John Craven
Winter has gone and spring encourages lots of us to put on walking boots and anoraks and revel in the simple but life-enhancing pleasure of being out in the countryside. But how many will have skin that is not white?
Too few, according to researchers who are trying to discover the truth behind the missing faces. According to official figures, 16% of the UK population is from ethnic minority backgrounds, so what is it about rural Britain that puts many of them off? Do they find it unwelcoming?
Recently, Richard Benwell, CEO of Wildlife and Countryside Link, a coalition of 82 nature groups including the National Trust and the RSPCA, said “there are many accounts showing that some people of colour continue to experience racist comments and abuse when visiting nature. This is well-evidenced, including in reports from Government and from public bodies.”
But is racism any worse in rural areas than in our towns and cities? Now a research team from Leicester University aims to find out the true extent of rural racism through a two-year survey. Researchers will question people from all races who live or spend time in rural spaces about their experiences.
Some of the results so far are disturbing. Researcher Dr Viji Kuppan tells me about two women who live in rural areas, one brown and one black. “Both were subjected to racist taunts, spat on in one instance and weapons with intent to harm produced in another – very stark incidents of racial and engendered hostility.”
Dr Kuppan adds: “There are also subtler moments of ‘unconscious racism’ in the countryside that aren’t wilful but are still difficult to be on the receiving end of. On a field trip to a National Trust property with a white colleague, it was striking how many of the white people we encountered would acknowledge her but not me.”
Dr Kuppan points out that a sense of belonging in the countryside is crucial. “People of colour have a connection to rurality,” he says, explaining that one refugee told him that the hills of the Peak District reminded him of his home landscape of Afghanistan. It’s something Dr Kuppan feels himself. “My connection to the natural world and wild places of England is of vital importance to my health and wellbeing,” he says.
Of course, many white voices would insist there is no racial prejudice in the green acres – that, at worst, there might be curiosity about someone from a different ethnic backg
