As a part of our ongoing reflexive process at People’s Knowledge and at CAWR (e.g . see here and here), we have been examining the praxis of decolonising the curriculum in the context of our research centre. Given how universities are centre of epistemic power and have historically been mechanisms of colonial power, the idea of decolonising a university (and its curriculum) is complicated, challenging and ultimately the idea of a decolonised university is oxymoronic.
Thinking about decolonizing the university raises far more questions and uncertainties than it does concrete answers. But this doesn’t mean there isn’t agency and possibility and we are grateful to be be aware of, and in some cases connected to, a range of movements, activists and initiatives that we can learn from. To this end, we have started to collect some resources that we have found useful, and share them here in the spirit of stimulating critical reflection, learning and connections.
- John Gus gave the inaugural BEMAS annual lecture at UCL on decolonising the curriculum.
- Decolonising SOAS – Learning and Teaching Toolkit for Programme and Module Convenors
- Podcast: How to Decolonize Your Classroom: Five essentials every teacher must know with Dr. Michael Domínguez.
- Why is my curriculum white video.
- Akala Full address and Q and A at the Oxford Union
- PAULO FREIRE Pedagogy of the Oppressed
- Series of blog posts (just started now, and in response to the UK government’s outlawing of teaching “political race theory as fact”). Our Favourite Critical Race Theory – Introduction and Critical Race Theory
- Book by the Decolonise University of Kent Collective– not actually free, but sliding scale cost for e-book download (minimum £1) and a “last resort” option if you cannot pay at all.
- Nyamnjoh, F.B., 2012. ‘Potted plants in greenhouses’: A critical reflection on the resilience of colonial education in Africa. Journal of Asian and African studies, 47(2), pp.129-154.
- Bourne, J (2020) This is what a radical intervention looks like’: an interview with Barbara Ransby, Race and Class
- Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth
- Outline of Ten Theses on Coloniality and Decoloniality by Nelson Maldonado-Torres
- CAWR work on food systems and decolonization reading list (coming soon)
- Afua Hirsch ‘The role of cultural identity in building peace’