UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Revisiting ‘resilience’ in light of racism, ‘othering’ and resistance

Sims-Schouten, Wendy; Gilbert, Patricia; (2022) Revisiting ‘resilience’ in light of racism, ‘othering’ and resistance. Race and Class: a journal of racism, empire and globalisation , 64 (1) pp. 84-94. 10.1177/03063968221093. Green open access

[thumbnail of Race and Class Sims Schouten_Resilience HW edit.pdf]
Preview
Text
Race and Class Sims Schouten_Resilience HW edit.pdf

Download (346kB) | Preview

Abstract

In this commentary the authors analyse how the concept of resilience can be and has been applied to Black, Asian and minority ethnic families and communities in ways that are biased, stigmatising and pathologising. They argue that current definitions of resilience need to be redefined and reconceptualised, particularly in settings dominated by White middle-class voices that define what ‘positive emotions’, ‘successful traits’ and ‘coping mechanisms’ entail. Here, through racism and flawed perceptions and interpretations of resilience and ‘othering’, members from ethnic minority communities are defined as in need of resilience support, whilst at the same time their experience of structural racism, e.g., in relation to mental health support, social/health care practices and school exclusions, is being erased. Instead, the authors argue that resilience can also mean ‘resistance’, i.e., resisting bad treatment and racism, as well as reflecting agency, identity and ownership of one’s own life and choices within this. Reframing resilience thus means taking account of multifaceted and interactive effects of personal, material, institutional and political factors that impact on behaviour, wellbeing and resilience, as well as acknowledging that the way in which ‘behaviour’ is received is by default flawed, if this is largely informed by an oppressive White middle-class viewpoint.

Type: Article
Title: Revisiting ‘resilience’ in light of racism, ‘othering’ and resistance
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1177/03063968221093
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1177/03063968221093
Language: English
Additional information: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Keywords: othering, racism, resilience, resistance
UCL classification: UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Arts and Sciences (BASc)
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH
UCL
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10146021
Downloads since deposit
238Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item