What this hub is about

What is it?

The OpenLearn Race and Ethnicity hub is a collection of existing and new free resources - articles, videos, audios, timelines and courses - that explore the themes of race, racism and ethnicity across the core faculty areas within The Open University. The hub has drawn on existing content already on OpenLearn, but also includes newly commissioned content created specifically for the hub.

The content has been created by experts across (and sometimes outside) the OU and pulled together by the OpenLearn team in conjunction with the OU's academic community and the OU's BME network.

The hub launched in November 2020 but we won't stop there. We will continually be adding content and already have some exciting projects in the pipeline!

Who is it for?

The short answer: everyone.

The long answer: Utilising the experience of staff within this institution, the hub will not only work as showcase for academic research and some of the university's high-quality teaching in this area, but also provide a necessary and important source of knowledge for this organisation as well as for the general public. These resources will help people to understand both historic and contemporary ideas of race and racism and how these ideas could inform our decisions and interactions.

A short disclaimer

We accept that knowledge on race, gender and sex is not value-free, i.e. free from personal and societal assumptions and beliefs about the social world. By its very nature, the content featured in the hub addresses some tough issues, and often needs to use language which is hard to read. Some content may even cause offence to some people.

In line with academic writing on race, the OpenLearn resources represent ongoing attempts to describe and give meaning to value-laden knowledge and understanding and to challenge dominant Eurocentric norms that ignore or relegate indigenous and non-white/Western perspectives and knowledge. These resources describe (an ongoing) social history of race and racism.

In reading or writing for these resources, we expect expression of ideas on race and racism to be communicated in a manner that is respectful to those who hold differing views to your own, an intention to remain open-minded to others’ perspectives, an understanding that your own and other’s view on race matters may change, and attempts to be respectful to all other human beings in your writing or your comments.