Claire Ozanne, provost of the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, found herself in the company of a Japanese professor. So she made small talk about sushi. Not the Burma Railway, or Pearl Harbour. Sushi.
Ozanne told Professor Nana Sato-Rossberg that she lived close to a sushi restaurant and her family enjoyed eating there. She ended up in a tribunal hearing, which alleged racism. Unsuccessful, thankfully. Even so, welcome to the wonderful world of modern academia.
“Professor Ozanne tries to suppress my voice, the voice of a woman of colour,” argued Sato-Rossberg. The tribunal decided that she’d just tried to recommend a sushi joint to a Japanese person. And that’s a little clumsy. But it’s not racist. It’s not suppression. And
