This Poem is a Criticism
Laura Rennie, 2 September 2024
This Poem is a Criticism
Laura Rennie, 2 September 2024
I have noticed there exists an institutional mannerism
Which positions academia as a site of intellectual romanticism.
I don't want to subscribe to this type of rationalism
As I’d much rather speak out against institutional neoliberalism
And how coloniality is weaved into academic traditionalism
And how my work becomes subjected to scenes of white voyeurism
And quickly labelled ‘radical Black feminism’
Whenever I criticise academic conventionalism.
I keep on feeling the forces of imperialism
When conferences tend to be homes of academic narcissism
That are furnished throughout with egocentrism.
Rather than striving towards academic collectivism,
So many become fixated on pushing individualism
Because it’s a dog eat dog world of ‘academic cannibalism’
That seduces the wretched students of the earth with its barbarism.
Academia’s value system remains one of materialism
Where our research outputs feed processes of institutional parasitism
And we become but mere cogs within its carceral mechanism
Where we are encouraged to churn out papers to avoid academic ostracism.
Academia seems to be piracy dressed up as tourism,
Where epistemic violence rears its ugly head through plagiarism.
I have learnt that ‘EDI’ is nothing more than an institutional euphemism
Because academia seems full of cronyism and patriarchalism.
Our disabilities are framed against white, male ableism
Many of us face disregard for our ADHD, Dyslexia and Autism
And let’s not forget that many of us still encounter sexism.
Race Equality Charter marks are now symbols of interracial mutualism
So that we might believe in this notion of institutional liberalism
But I continue to be filled with utmost scepticism
Because these marks now serve to delegitimise our claims of institutional racism.
My inclusion within academia still depends on representing Black exceptionalism
So I roll my eyes when universities want to talk about undoing colonialism.
Epistemic justice shouldn’t just be confined to freedom dreams of idealism
I’d like this to become embedded into an everyday realism
Where I don’t have to see the world through an academically sanctioned prism.
Until such time, academia will see my extended absenteeism…
…Because I’d much rather ride to the beat of my own cultural riddim.
Laura Rennie is a PhD creative whose research interests include Windrush migration, Necropolitics and Black Sexual Politics. Laura’s research, entitled ‘Bulldog Don’t Bite Me’ draws upon a musical methodology to critique existing state narratives that position Windrush mobility as a symbol of British Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.
Laura enjoys communicating her research through poetry. Other poems by Laura include Windrush Child and Windrush Prayer.
Laura is also a member of Black Light, an academic collective that prioritises communal healing from the trauma of racism. Their praxis is grounded in a merged Ubuntu-Rastafari philosophy of ‘I and I am, because we are’.
Contact Details
Email: laura.rennie@port.ac.uk
Blog: www.laurarennie.co.uk
Instagram: @Blacklightmovers
Edited by the Anti-Racism Working Group. If you have any questions pertaining to the editing or editor of this piece, please contact us at antiracismworkinggroup@gmail.com.