Who we are

After many frustrating years of both learning and then teaching dominant Eurocentric capitalist models of fashion design, I began a part-time PhD at the Open University to investigate ways of teaching anti-capitalist and anti-racist forms of fashion design. As a female of South Asian Indian heritage, I have been inspired by decolonial and black feminist literatures which have given me the confidence to draw on my family histories to practice alternative fashion design pedagogies centred around a politics of love as a tactic to disrupt and replace neoliberal educational agendas.

A mixed African-Asian female research assistant and graduate of Sociology at the University of Westminster. As a result of her multiraciality, identity work has been both a liberating and limiting factor for Kyra as she finds herself in a constant state of negotiating her sense of self and navigating within hostile geopolitical spaces. Approaching her final years in education, she aims to continue her research on decolonial and anti-racist pedagogies.

Olimpia (she/her) is a post-doctoral research fellow in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Westminster. As a white, lesbian/queer migrant, Olimpia’s work has focused on issues of inclusion/exclusion and the transformative potential of queer activism. She is currently working on a project on the global politics of homocapitalism in the Global South, looking at the relationships between LGBT politics and multinational corporations.

A non-binary queer academic at the University of Westminster, Jennifer has spent the past 20 years in the UK teaching and researching at the intersections of literature, gender studies, queer theory and critical pedagogies. Their approaches to education are also shaped by experiences as a white settler migrant in Canada and by growing up between different linguistic and geographic spaces of ‘home’. These both/and experiences of identity formation have taught them to centre building relationships and sharing stories to develop collaborative analyses. Jennifer loves that the Pedagogies for Social Justice project brings them into contact with other dreamers and co-conspirators for change.

A neurodivergent, queer woman from London, Kate (she/her) is a Senior Lecturer in English Literature (Theatre). She is the co-director of the Queer London Research Forum, is the EDI Lead for the School of Humanities, and sits on the steering committee for Black History Year.

Manvir Kaur Grewal is a Sikh academic, writer, and lifelong learner, with descendants from Punjab. She was a first-generation university entrant, from a low-socio economic background, which meant she found it difficult to navigate the complex dynamics of higher education. Now, in academia, Manvir is mostly interested in socio-legal theory and decolonial thought, with particular focus on if and how the legal profession and higher education perpetuate inequalities.Manvir acknowledges that despite systemic challenges, she is also privileged as a cis-heterosexual, permanent resident in the United Kingdom and a native speaker in both English and Punjabi.

Cheyenne Holborough is a British Caribbean student entering her final year undergraduate studying English Literature with Creative Writing at the University of Westminster. Over the years, she has found that studying English has never been relatable to her as the literature studied was never from the black perspective. Cheyenne hopes to not only change things on her course but for the entire university so that all the people who feel like her can be heard.

An Egyptian-German, female, Muslim woman lecturer and researcher at the University of Westminster. Existing at the intersections of what is often socially perceived as contradictory identities – Arab-Western-Muslim-liberal – resulted in a constant process of having to culturally translate her ‘self’, attest the appropriateness of her values and compatibility of her identities. Fatima spent her life between Egypt and Germany and has been living in the UK for the past five years, where she finished her doctorate and is continuing her professional path.