Inquilab/Ink-Lab: a reading group with a difference

Inquilab/Ink-Lab is a staff and student reading group hosted by the Teaching and Learning Exchange at the University of Arts London (UAL) that encourages conversations on social justice and decolonisation.

In response to the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement of 2020, a small cohort of UAL students and staff, led by Dr Gurnam Singh and Jheni Arboine, made a decisive commitment to develop this reading group as an alternative space that could expand the ways we think, teach and practice at the University.

Incorporating the Urdu word for revolution (‘Inquilab’) in the title reinforces the group’s desire to bring about change; adding Ink-Lab establishes a poetic refrain. As such, Inquilab/Ink-Lab as a group embraces an unapologetically radical approach, rooted in the principles of decolonisation, anti-racism and flattened hierarchies.

All staff and students are invited to join sessions and together broaden views of what reading can be — reading objects, sounds, poems, visual art or written text — to disrupt and destabilise social and pedagogical hierarchies. Reading as decoding, diversifying and defying hegemonic models by remixing traditional and non-traditional forms.

Where sessions are themed, attendees are encouraged to bring related personal items for group discussion. These conversations might question how to decolonise AI or reflect on the use of joy as a pedagogical practice. Attendees might present sound art, share PhD excerpts or perform poetry readings. Ultimately, Inquilab thrives on experimentation; we welcome more perspectives and diverse experiences into our revolution!

• Join April’s session on Art and Science.

Microsite: Access presentations from past sessions

Built as an informal archive, Inquilab’s microsite includes a vocal bibliography with audio and video recordings of some of the presentations made at previous Inquilab sessions by UAL staff, including founder Dr Gurnam Singh and presenters Dr Royce Mahawatte, Dr Victoria Odeniyi, Roshni Bhagotra, Chris Rowell and Ruth Powell.

• Visit the microsite to access previous presentations.

Listen to Inquilab’s founders discuss the context, values and ideas behind its beginnings and how the group has since developed.

Participants and contributors tell us what brings them back to sessions time and again, and how the unique qualities and approaches that Inquilab embraces makes it a very different kind of discursive space. We hear about what it means to be able to bring your true self to a studio setting and how that fundamentally reconfigures hierarchies to create a greater sense of belonging and community for both staff and students.

• Listen on Spotify, Buzzsprout or Soundcloud.

Staff and students are invited to book future sessions of Inquilab.

If you have a question or would like to present at one of our reading groups, please email Jheni Arboine (j.arboine@arts.ac.uk), Educational Developer: Academic Enhancement.

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