‘Tell us about your lived experience’

Abstract

My passion for race equity, decolonial knowledge production and social justice started as a Fine Art student. The interest came with the pressure and plea to share my lived experience. I was naively excited about this…at first.

Through my Master’s and more experience working in HE, I realised that people might not directly ask me to ‘tell us about your lived experience’ anymore, but I still felt surrounded by the invisible expectations of sharing my lived experience when it suited the sector. I knew that I wasn’t alone in feeling the pressure to be involved in challenging the boundaries and hierarchies that obstruct the structurally marginalised part of our identities.

To process this, I wrote a pros and cons list. The pros were that by sharing my lived experiences I was able to be more authentic, open and honest with the people I was working with or presenting to. The con side of the list was full of unpleasant words like reliving the trauma, pain, dismissal, rejection…being scared.

My list made me realise two things:

1. I choose why I share my lived experience. Sometimes I want to and sometimes I don’t, and that’s my decision to make.
2. I choose how and who I share my lived experience with.

The sector might not stop asking me that question directly or indirectly but what I can control is why I share, how I share and who I share my lived experiences with.

My 15 min presentation will illustrate my lived experience of sharing my lived experience in a sector that sometimes expects it, labels it and abuses it. The presentation will showcase a series of self-produced artwork/drawings that reflect my story, narrated by myself, ending with a reminder that our lived experience is ours to tell.

Bio

Melanie Welaratne (she/her) is currently an Educational Developer for Nottingham Trent University. Her work focuses on supporting schools to address disparities in student attainment, progression and outcomes through equitable learning and teaching approaches. Melanie’s area of focus and passion centres on race equity, intersectionality and decoloniality within Education. She has recently completed her Master’s in Development Education and Global Learning at UCL, where her research explored the intersections between decolonial education and global learning.