Tinashe Verhaeghe
Alumna Tinashe Verhaeghe (Accounting and Finance, 2011) is a Senior Advisor (Equality Charters) at Advance HE. We caught up with her ahead of Black History Month 2023 to find out what the legacy she'd like to leave behind as her place in Black history.
What does Black History month mean to you and why is it important to you?
As with everything, the meaning of Black History Month for me evolves. When I first started really gaining an understanding of the evidence base of anti-Blackness in society, Black History Month was an imperative to bring positive representation of Blackness into the mainstream. The diversity of perspectives within the Black community on issues was not adequately represented- we don’t all think and feel the same! It then became important to me for Black joy and excellence to be noted and celebrated.
In addition to this, I am at a place now where both these aspects are important and I have added the need for all of us as people to see allies positively represented in the mainstream. One of my favourite books - ‘Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?’ By Beverley Daniel Tatum - highlights this beautifully and opened my eyes to this. We often only see a lack of representation as affecting those underrepresented as it influences how we see ourselves and how others are socialised to see us. There are other repercussions of this including the fact that allies to the Black community don’t see themselves positively represented without doing a lot of research and we don’t see sufficient examples of people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds doing life together unless we live in diverse areas which is not the case for a large sector of the population. For all these reasons, liberation of self and others, celebration of us and unity - Black History Month continues to be important to me until such a point that we have achieved these objectives.
Do you have any Black female role models that inspire you? Who and why?
So many! Black females to me represent a strength of character, perseverance and hope that is so immense, it can never be quantified. At the moment, the women inspiring me are my mother and a hero from my country called Mbuya Nehanda. Mbuya Nehanda was a powerful woman spirit medium who was committed to upholding traditional Shona culture, she was instrumental in organizing the nationwide resistance to colonial rule during the First Chimurenga of 1896-7. Need I say more? When I think about the power of those that came before me, knowing that I have ancestors this powerful makes me stand taller. There are so many other women I could list here who are leading the way for young Black women including Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu and Professor Uju Anya. My mother represents all strong Black Women who overcome adversity, experience trauma and do not collapse. They build, they fight and they love just as fiercely as ever.
What career or personal achievement/s are you most proud of?
Putting my head above the parapet for racial and social justice. During my time as an employee at University of Exeter, I was made aware of injustices in society, and issues that I may have had some vague idea of but I really knew the depth and insidious nature of them. I don’t feel I had a choice when I learnt what I learnt, I had to mobilise for change. This did mean being a voice that spoke on the topics that were uncomfortable and could have, and on occasion did, result in retaliation and victimisation. In this time, I along with phenomenal colleagues, started a staff and student network for people from racially minoritised backgrounds. The reason I started this group was to create a critical mass of colleagues to amplify our voices and reduce the feeling of isolation and loneliness. Through this network, we were able to influence culture change that has been attributed to positive changes in key institutional measures of advancing racial equality in the institution.
I feel immensely proud of my work in the network for this reason, but the biggest source of pride is every email I ever received about how the network supported a student or member of staff in a time of crisis. The work I was doing, which was not easy on top of my substantive role, was achieving the objective of people feeling less alone while navigating race related incidents. I think the only person who truly knows the impact of this work on my physical and mental health would be my husband who in many occasions had to pick me up and hold me steady, for this reason I will always salute people who are in the field of advocacy and community.
What is the legacy you’d like to leave behind as your place in Black history?
I know a lot of people can relate to feeling awkward growing up. I was ambitious, hard-working, intelligent and resourceful but all of this felt it was second place in relation to the shyness and insecurity that was due to a number of reasons, some of which I identify now as anti-Black racism and misogyny. The legacy I would like to leave is for all other Black girls who relate to that to know that they can learn about themselves and stand tall and proud, take up space and to do so much earlier than I did. Any success I achieve will always be testament to the fact that normal people can leave a mark in the world.
Whilst remembering our history is important it also provides an opportunity to look to the future – what is a change you’d like to see or what would you like that to look like?
I would like to see us all negotiate challenging conversations and topics with more skill. Any advocacy work I have ever done has been in the hopes of contributing to improving the quality of people’s lives. There is so much contention in the area of equalities work, but there has to be a way of centring the issues that are affecting the quality and length of people’s lives - to be led by the desire to alleviate pain and suffering. If there is a change I would like to see, it is for leaders to role model what is to centre the objective of improving the quality of lives for all marginalised people amidst balancing the demands that can seem conflicting but don’t need to result in polarisation. At the end of the day, I do believe that for the most part, we have the shared human values of not wanting our feelings, views and opinions to be demonised and dehumanised and I would love to see more conversations that navigate and negotiate this space better, resulting in less of an - us and them - approach and more togetherness. No one wins if the objective is to win, everyone wins when the objective is to make a positive change to the world.
Do you have any advice for students at the University and other alumni?
Take the time to learn about the experiences of people who are different to you. It is easy for us all to assume that we all have the same experiences of the same environment but difference usually leads to an element of marginalisation to varying degrees. The biggest lesson in my work and life journey might just be a realisation of just how little I know about anything. There is always so much more to learn and growing to do. This to me should be the hallmark of expertise - acknowledging the depth of nuance. I would encourage students and other alumni to invest time in learning about other experiences through reading books and blogs, watching movies, documentaries and listening to podcasts for example to widen their world view and do so with humility and openness.