English | Hong Kong Chinese
In the context of the University of Oxford, we hope our names; faces and stories will emphasise that there is a place for everyone at Oxford. According to last year’s admissions data, 700 Oxford undergraduates identify as mixed. In 2016, BAME students accounted for 15.9% of the undergraduate intake. Oxford is diversifying, albeit slowly. We hope to empower mixed heritage students at Oxford and foster a community where they can safely share their own opinions, experiences and stories.
My Father is from Hong Kong and my Mother from England. When I was younger I tended to dismiss my mixed heritage, so I suppose the positive experiences directly linked to being mixed-race have happened over the last couple years. One that stands out the most is probably the first mixer for Oxford Mixed Heritage Society in first term. I found a group of people who all understood certain things and could relate to my experience that I’d never had before. We all laughed at how often we got asked where we’re from. I didn’t look up percentages or numbers of mixed heritage people before I arrived at Oxford and, to be honest, it wasn’t really that much of a factor. I know a lot of my friends from London were quite shocked by the lack of diversity and I agree that it is a real issue that needs to be worked on but coming from a town in Lancashire, the lack of non-White people at university felt like a continued norm. I certainly don’t just accept it, I am as frustrated by it as I am at home, but it didn’t feel alien. Oxford Mixed Heritage Society is a great community especially because it is so inclusive. I was thinking of joining the Hong Kong society, but I was worried I wasn’t ‘Chinese enough’. At OMHS, however, no one judges you if you’re Chinese or English enough, it’s a space for all races and cultures. It’s so inclusive also because everyone is mixed heritage in that they have multiple ethnicities in their ancestral background, and I think OMHS really stress their openness to anyone and everyone which is really great. One of the things I have real issue with is BAME. Not only does it group all non-White people into the same bracket suggesting we’re more similar to each other than we are to White people, it prioritises Black and Asians, failing to recognise the diversity within the ‘non-White’ group. Thus, being in the BAME category does not make me feel represented within Oxford’s racial discourse.
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