Decolonizing the University by
In 2015, students at the University of Cape Town demanded the removal of a statue of Cecil Rhodes, the imperialist, racist business magnate, from their campus. Their battle cry, #RhodesMustFall, sparked an international movement calling for the decolonization of universities all over the world. Today, as the movement develops beyond the picket line, how might it go on to radically transform the terms upon which universities exist? In this book, students, activists, and scholars discuss the possibilities and the pitfalls of doing decolonial work in the heart of the establishment. Subverting curricula, demanding diversity, and destroying old boundaries, this is a radical call for a new era of education. Offering resources for students and academics to challenge and resist colonialism inside and outside the classroom, Decolonizing the University provides the tools for radical change in our disciplines, our pedagogies, and our institutions.
Decolonisation in Universities by
Shortly after the giant bronze statue of Cecil John Rhodes came down at the University of Cape Town, student protestors called for the decolonization of universities. It was a word hardly heard in South Africa's struggle lexicon and many asked: What exactly is decolonization? This book brings together some of the most innovative thinking on curriculum theory to address this important question. In the process, several critical questions are raised: Is decolonization simply a slogan for addressing other pressing concerns on campuses and in society? What is the colonial legacy with respect to curricula and can it be undone? How is the project of curricula decolonization similar to or different from the quest for post-colonial knowledge, indigenous knowledge or a critical theory of knowledge? What does decolonization mean in a digital age where relationships between knowledge and power are shifting? Strong conceptual analyses are combined with case studies of attempts to 'do decolonization' in settings as diverse as South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania and Mauritius. This comparative perspective enables reasonable judgments to be made about the prospects for institutional take-up within the curriculum of century-old universities. decolonization in Universities is essential reading for undergraduate teaching, postgraduate research and advanced scholarship in the field of curriculum studies.
Dismantling Race in Higher Education: Racism, Whiteness and Decolonising the Academy by
This book reveals the roots of structural racism that limit social mobility and equality within Britain for Black and ethnicised students and academics in its inherently white Higher Education institutions. It brings together both established and emerging scholars in the fields of Race and Education to explore what institutional racism in British Higher Education looks like in colour-blind 'post-race' times, when racism is deemed to be ‘off the political agenda’. Keeping pace with our rapidly changing global universities, this edited collection asks difficult and challenging questions, including why black academics leave the system; why the curriculum is still white; how elite universities reproduce race privilege; and how Black, Muslim and Gypsy traveller students are disadvantaged and excluded.
The book also discusses why British racial equality legislation has failed to address racism, and explores what the Black student movement is doing about this. As the authors powerfully argue, it is only by dismantling the invisible architecture of post-colonial white privilege that the 21st century struggle for a truly decolonised academy can begin. This collection will be essential reading for students and academics working in the fields of Education, Sociology, and Race.
Decolonising the University: The Challenge of Deep Cognitive Justice by
At each particular historical moment, the university appears as a heavy and rigid structure resisting changes, whereas, throughout time, it has actually undergone profound transformation. Often such changes have been drastic and almost always provoked by factors external to the university, be they of a religious, political or economic nature. This book explores the nature and dynamics of the transformation that the university is undergoing today. It argues that some of the projects of reform currently under way are so radical that the question of the future of the university may well turn into the question of whether the university has a future. A specific feature of this inquiry is the realisation that questioning the future of the university involves questioning its past as well.
You may have heard of student-driven campaigns such as #RhodesMustFall or 'Why Is My Curriculum So White?' These campaigns aim to draw attention to the Eurocentrism of university curricula, which frequently reinforce a white, Western worldview whilst devaluing alternative voices and perpetrating stereotypes. This is all part of a movement known as 'decolonising the curriculum'.
There is no easy simple definition of what decolonising the curriculum means. The concept will vary in meaning and import depending on perspective, culture and geography. Here are a few definitions:
