from Leicester’s School of Criminology, and the School of Museum Studies. It's led by Professor Neil Chakraborti, director of the Centre for Hate Studies. (CHS)
He is working alongside Dr Amy Clarke, deputy director at the CHS, along with Corinne Fowler, professor of colonialism and heritage at the School of Museum Studies, as well as other postdoctoral researchers and community research partners.
Kuppan and his colleagues, some of whom are based in rural areas across England, intend to interview residents about their experiences of racism in the countryside. It's claimed the study will be the first to empirically record and analyse targeted abuse, however the team has acknowledged that it can be a touchy subject – to put it mildly.
Even the process of researching rural racism, or engaging in discussions about race and rural spaces, can itself provoke a backlash, the team explains. Researchers in this field regularly receive personal attacks on social media or email; targeted opinion pieces in media; ridicule and abuse within comments sections online; and in some cases, direct threats against personal safety.
Privilege doesn't like being held to account; outright hate will cling on to its bitter end, but the task of understanding and eradicating racism is far from hopeless.
Lie of the land
The scene in the countryside isn't entirely dark, as Kuppan alludes; like its urban and suburban counterparts, there is both positives and negatives to the rural experience.
“I know that the countryside is not just a place of conflict for people of colour, but one of conviviality too,” he said. “[Last] summer I walked several stages of the Pennine Way. During this journey I experienced many moments of generosity, humour and warmth from the local people who inhabit and walk these rural places. The disclosure of racism does not mean the denial of hospitality and support.
“This is the complexity of rural life that the research team want to capture in this project. Yes, we will broaden, deepen and detail the range of rural racisms and processes of exclusion that exist, but we will also highlight the ways in which solidarity, friendship, inclusion and ally-ship are offered to ethnic minority people in rural environments.”
There's hope to be had in the countryside, then, but there's also that quest for a sense of belonging –an inclusive belonging – that allows us all to reap the benefits of the rural experience, and the beauty of the natural world.
As Kuppan says, it's of “vital importance” for his – indeed, our – health and well-being.
“I wanted to work on this project because I am passionate about wanting to change the relationship that we, and future generations have to the countryside and the natural world,” he added.
“I want to do all I can to help build a bridge between all our children and the countryside. I could be despondent about racism, instead, I am hopeful that we can re-construct a more inclusive relationship to the rural; one in which we all feel welcome and belong.”
MC