InQuire www.inquiremedia.org
The University of Kent’s student publication
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Monday 7 March 2022 17.9
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Nobel prize-winning professor Gurnah returns to kent Tarini Tiwari, Editor-in-Chief
Alex Charilaou, Newspaper Editor
O
n the 24th February, Nobel Laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah – who is Emeritus Professor of English and Postcolonial Literatures at the University of Kent – spoke at
Photo by the University of Kent
the Gulbenkian Arts Centre about his life, his body of work, and the colonial injustices that anchor his literature. Members of InQuire were privileged to attend the discussion event. Professor Gurnah was announced as the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature in October last year. Anders Ollson, Chairman of the Nobel Prize Committee, praised Gurnah “for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism”. Gurnah was in discussion with the Head and Deputy Head of the School of English, Bashir Abu-Manneh and Amy Sackville respectively, in an event co-ordinated by the University of Kent, the British Council and Arts Council England. Gurnah was asked about his arrival into the UK as a refugee, and took questions on his
experiences and how they affected his writing. He reflected on the separation between his creative and academic work, saying he often needed days between teaching and getting into the headspace to write. Gurnah also spoke on how his novels have reflected the political situation at the time of writing, where he essentially said it’s unavoidable to write literature that didn’t exist in the political context of its setting. An audience question about whether Britain has a moral obligation to welcome refugees was met with Gurnah responding, “We have a human obligation.” He posited that there has to be a limit on the number of people let into a country and he does not expect an open channel, but that developed nations such as Britain can and should create paths for refugees that do not put them in more danger than the situation they’re fleeing. UCU Kent leafleted the
Gulbenkian lobby before the discussion took place. Members of UCU handed out leaflets claiming that Karen Cox was responsible for, in 2020, trying “to sack 50% of Abdulrazak Gurnah’s English department” and she needed to be “defeat[ed] again”. Just before the event started, Branch President Claire Hurley handed one of these leaflets to Vice-Chancellor Cox. Hurley had the following to say about the action: “Given that it is ultimately Karen Cox’s decision to threaten jobs, Kent UCU feel it is essential that she is personally held accountable and confronted. The idea that senior management value the arts & humanities at Kent is a joke. You can’t celebrate our Nobel Prize in literature one day, then threaten to sack staff the next. Karen Cox must be held personally accountable for the attack on arts & humanities at Kent.”
UCU marking boycott goes ahead at Kent Kent UCU President: "Students are right to be angry... but that anger should be levelled straight at Karen Cox and senior management." By Amber Lennox Local Affairs Correspondant
T
he last few weeks have seen a series of staff strikes in the name of pay, pensions, and working conditions. Before the current strikes, we also had strikes in the Autumn Term which were also regarding pensions and pay, as well as unmanageable workloads and inequalities within the higher education sector. Before then there were also strikes in Autumn of 2019 and Spring of 2020. However, although the final day of the most recent strikes was on the 2nd of
March, it was announced on the 24th of February that the UCU have now voted in favour of a “Marking and Assessment boycott”. This was planned to start on the 3rd of March, and it was explained would end either when the “dispute is resolved or at the end of this academic year, whichever comes first.” Action forums were scheduled to take place on the 28th of February and the 1st of March, and students are being encouraged to make use of the Academic Experience Reporting Tool which it’s said will help to inform Kent Union Parliament's decision on what stance the Students Union should take
on the new action. As reported by InQuire in December, Kent Union Parliament voted in support of the Autumn Strikes in November. They also voted in support of the February-March strikes that have just ended. However, at an emergency meeting on Wednesday 2nd March, Kent Union Parliament voted not to support the marking boycott. Kent Union President Aisha Dosanjh had the following to say. "An emergency meeting of Kent Union Parliament was held to vote on Kent Union's stance on the marking and assessment boycott. Network
delegates noted that this boycott will impact some students more than others, including international students and postgraduate taught students. Parliament members noted that they are acutely aware of the ways in which postgraduate students who teach are particularly impacted and that we must continue to lobby the University for better working conditions, and that being both students and staff means that we must be careful to not let these vulnerable students fall through the gaps. There is a diversity of views across the student Continued on page 3.
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