Browsing by Author "Connolly, Paris"

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    Decolonising DMU
    (2021-03) Crofts, Melanie; Connolly, Paris; Patel, Kaushika; Hall, Chris
    An overview of Decolonising DMU
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    Decolonising DMU: Interim Report, 2022
    (2022-01) Hall, Richard; Ansley, Lucy; Aujla Sidhu, Gurvinder; Connolly, Paris; Crofts, Melanie; Hall, Chris; Patel, Kaushika; Prescod, Mark; Towlson, Kaye
    The aim of DDMU is to create the anti-racist University. In the first phase of the project, work built upon a previous Office for Students' project on the awarding gap, Freedom to Achieve, in order to focus work upon the following priorities: institution; students; staff; Library and Learning Services; and research and evaluation. This interim report gives an overview of the evaluation of these workstreams between November 2019 and December 2021, and the ways in which this work supports equality, diversity and inclusion/Race Equality Charter commitments. The report includes the collection of qualitative and quantitative data, and analysis of relevant documents, to look at the impact an challenges of project activities. The purpose of this report is to ascertain the impact of decolonising at DMU on staff and student stakeholders so far, and the extent to which it has been embedded across the institution at a range of levels. The report closes by showing how this work has now shifted in Phase 2, to focus upon 4 commitments: equality of education and research; progression, talent and representation; governance and accountability; and understanding culture and behaviour. These demonstrate a renewed mapping across to DMU's Access and Participation Plan, Race Equality Charter, and the awarding gap.
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    Decolonising DMU: Interim Report, 2022
    (De Montfort University, Leicester, UK., 2022-02) Hall, Richard; Ansley, Lucy; Aujla-Sidhu, Gurvinder; Connolly, Paris; Crofts, Mel; Hall, Chris; Patel, Kaushika; Prescod, Mark; Towlson, Kaye
    The aim of DDMU is to create the anti-racist University. In the first phase of the project, work built upon a previous Office for Students' project on the awarding gap, Freedom to Achieve, in order to focus work upon the following priorities: institution; students; staff; Library and Learning Services; and research and evaluation. This interim report gives an overview of the evaluation of these workstreams between November 2019 and December 2021, and the ways in which this work supports equality, diversity and inclusion/Race Equality Charter commitments. The report includes the collection of qualitative and quantitative data, and analysis of relevant documents, to look at the impact an challenges of project activities. The purpose of this report is to ascertain the impact of decolonising at DMU on staff and student stakeholders so far, and the extent to which it has been embedded across the institution at a range of levels. The report closes by showing how this work has now shifted in Phase 2, to focus upon 4 commitments: equality of education and research; progression, talent and representation; governance and accountability; and understanding culture and behaviour. These demonstrate a renewed mapping across to DMU's Access and Participation Plan, Race Equality Charter, and the awarding gap.
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    Decolonising or anti-racism? Exploring the limits of possibility in higher education
    (Taylor and Francis, 2023-04-19) Hall, Richard; Ansley, Lucy; Connolly, Paris
    Decolonising work in Higher Education (HE) has become increasingly mainstreamed. One issue is the relationship between such work and that of equality, diversity and inclusivity (EDI), or the potential reduction and co-option of decolonising for EDI purposes. This article discusses the characterisations of, and drivers for, decolonising inside UK HE, and then situates this against one, institution-wide programme of work. This programme sought to investigate how staff and students have understood the concept of decolonising, and to evaluate the limits of this work. Analysing surveys and interviews using a grounded theory approach suggested a moderate or limited view of decolonising work, and supports concerns that decolonising is losing its radical edge. Echoing work on the possibilities for epistemic and racial justice from inside capitalist institutions infused with the logics of coloniality, the argument questions whether it is possible to know the University otherwise.
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    Experiences of face mask use during the COVID‐19 pandemic: A qualitative study
    (Wiley, 2022-08-30) Hanna, Esmee; Martin, Graham; Campbell, Anne; Connolly, Paris; Fearon, Kriss; Markham, Kriss
    The use of face masks and coverings has been a central component of efforts to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and has been legally mandated in some countries. Most academic studies to date, however, have focussed primarily on its effectiveness in reducing SARS-CoV-2 transmission, largely neglecting the social dimensions of mask mandates. In this narrative interview-based study, we consider experiences of face masks, with a particular focus on groups considered to be at a potential disadvantage from compulsory masking. Drawing on 40 telephone, video-call and e-mail interviews, we highlight the impact of inconsistent communication and the notion of mask wearing as an act of altruism on participants’ experiences. In particular, we show how intolerance towards individuals who did not wear masks could result in stigma and exclusion, regardless of the legitimacy of their reasons. We suggest that more is needed to mitigate the ‘dark side’ of discourses of collective effort and altruism at a time of societal stress and fracture, and to account for the needs and interests of groups for whom compulsory masking may result in further marginalisation.
