Thread by @ZenaKamash

It will take a little while for the recording of my @TRAC_conference plenary to go online and for me to publish these data, so in this thread I’ll be tweeting some of the key slides from the lecture.
#TRAC2019 1/24

If you’re unaware of the wider problem in academia, read this RHS report: royalhistsoc.org/racereport/
Worth noting that archaeology is included within ‘Historical & Philosophical Studies’. Also UK 2011 census shows 14% of pop is BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) #TRAC2019 2/24

In part 1 I examined stats from RAC/TRAC conferences to understand who speaks at these conferences & what kinds of research are being undertaken in the discipline #TRAC2019 3/24

Remember that the wider population is 14% BAME… To the best of my knowledge, I am the first BAME woman and first BAME person to organize a session and give a plenary at a RAC/TRAC conference. There is work to do here! #TRAC2019 4/24

Papers and presenters at RAC/TRAC conferences also give a bleak picture #TRAC2019 5/24

Over time, we can see that there has been a small improvement from the early RAC/TRAC conferences, but we’re still not doing well. KCL looks better, but is anomalous due to being a very small conference – the numbers are similar to other conferences #TRAC2019 6/24

I also looked at what parts of the Roman Empire are discussed at RAC/TRAC conferences. As the majority of sessions do not specify a place (are ‘open’), we should find a nice smattering of research across the Empire… #TRAC2019 7/24

What we actually find at RAC/TRAC is massive bias towards Britain & Italy – to the extent that this is not even really a matter of decolonizing! Plus, ‘open’ sessions are not really open at all: c 42% of papers are Britain and Italy #TRAC2019 8/24

In terms of topics discussed at RAC/TRAC, there are also biases towards what we might term ‘traditional’ topics and against topics that would give more scope for a decolonizing agenda to be present. More variety here would be welcome #TRAC2019 9/24

So, what can we do to rebalance RAC/TRAC (and probably other) conferences? Here are some suggestions. This is not an exhaustive list - also need to consider e.g. visa issues #TRAC2019 10/24

In Part 2, I looked at the results of the Roman Archaeology Teaching Survey (RATS): goo.gl/forms/CAHHjrtb… This usefully gave a slightly different disciplinary demographic. The survey is still open, if you wish to complete it – the more voices the better! #TRAC2019 11/24

There are similarities with the conference data in terms of what parts of the empire are being taught generally, with Britain and Italy being at the top of the list, but the spread is more even overall #TRAC2019 12/24

The bias towards Britain and Italy is more apparent when we teach specialized regional courses #TRAC2019 13/24

These biases seem to come in because of a cycle of what we were taught as undergrads being how we develop research interests, which then become what we teach to our undergrads and so on. We need to make conscious efforts to change this pattern #TRAC2019 14/24

Topics taught also show similarities with the conference data, again not quite as dramatically. It is disappointing that museums are being taught least in Roman Archaeo as this is one of the areas of archaeology in which the decolonizing agenda has been strongest #TRAC2019 15/24

I would challenge this ‘essential’ idea – these are choices we make! If a ‘canon’ exists, we need to interrogate its creation. Need to make sure worth of these topics is clear in all parts of Roman archaeology too, if only to challenge the views of respondent 120 #TRAC2019 16/24

I was delighted that some respondents used this question to voice positive views about the value of this kind of teaching in Roman Archaeology. Respondent 97’s teaching method is a good model to follow – we should be threading these topics throughout our teaching #TRAC2019 17/24

Who we include on our reading lists was probably the most contentious part of the RATS survey. There are clearly a good number of people on board, but quite a bit of work still to be done #TRAC2019 18/24 (ECR = Early Career Researcher)

Some important & legitimate points here around access to scholarship & who has the power to make changes to reading lists. Strong tendency, however, to fall back on an argument that frequently combined meritocracy with virtue signaling about not discriminating #TRAC2019 19/24

A plethora of research into implicit bias (of which this is a small selection!) demonstrates many people are discriminating whether they acknowledge it or not. We must start to acknowledge that, as things stand, meritocracy is a myth & stop using this as an excuse #TRAC2019 20/24

Here are some suggestions of actions that can be taken to refresh and realign our teaching – I’m sure there are more #TRAC2019 21/24

If you’re reading this thread and thinking ‘oh, it can’t be as bad as all that’, I can assure you it is. These micro-aggressions may not seem much individually, but they accumulate & wear you down. Please be an ally and call this behaviour out if you witness it #TRAC2019 22/24

Some of the structural issues here may seem overwhelming, but I believe that with collective action we can bring about positive change. I call on all archaeologists (Roman or not) to make this pledge using #TRAC19PlenaryPledge Even small actions make a difference #TRAC2019 23/24

Finally, I would like to thank the @TRAC_conference committee, esp @d_j_walsh for inviting me to speak.
A note on the stats: various factors mean these are min counts/%, but, given e.g. data from RHS report, it is unlikely figures are substantially higher #TRAC2019 24/24