Title: ‘Rhodes must fall’ or ‘Rhodes must read Fanon'? Thoughts on decolonising curricula in UK HE.
Abstract
Decolonisation is often perceived as a means to uncover
erased or hidden histories and ensure that our curricula are more inclusive or
to improve the experience of students racialised Black or Brown or other. But
one of the pitfalls of its praxis in UK higher education is a fundamental
misconception of what it requires, both in theory and in practice.
Decolonisation is often confused with any social justice endeavour.
Nevertheless, decolonising the university should ensure that we, as an academic
community, build the type of university that we want and the world needs. A
decolonial university may help bring about new worlds of possibility. To be a
decolonial university we must critically assess the impact of our curriculum –
explicit, hidden, null – and our research on our students.
This presentation will reflect on what decolonisation means
and how we can implement it in truth in UK HE.