Are there ‘Safe Spaces’? – Some Reflections!

by Riadh Ghemmour

On 27th November 2020, I attended a public talk hosted by Hallam Race Network to discuss the idea of ‘safe spaces’, inviting two instrumental scholars and researchers to share their critical insights, Dr Muna Abdi and Dr Shona Hunter. In this blog, I would like to expand and reflect upon this idea of ‘safe space’ and what it means to me as an Indigenous Kabyle emerging scholar and activist in the field of education and decolonisation, with a focus on the critical ideas which were discussed during the public virtual talk.

Should I remain silent or speak up?

I have words, I have stories to tell

In this space I try to excel

But will I be able to spell?

Spelling is words, spelling is fixing

Fixing the eggshells

Recently, and especially with the rise of decolonial and anti-racist endeavours within and beyond British universities, I hear many academics, activists and students - including myself - using the phrase ‘safe space’ during departmental meetings, virtual public talks and roundtables. It has occurred to me that this phrase mostly comes up in discussions about social and epistemic justice which involves under-represented groups. My initial reflection is that why such particular spaces require safety? Does it mean other spaces need to be less safe? – Obviously not! - But I feel that we have become almost conditioned to use ‘safe space’ in our conversation when we hold a discussion about anti-racism and decolonisation without necessarily knowing what it may mean and look like? Of course, I am not saying that such spaces should not be safe; they must be safe given the trauma, colonial history, violence, prejudice and wounds which certain group of people have experienced; but it is important to challenge ourselves and interrupt our thinking to reflect upon this notion of ‘safe space’ otherwise we might run the risk of creating more hostile spaces or simply being token and performative in our approach to decolonise our minds and build an anti-racist ethos within and beyond classroom walls.

I know the egg will never look the same

But what I can do is to claim

Claim the space that is shared and ‘safe’

But here I search, I run, I fall, I fight, I resist

It is important to state that when we enter a classroom, or a Zoom meeting (the new trend!), we bring different interests, intersectionality and positionalities which come together to be either at the same page (which might be unlikely!) or in conflict. Spaces can be a place for struggle (Giroux, 1986), and discomfort, so preserving our safety is required but who is responsible for it? – is it a personal responsibility or a shared one where everyone needs to engage in to ensure a collective safe space? I have been in many spaces where I felt both ‘safe’ and ‘less safe’; in some situations, I felt safe because I was sitting comfortably with like-minded people where power was distributed to explore and celebrate different epistemologies and ontologies, so there was a sense of plurality holding the space. In other situations, I felt ‘less safe’ where I had to negotiate [my own] space and epistemology as a result of a top-down hierarchy or a dominant narrative held in the space which was dehumanising and exhausting.

I pause and ask, is there really a safe space?

A safe space I can call home?

What home anyway?

My body is a pen

My body is words

Words that can be dissolved in this space

Who is responsible?

It is essential to acknowledge that although safe spaces are deemed to be ‘safe’, they can generate discomfort. While discomfort can lead to paralysis, we should also use it as a strategy for individual and collective actions and productivity. In fact, in my own experience in being in these so called ‘safe spaces’, self-reflection is instrumental, and posing questions like ‘what does it mean for me to join or be in a space addressing questions and feelings which might be uncomfortable?’ Working on our individual self-reflection can help to appraise ‘the safe’ in ‘safe space’, asking who benefits from these safe spaces? And what are our individual contributions, representations and challenges we are bringing into the space? So our individual work as self-reflecting agents is key prior to joining a space deemed as ‘safe’. I know I am raising more questions than bringing answers to the matter! But my aim is not to provide a universal understanding and practical actions to catalyse what ‘safe spaces’ may mean. However, being reflective and critical towards its use in our discussion, I can conclude that a ‘safe space’ should be a place of reciprocity as well where otherness does not exist, power should be distributed than owned, and ethics of care and co-existence are favoured. For example, before joining any space that is considered to be ‘safe’, I do my individual work through asking or enquiring about the purpose of being in the space and reflect on the aforementioned, do a little search about the people if the group is small, and sustain self-reflection all along during and after the space is closed. It may seem obvious but sometimes one can knowingly or unknowingly become territorial within a ‘safe space’ resulting in making people vulnerable and dehumanised.

Space is feeling

Space is ideology

Or neither?

Space is eggshell

The more I think about it the more I realise

It is impossible to put the eggshells together

The questions I have raised in the blog are not straightforward and easy, but when we use ‘safe space’ in conversation, we tend to do it uncritically and unreflectively. So, if you join a space that is deemed ‘safe’, I hope these reflective avenues help to consider what it actually may mean to you and to the space per se you are part of to engage in a fruitful and productive conversation

The dialogue is still on-going…

Reference list (APA Style)

Giroux, H. (1986). Critical Theory and the Politics of Culture and Voice: Rethinking the Discourse of Educational Research. Journal of Thought, 21(3), 84-105.

Riadh Ghemmour is an Indigenous Kabyle doctoral researcher in education from Algeria, affiliated to the Graduate School of Education, University of Exeter. He is the co-founder and co-editor at Decolonial Dialogues Shared Space which seeks to share information and progressive knowledge on decolonisation through inclusive teaching, activism and creativity. He is also a Student Fellow at ‘Decolonial Knowledge Production and Anti-Racist Pedagogy’ Incubator Funded Project (University of Exeter) led by the collective of Exeter Decolonising Network and a research assistant at ‘decolonising the curriculum toolkit’ Social Mobility Funded Project (University of Exeter). In these endeavours, Riadh works closely with like-minded visionaries to [re]imagine the world and knowledge production otherwise – beyond the Western canon. He is both on Twitter and LinkedIn.