Everyday Racism: using mobile apps to challenge thinking
2nd Annual Future of Learning in Higher Education Summit
Kevin M. Dunn
School of Social Science and Psychology,
The University of Western Sydney
The Challenging Racism Project • Gathering evidence on discrimina1on • Developing ac1on and ini1a1ves that are locally relevant • Cri1cally evaluate and report on the solu1ons/ac1ons • New foci: the cyber / social media worlds / families h>p://www.uws.edu.au/ssap/ssap/research/challenging_racism
Facebook:Challenging Racism Project
Twitter:@ChallengeRacism
Prevalence of racism: Everyday quality of most racism
About one-in-five (19%) had experienced forms of race hate talk.Culture-based exclusion (11%);7% unfair treatment / ethnic discrimination; 6% racist physical attack.75% of race talk takes the form of offensive slang.Racist jokes (52%), stereotypes in media (63%), verbal abuse (65%), and offensive gestures (51%).
Prevalence: The uneven experience of racism in Australia
LOTE higher experience of race talk (32%), double non-LOTE.Non-Christian higher experience of race talk (34%).
Prevalence: The uneven experience of racism in Australia
Indigenous experience over 4 times that of non-Indigenous.High rates among those with Middle Eastern and African ancestry.
Cyber racism survey: witness
When the encounter took place n %
In the last day 30 4
In the last week 109 14.7
In the last month 160 21.6
In the last six months 242 32.7
In the last year 123 16.6
More than a year ago 77 10.4
Total of those who have witnessed racism online
741 34.8
Total sample 2129 100
Data collected December 2013, N= 2141
Cyber racism survey: witness
PlaBorm n %
Time spent on plaBorm/day (minutes) Mean
Facebook 293 40.1 69
Twi>er 14 1.9 22.1
Youtube 115 15.7 38.1
Forums 94 12.9 20.7
Comments – online news
135 18.5 33.5
Email 42 5.7 34.2
Other 38 5.2
Total 731 100
Form (n= 741) n %
Talk 667 89.7
Exclusion 90 12.1
Violent incitement 88 11.8
Bystander anti-racism: forms “Ac1on taken by a person(s) to iden1fy, speak out about or seek to engage others in responding, either directly or indirectly, to specific incidents of racism, or racist prac1ces, cultures and systems.” • Confron1ng or disagreeing with the perpetrator • Calling it “racism” or “discrimina1on” (if it is safe or produc1ve to do so) • Interrup1ng or distrac1ng perpetrator • Comfor1ng the person(s) targeted • Expressing upset feelings • Seeking assistance from friend, teacher, manager, coach etc. • Repor1ng the incident to authori1es
Bystander anti-racism: obstacles
Obstacles to bystander action The ambiguous nature of racism
Exclusive group identity
Fear of violence or vilification, being targeted by perpetrator
Perception that action would be ineffective
Lack of knowledge about how to intervene
Gender role prescriptions for women
Impression management, preserving interpersonal relations
Desire to avoid conflict
Source: Nelson, J., Paradies, Y & Dunn, KM. (2011) “Bystander Anti-Racism: A Review of the Literature” Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 11(1), 263-284
Bystander action against cyber racism
• 56% (n= 165) made an active dissonant response
• 54% (n= 159) made an active dissonant response within the platform
Prevalence & implications
Key Points:
• Many Australians experience racism in their daily lives;• Australians of certain ethnic backgrounds are the focus of antipathy and intolerance;• One-third (34.8%) of Australians have witnessed racism in online settings.• About half take no action (consistent with non-online in Australia; two-thirds in global research).
Everyday Racism App h>p://alltogethernow.org.au/news/campaigns/everydayracism/
What is the Everyday Racism App h>ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZP_Cc5MxGM
Interviews with actors in the app h>ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-‐-‐vNcR_3nmI
Everyday Racism App “Could you walk in the shoes of someone who is subjected to racism on a daily basis?”
Four chapters: 1. Aboriginal man (Patrick Redford) 2. Hijab-‐wearing Muslim woman (Aisha Karim) 3. Indian student (Vihaan Sharma) 4. You
McCaughey VicHealth Centre Challenging
Racism Project
Centre for Citizenship & Globalisation
Everyday Racism App: Aims Opportunity: Pervasiveness of mobile technologies
Social aims: • Raising racial literacy • Empowering people to act in the face of racism • Crea1ng new social norms Business aims: • Engage download and interac1on • Raise awareness about the existence of racism in Australia through media coverage • Raise the profile of all partners in this project as expert leaders in the field of an1-‐racism in Australia
Everyday Racism App: Targets
18-‐34 year olds who are ambivalent about cultural diversity, feel like they don’t know enough about racism, haven’t experienced racism in the past 12 months (86% of popn), live in an urban area in NSW or VIC.
http://www.alltogethernow.org.au/
App uses in training / teaching
• University of Western Sydney (UWS) & Halogen Founda1on (n:100 leaders (school/vice captains etc.) from high schools across Western Sydney, 2011-‐13 • UWS 1st year Social Science students (n:1200) 2014-‐. • UWS staff and student training (n:300 each) 2014-‐. • Football clinics of WSW (2015-‐). • Trialling school training materials (NSW & Vict) 2015-‐ (ARCLP funded). • A gamified ‘bolt-‐on’.
Everyday Racism App: criticisms Problems with ‘gaming race’. • the problema1c rela1onship between the player and their elected avatar; • the pedagogic compromises that are made in modelling racism as a game; • the superliminal narra1ve that a>empts to transcend the limited diege1c world of the game. (Fordyce, Neale & Apperley, 2014)
Everyday Racism App: stats so far 25,000 downloads (7,500 target). Opened globally.
The early in-‐app survey results (n:210). Arer playing the game: • Increased awareness of racist talk and ac1ons 76.5% • Percep1on of app’s effec1veness at encouraging bystander ac1on 90.7% • Have spoken up against racism since: 60% • Perceived importance of ac1on: 97.9%
Everyday Racism App Awards • The Project was ranked 2nd place by the United Na1ons for best community rela1ons ini1a1ve in 2014 • Co-‐winner of the UN global #peaceapp compe11on for the Everyday Racism App (twice!) h>p://alltogethernow.org.au/news/campaigns/everydayracism/