Jason and the Adventure of 254

inclusivepractices

Unit 2: Inclusive Practices – Faith

Written by

Giuseppe Renga

in

Faith

I started writing this post just a few hours later. I received an envelope from the Italian consulate that will allow me and all my compatriots to better 5 laws concerning workers’ and immigrants’ rights.  Each referendum question coincides with a different card colour. The yellow card, in case the ‘Yes’ wins, is going to be reduced from 10 to 5 years the time of legal residence in Italy of the non-EU adult foreigner for the request for the granting of Italian citizenship (Fig. 1 and 2).

Fig. 1  – Renga, G. 2025. Referendum 2025.
Fig. 2  – Renga, G. 2025. Referendum 2025.

I started my research and noticed how Italy is still not aligned with the rest of the most advanced democracies and European countries on this matter (Fig. 2). The abrogation of the previous law will allow other citizens of this World to be granted essential rights (e.g. freedom of movement, right to vote and many other civil and political rights).

As a white European man who has experienced many privileges, it would be an act of violence, racism and hypocrisy hindering other humans from acquiring my same rights.

In the end, am I also not an immigrant who, as a nomad, travelled to another country to live, study, work and build a better future for myself?

Fig. 3 Wikipedia. 2025. Naturalization Residence Requirements by Country.

To paraphrase an article written by Riedel and Rau, the control over migrants represents another facet of the race-religion intersection and how it is deployed to protect the ‘purity’ of the white European gene. In virtue of this, we have noticed how white and Christian Ukrainian refugees were treated way better than Muslim Afghan, Iraqi, Libyan, Palestinian, Somali, Sudanese and Syrian refugees. Thus, the question is, aren’t they also humans escaping from bombs, dictators and famine?

In the aftermath of the 9/11 events in New York, we have been constantly brainwashed by perpetual anti-Islam propaganda, which has led to the construction of higher walls, sharper barbed wires and nationalist misfortunes like the advent of Donald Trump, ‘Muslim Ban’ and Brexit.

And what’s going on at UAL? On September the 25th 2024 the newly appointed chancellor Clive Myrie who is also an ‘experienced’ BBC journalist called one of our students ‘lunatic’ and ‘fucking idiot’ after the student accused him “to be complicit in the genocide of the Palestinian people” through his “biased reporting” (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4  Myrie, C. 2024. F***ing idiot.

I couldn’t believe how our main representative, who was supposed to be the wisest person in that room, reacted towards one of our students. In response to the loss of temper of Mr. Myrie in my everyday tasks as a Technician, Teacher and HPL at LCF I constantly seek to maximise the engagement of all students of all faiths in the learning environment when I work either in the Open Access by sharing didactical material like movies and documentaries (Fig. 5) or presentations that link faith with fashion campaigns (Fig. 6).

As also advocated by the guidance of Advance HE, I avoid stigmatisations and stereotypes about religions, and I constantly enrich my presentation with a diversified gamut of didactical materials which explore different beliefs and increase awareness among our students towards other cultures and religions.

Fig. 5 –  Renga, G. 2025. Spike Lee in Mo Better Blues.
Fig. 6 – Toscani, O. 1991. Harmony

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References

Riedel, M., & Rau, V. (2025). Religion and race: the need for an intersectional approach. Identities, 32(3), 388–408. https://doi.org/10.1080/1070289X.2025.2476300

Centro di Ateneo per i Diritti Umani. (2025). Abrogative Referendums: Voting on Labour and Citizenship Set for June 8 and 9. [online] Available at: https://unipd-centrodirittiumani.it/en/news/abrogative-referendums-voting-on-labour-and-citizenship-set-for-june-8-and-9 [Accessed 24 May 2025].

‌Middle East Eye (2024). BBC newsreader Clive Myrie calls pro-Palestine student a ‘fucking idiot’. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Boq-9eJ7Gdg [Accessed 24 May 2025].

‌ Wikimedia.org. (2024). File: Naturalization Residence Requirements by Country (Years of Residence).svg – Wikimedia Commons. [online] Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Naturalization_Residence_Requirements_by_Country_(Years_of_Residence).svg [Accessed 24 May 2025].

‌ www.advance-he.ac.uk. (n.d.). Religion and belief: supporting inclusion of staff and students in higher education and colleges | Advance HE. [online] Available at: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/religion-and-belief-supporting-inclusion-staff-and-students-higher-education-and.

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Comments

4 responses to “Unit 2: Inclusive Practices – Faith”

  1. Emilia Netto Avatar
    Emilia Netto

    Hi Giuseppe, this is such a powerful piece of writing, written in your unique and captivating writing style as always. Your introduction, self-reflection and uses of various sources really tie together creating a smooth flow from paragraph to paragraph. The use of examples of how you create a more inclusive space using guidance from advanced HE is great, and wraps up the blog post nicely. I have always admired your voice concerning inequality and human suffering and your passion to do something to bring about positive change. When living in a society that is “structured in a race, gender, class discriminatory way” (Crenshaw, n.d). How does someone start to bring about change? Is there any way of bring change beyond the way we act, with kindness, understanding and respect.

    Reply
    1. Giuseppe Renga Avatar
      Giuseppe Renga

      Many thanks, Emilia for commenting on this post. I was very sad when I watched the video called ‘The School That Tried to End Racism’ released by Channel 4 in 2020, and in particular when a teacher asks her students to take a step back if they have ever been warned by their parents about racism and all of sudden all the BAME students are forced to take a step back living only the white ones on the front with a huge advantage over their competitors in the race. Unfortunately, living with the absence of the consequences of racism creates a huge structural lacuna and I am worried that there won’t be enough kindness to fill it.

      Reply
  2. Mikolai Berg Avatar
    Mikolai Berg

    You’ve chosen a bold and thought-provoking starting point in referencing the Middle East conflict to explore how faith intersects with identity. As complex and sensitive as the topic is, it poignantly illustrates the deep and often divisive impact religion can have on global cultures and communities.
    Considering Toscani’s campaign work is a good way to situate religions inside your own teaching practice. His use of advertising (at the height of its golden era) as a platform for visibility and social commentary is still striking today. The controversy these images sparked wasn’t just for shock value; they were purposeful provocations designed to prompt reflection, stir awareness, and shift perspectives. It’s inspiring to see you bring this kind of work into the classroom, especially in a time when much of the visual culture students encounter is so heavily shaped by commercial imperatives. You’re giving them a chance to think differently, and more critically, about what visual communication can do.

    Reply
    1. Giuseppe Renga Avatar
      Giuseppe Renga

      I agree with you Mikolai, it’s true to see how the avant-garde of many art movements has totally disapperead. The late Oiviero Toscani was the maverick of the advertiment industry which was evinced throughout all his career as the Art Director at Benetton and FABRICA. I have also used his campaigns to disturb students. In his essay ‘Shopenahauer as Educator’ Nietzche reflects about the skills of a teacher comparing him to a philosopher he asserts: “[It] is of course clear why our academic thinkers are not dangerous; for their thoughts grow as peacefully out of tradition as any tree ever bore its apples; they cause no alarm; they remove nothing from its hinges; and of all their art and aims there could be said what Diogenes said when someone praised a philosopher in his presence: ‘How can he be considered great, since he has been a philosopher for so long and has never disturbed anyone?’ That, indeed, ought to be the epitaph of university philosophy: ‘It has disturbed nobody.’ [“Schopenhauer as Educator,” trans. R. J. Hollingdale in Untimely Meditations (Cambridge University Press, 1997), pp. 193-4]. So, the essential part of a proper education seems to be this act of ‘disturbing’ the student.

      Reply

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