An Act of Radical Compassion

Words by Rayvenn Shaleigha D’Clark.

How can you teach radical compassion within an arena practicing (white) privilege and power?

I was recently asked to write a piece exploring the Inclusive Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Unit (Finnigan and Richards, 2016) and what I hoped would be covered in the Unit. As someone who hasn’t engaged with the unit, I must admit I hadn’t a clue about what response I would write. Utilising my insights based upon my experiences of Higher Education (HE), I suppose my most immediate thought was the designation of term alchemy as a first response - alchemy defining as a ‘seemingly magical process of transformation, creation, or combination’ (Dictionary.com), or more simply the art of causing change where there is no division between spiritual (self-improvement) and physical (methodological) practices, it more broadly characterises the act of breaking things down and reconstructing them into something else - something entirely different. I suppose then the title for Shades of Noir’s (SoN) upcoming Terms of Reference (ToR) publication ‘Alchemy - Transformation/Formation in Social Justice Teaching’ feels perfectly placed within this discussion.

I think it is OK to admit that I have a very limited amount of experiences - reflecting upon the length of time I have spent in arts education - within HE in comparison to some of my colleagues-peers. I also think that it is OK to admit that this is not a hindrance to my contribution in the field, nor in my exploration of this Unit. And so, based on my ‘limited’ experience I suppose that in answer to the question ‘what do I hope would be covered in the Unit’, my answer would be the teaching of compassion.

Compassion feels whispered in hushed tones within HE, and there feels to be such duality within the discussion of whether it is more important to (critically) teach inclusive debates from a wide spectrum of institutional perspectives, versus the belief that we all hold within us a basic understanding of compassion - or empathy (that some argue cannot be taught past childhood) - that we should be exercising within this dimension. I am of the opinion that compassion, and that very genuine sense of sorrow for the suffering of others and consequently the desire to alleviate it, should be a standard virtue for all levels of staff, teachers and students. Hence ‘radical compassion’ as defined by philosopher Khen Lampert in 2003 - first appearing in Traditions of Compassion: from Religious Duty to Social-Activism (2006) - goes a step farther, leading people to act with compassion not only when it is inconvenient, but also when it is both difficult and/or dangerous.

Lampert identifies compassion as:

‘[...] a special case of empathy, directed towards the “other’s” distress. Radical compassion is a specific type of general compassion, which includes the inner imperative to change reality in order to alleviate the pain of others. I have noted that compassion, especially in its radical form, manifests itself as an impulse. [...] and proposes viewing such an inclination as the product of cultural conditioning (Lampert, 2006).

This state of mind, according to Lampert’s theory, is universal, and stands at the root of the historical cry for social change (ibid.). However, Angela P. Harris’ view, as described by Derrick Bell in Critical Race Theory: An Introduction (2012) asserts that ‘empathy is not enough to change racism as most people are not exposed to many people different from themselves and people mostly seek out information about their own culture and group’.

With the tools and practices of radical compassion we contemplate upon the need to cultivate - or more simply ‘teach’ - empathy as a respectful understanding of another person’s experience.

But how do you begin this discussion? What should never be questioned is the compassion of the action.

Developed by Aisha Richards and Terry Finnigan in 2011 with the support of Ellen Sims and Hilaire Graham within University of the Arts London (UAL) - as a self-selective Unit - Inclusive Practice training reveals the radical power of compassion to enact revolutionary changes to the mindset of its participants; highlighting the liberatory value of training all student-facing staff in social justice pedagogy, it goes lengths in allowing participants to reflect upon their own position and assumptions surrounding an increasingly diverse population of students, furthering their own empathetic understanding of differences in student experiences. I have personally experienced, witnessed and been privy to a great many things that exemplify the monoculture within HE, and in spite of this it still feels to me to be a very difficult thing to witness and recount past experiences of the huge lack of compassion that many display on a day-to-day basis, particularly from some student-facing staff. Again, here the idea of alchemy again enters the conversation: The inclusive practice unit has been described by many graduates as ‘transformational’ in its presentation of intersectional theories, it similarly becomes an opportunity to offer reflection that undoubtedly influences their current teaching practices, impacting academic practice through evolution.

Aisha Richards once told me that ‘policy tells you how to do things, it does not show you how to [care]’ (ibid.) and this could be more to the point. Of the many things I have learnt about the Inclusive Unit, and what I hold close to my heart is that we all must admire Richards’ unwillingness to compromise, the unit symbolising another great step towards radical compassion for all within HE.

Bibliography:

Shadesofnoir.org.uk. (n.d.). Inclusive Practice: Alchemy – Transformation in Social Justice Teaching. [online] Available at: http://shadesofnoir.org.uk/inclusive-practice-alchemy-transformation-in-social-justice-teaching/ [Accessed 4 May 2019].

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Finnigan, T. and Richards, A. (2016). Retention and attainment in the disciplines: Art and Design. [online] Higher Education Academy, pp.Pg 11 - 13. Available at: https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/system/files/ug_retention_and_attainment_in_art_and_design2.pdf [Accessed 4 May 2019].

Ladson-Billings, G. (2001). Crossing over to Canaan: The Journey of New Teachers in Diverse Classrooms. The Jossey-Bass Education Series. Jossey-Bass, Inc., 350 Sansome Street, San Francisco, CA 94104.

En.wikipedia.org. (n.d.). Radical Compassion. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_compassion [Accessed 4 May 2019].

Bhagat, D. and O’Neill, P. (2011) Inclusive Practices, Inclusive pedagogies; Learning from Widening Participation Research in Art and Design Higher Education.Croydon: CHEAD.

Burke, P. and McManus, J. (2009) Art for a Few. Available from: http://ukadia.ac.uk/en/naln-migrate/projects-research/admissions-research.cfm

Friere, P. (1970) Pedagogy of the Oppressed. London: Continuum.