Do #BlackLivesMatter in the Education of Fashion Business Students? A Review of Race and Inclusivity Literature

Abstract

#Blacklivesmatter is a social media hashtag used to raise awareness of racist attacks on black people and promote protests against white supremacism, whereas fashion is an industry complicit with racism and racial inequality. Corporate social responsibility is increasingly important in business management, and fashion management education is beginning to research pedagogy about environmental sustainability. However, studies investigating teaching about fashion’s social responsibility to racialised minorities are seemingly absent. This chapter supplements the lack, by drawing together sustainability and responsibility pedagogy, with literature about safety in the classroom and decoloniality of the curriculum. The chapter suggests that embedding anti-racist and sustainability ethics throughout academic institutions is necessary to create an inclusive teaching environment, particularly for students of colour. In the future, research with students of colour about their educational needs should actively listen to their voices and centre those voices, rather than the author’s own.