Discussions around racism have recently propagated that before meaningful antiracism work can take place, societies must become more self-aware in how racist structures control everyday encounters. As outlined in the 2018 FRA report ‘Being Black in the EU’, racism continues to be a prevalent phenomenon in European countries. Especially in countries such as Finland, where racism has largely been ignored, there is a severe lack of tools for addressing systematic racial oppression. Arising from the Fanonian concept of Otherness (1952 & 1963), Ahmed’s theory of affective encounters (2000 & 2007) and Anderson’s exploration of epistemically safe spaces (2021), the article contemplates how to build learning environments that encourage critical reflections on racist structures among young people. More specifically, this paper explores what kind of space could encourage the formation of an affective community where young people, and the facilitator, come together to discuss, feel and learn about racist structures to challenge the abiding silence. 

The theoretical framework presents race as a socially constructed phenomenon used to uphold unequal hierarchies of power, which have also reached their way into formal and informal educational spaces. In line with Ahmed (2000, 2007), the article outlines that the western aim to assimilate non-white bodies into constructions of whiteness has resulted in a structural act of Othering that labels individuals racialised as Other as not belonging. In Finland, previous research has problematised its multicultural approaches to antiracism education and emphasised a lack of tools to approach critical conversations. In response, this paper intertwines concepts of learning space and an affective community to suggest ways in which young people can be guided in developing a critical race consciousness. 

By examining interview findings with experts (see methodology for details) in line with theoretical frameworks, the paper asks what experts consider essential in building up spaces for young people to begin constructing a collective understanding of race? The analysis is divided into three main categories: dynamics of power within learning environments, what affective encounters might transpire and addressing behaviours that disrupt the sense of community. 

As a starting point for learning spaces, we look at Anderson’s (2021) criticism of safe(r) spaces; rather than providing marginalised groups with support and a sense of safety, they have turned into environments that often protect majorities from feelings of discomfort. In turn, epistemically safe spaces (Anderson, 2021) identify systematic inequalities in knowledge production and promote agency of marginalised groups through challenging normative constructions of knowing. The concept of epistemically safe spaces is intertwined with the Fanonian idea of a dehumanising white gaze and Ahmed’s figure of ‘the stranger’ as a production of affective relations between marginalised people and the white majority. To address the research question, the paper examines the concept of an epistemically safe learning space in encouraging young people to explore production of Otherness as an act of racism, which has become normalised in structures of everyday living. 

The other key concept, becoming an affective learning community, arises from bell hooks’ thought that gaining a critical outlook on structural oppression requires learning with each other and about ourselves. Therefore, rather than presenting acts of racism as a personal choice and separating individuals between good people and bad racists, the paper addresses how epistemic awareness of systematic oppression and structural inequity might help in forming a sense of learning together as a community. In summary, the paper aims to visualise how epistemically safe learning spaces might reinforce the formation of an affective community where a group of young people become aware to the world from different perspectives while considering what kind of power dynamics their own position in society might reflect. 

The initial aim for the research paper was to address how conversations around racism could be approached with young people in more general. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with experts (n-10) who actively promote antiracism, hold a strategic position related to promoting equality, work with young people or have a background in education. Some of the experts’ backgrounds fit in more than one of the categories. The first author selected the interviewees according to their multifaceted backgrounds, and all interviews were conducted and transcribed by the first author. The first author has also been responsible for translating direct quotations from Finnish to English. Prior to interviews, open questions were organised into three categories: 1) visibility of racial Otherness in Finland; 2) what concepts conversations with young people should include; 3) how they could be discussed in meaningful ways. The interview materials totalled to around 10-hours of recorded material. The nature of the interviews was conversational, and some answers were followed up with more specific questions. To familiarise with the transcribed material, a thematic analysis was conducted. The main thematic categories were Otherness and racism in society (references to Finland and elsewhere); young people’s roles and attitudes to resisting racism as well as pedagogical references for difficult conversations. However, an overarching narrative was recognised for creating a supportive yet critical learning space. The references included a need for spaces where young people would be allowed to feel discomfort about unfairness of racial inequality and white privilege while not having their safety acutely threatened. The focus of the paper thus became more directed towards exploring factors that influence the formation of learning spaces and communities. To narrow down our focus, we formulated questions to access the thematised material through the lens of learning spaces: What kind of power dynamics might exist? What kind of (affective) encounters might take place? How can the facilitator react when the space moves towards becoming unsafe (with a focus on young people racialised as Other) to continue developing a sense of community? The questions led us to look at interview responses that positioned young people in terms of power and how these power dynamics might affect young people’s feelings of self and their surroundings.

The interview analysis concludes that in order to conduct affective conversations about race and inequity, the facilitator must be aware of the society’s existing power dynamics, which are often mirrored in classrooms. The article also suggests that young people should be supported in participating in the learning process by presenting them with ways in how to take part in conversations. For example, it should be made clear to young people racialised as Other that they are not viewed as experience experts, but as critical individuals who have multiple ways to contribute. The theoretical framework reflects the interview results in stating that conversations about race are often uncomfortable to young people racialised as Other when under the white gaze. It was deemed important that the sense of threat young people racialised as Other might experience should be advocated for by building a space that openly challenges normative whiteness and dominating knowledge production embedded in western epistemology. Furthermore, the analysis suggests that even though new feelings of discomfort might arise for learners racialised as white who have not perceived their lived privilege previously, the ignorance towards racial inequity cannot continue. In response to the above points of analysis, the final discussion expands on Anderson’s exploration of epistemically safe spaces by identifying four practices that might enable young people to think critically about racial inequity. Firstly, the space should aim to create pedagogic tools for recognising how positions of power are created and maintained in society; secondly, encourage learners to reflect on their own position within the society they live in; thirdly, utilise activities that identify concrete actions for addressing social injustice to be completed as a learning community; and finally, deal with actions disrupting a sense of learning together constructively by problematising what normative ways of thinking caused the behaviour.

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