Researching Racial Inequality in the UK Film Industry

*Please note that due to unforeseen circumstances, Professor Sarita Malik, will no longer be co-presenting this seminar.*

Diversity Critical Perspectives: Researching Racial Inequality in the UK Film Industry

Abstract

The growth of the cultural and creative industries (CCIs) over the past 20 years has coincided with an increased awareness of and research on prevalent racial inequalities in the sector. This has included studies on how Black and ethnic minority people are included in, represented by and experience the UK film industry in particular. Using a unique dataset, major new research in collaboration with the British Film Institute is exploring the relationship between racial inequality, diversity and cultural policy in the UK film sector by researching through both quantitative and qualitative modes how factors such as regionality, genre have challenged how we must interpret data-led approaches to the study of racial and ethnic difference within the sector and the role of testimony in understanding the nature of discriminatory institutional cultures and practices.

Arguing for a social policy approach to how we understand racial inequalities in the UK film sector and its connected industries, this seminar allows for an exploration of how a mixed methodological approach drawing from film studies, cultural studies, media and communications as well as CRT frames are crucial to a critical understanding of the multi-dimensional forms of racial inequality in the UK film industries. The seminar will also consider the historical significance of the academic study of Black and minority ethnic film culture as a site of racial struggle and contestation, the political discourses the language and practice of ‘cultural diversity’ and ‘structural racism’ have and continue to be embedded in, and the various ways in which current critical race research seeks to decouple ‘diversity work’ from anti-racism and the implications of such a critical shift not just in informing inclusion policy strategies, but in the position and value of the study of race within UK film, TV and media scholarship.

Dr Clive Nwonka is Associate Professor in Film, Culture and Society at UCL. Nwonka is the co-editor of the book Black Film/British Cinema II and is the author of the forthcoming book Black Boys: The Aesthetics of British Urban Film. Nwonka is the Principal Investigator on the Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project The Colour of Diversity: A Longitudinal Analysis of the BFI Diversity Standards Data and Racial Inequality in the UK Film Industry (2021-2024), a major study of race and racism in the UK film sector and the efficacy of cultural diversity policy.

Professor Sarita Malik is Professor of Media, Culture and Communications at Brunel University London. Her research explores issues of social change, inequality, communities, and cultural representation. Between 2016 and 2020, Sarita led ‘Creative Interruptions’, a large international research project funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council on how the arts, media and creativity are used to challenge marginalisation. She has previously worked on projects exploring the relationship between cultural organisations and Diasporic audiences and on how community filmmaking intersects with cultural diversity.

Monday 10th October at 3pm.

Location - University of Glasgow, Boyd Orr Building, University Avenue, room 507.