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    Female Genital Cutting in the United Kingdom: A feminist phenomenological study of perceptions and lived experiences
    (De Montfort University, 2018-11) Connolly, Paris
    Female Genital Cutting (FGC) more widely known as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is thought to affect 66,000 women and girls in the United Kingdom (UK) (Kueppers, 2013). Whilst there has been a vast amount of research on the physical impacts of FGC, there has been less research on the wider social and embodied impacts of FGC. This thesis aimed to address this by exploring the lived experiences of FGC in the UK. This thesis explored the views of both women with and without FGC, and men from affected communities in the UK. The study used a qualitative approach, and a total of 30 semi-structured interviews were conducted. The theoretical and conceptual framework draws on and combines elements of: phenomenology, in particular Merleau-Ponty; feminist studies, with a focus on the work of Butler; and intersectionality, coined by Crenshaw. Merleau-Ponty’s spatial frameworks in conjunction with intersectionality has proved to provide a unique lens to view FGC and further strengthens the feminist phenomenological approach. It has showed how FGC could be added to the dimensions of intersectionality to acknowledge the equal role it plays in shaping women’s identities. The central findings to this thesis include how FGC shapes and impacts women’s gendered identities; which were further impacted by their cultural identity and living in the UK. Many women did not feel complete or able to ‘perform’ what they perceived to be like ‘real’ women due to FGC. The majority of men in the study showed support for the discontinuation of the practice and claimed that they preferred to marry women without FGC. This thesis shows that FGC is a complex and fluid practice, which is mediated and experienced through both gendered and cultural identities, in particular in relation to roles such as being a wife and mother. Migration and navigating multiple gendered and cultural identities added to the complexity of FGC as women ascribed meaning in multiple ways dependent upon the topic in relation such as the law, justifications and implications; suggesting different ways of embodying and making sense of the practice. This was evident in the ways that the terms ‘mutilation’ and ‘circumcision’ were used interchangeably depending on the topic. In addition, the community of origin abroad appeared to still have influence on people’s decisions and feelings towards FGC, despite being in a country that does not routinely practice FGC. Despite this, there was a change in ideas around ownership of the body, from the body being viewed as communal to individual. Furthermore, being in the UK triggered internal conflict around FGC and its impacts on gendered identity, as there were more women without FGC in the UK which influenced a change in their views on gendered identity and subsequently the need for FGC. This acted as a catalyst for tensions and resistance of FGC to rise, in particular through embodied forms of resistance which were framed as taking back ownership and control of one’s own body.
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    Insurance Discrimination, Companion Animal Harm and Domestic Violence and Abuse – Double Jeopardy in the UK
    (Sage, 2023-05-26) Turgoose, Di; Connolly, Paris; McKie, Ruth E.
    Prompted by Signal et al.’s study, this research examines UK “Pet Insurance” policies to see if and how experiencing domestic violence and abuse (DVA) in interspecies households is excluded under insurance policies terms. Situating our findings within the existing literature on human and companion animal victims of DVA, we discuss the implications for improving cross-reporting and multi-agency action to protect and prevent harm to humans and companion animal victims of DVA. In turn we identify a series of recommendations to combat discrimination in insurance, set out in our conclusion.
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    Struggling for the anti-racist university: learning from an institution-wide response to curriculum decolonisation
    (Taylor and Francis, 2021) Hall, Richard; Ansley, Lucy; Connolly, Paris; Loonat, Sumeya; Patel, Kaushika; Whitham, Ben
    Increasingly, institutions are amplifying work on race equality, in order to engage with movements for Black lives and decolonising. This brings universities into relations with individual and communal issues of whiteness, white fragility and privilege, double and false consciousness, and behavioural code switching. Inside formal structures, built upon cultures and practices that have historical and material legitimacy, engaging with such issues is challenging. The tendency is to engage in formal accreditation, managed through engagement with established methodologies, risk management practices and data reporting. However, this article argues that the dominant articulation of the institution, which has its own inertia, which reinforces whiteness and dissipates radical energy, needs to be re-addressed in projects of decolonising. This situates the communal work of the institution against the development of authentic relationships as a movement of dignity.
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    The impacts and implications of the community face mask use during the Covid‐19 pandemic: A qualitative narrative interview study
    (Wiley, 2023-03-21) Hanna, Esmee; Martin, Graham; Campbell, Anne; Connolly, Paris; Fearon, Kriss
    Introduction A range of nonpharmaceutical public health interventions has been introduced in many countries following the rapid spread of Covid-19 since 2020, including recommendations or mandates for the use of face masks or coverings in the community. While the effectiveness of face masks in reducing Covid-19 transmission has been extensively discussed, scant attention has been paid to the lived experience of those wearing face masks. Method Drawing on 40 narrative interviews with a purposive sample of people in the United Kingdom, with a particular focus on marginalised and minoritized groups, our paper explores experiences of face mask use during the pandemic. Results We find that face masks have a range of societal, health and safety impacts, and prompted positive and negative emotional responses for users. We map our findings onto Lorenc and Oliver's framework for intervention risks. We suggest that qualitative data offer particular insights into the experiences of public health interventions, allowing the potential downsides and risks of interventions to be more fully considered and informing public health policies that might avoid inadvertent harm, particularly towards marginalised groups. Patient or Public Contribution The study primarily involved members of the public in the conduct of the research, namely through participation in interviews (email and telephone). The conception for the study involved extensive discussions on social media with a range of people, and we received input and ideas from presentations we delivered on the preliminary analysis.