In this episode we talk to Aisha Thomas, who is speaking in the smart cities stream at the conference.
Aisha is an Assistant Principal at an inner city secondary school in Bristol, England, and an educational activist. She originally trained as a lawyer but a chance encounter with a young prisoner drew her into teaching. In her new profession she was shocked to discover how few Black teachers there were in Bristol, and was approached by the BBC to present a documentary on the issue.
We talk about the conversation she wanted to ignite with her powerful, raw, and ultimately hopeful TEDx talk on why representation really matters, and the importance of feeling you belong, particularly for young people. We also touch on the U.K.’s A-level grading fiasco which is a text-book example of everything we talk about in the episode.
Lastly Aisha shares her thoughts on the must-read book, Race After Technology by Ruha Benjamin, and gives us a sneak peak into her talk at the 2020 Anthropology + Technology Conference.