He/him
Culture Commissioner
I’m Dan Takyi, a fourth year PPE student and current President of the People of Colour Association so you would assume that the intersection of politics and an awareness of race and how I exist as a result of that in the world would be my main motivation for wanting to be involved with this. And for the most part, that would be correct, this is a motivating factor in a lot of my life decisions and thus it should show in my work. However, seeing how Durham has change over my time here, being in and amongst it as well as the outside looking in has made me realise that although it would be so easy to turn your back, get your degree and leave- we have a duty to those we have encouraged to come here to make it better for them. The thing everyone gets wrong about Durham culture for me is the Durham bubble, because it isn’t a bubble. It’s more a magnet, luring you in, making you one with it and once in luring you in and assimilating you, it reinforces its pull to make itself stronger. But true to this analogy is that if you are not attracted to it, you are vehemently repelled and there is no way in for you. That is not an inclusive space and unlike my hastily constructed magnet analogy, opposites do not attract here. Rather the opposites to the Durham stereotype are ostracised, victimised, and subjected to a hostile and violent environment. To me culture means stepping with pride, moving as a collective once we get the directions right. And this is a crucial step to getting it right. It’s about time Durham took another step into the future.
