Decolonising the curriculum
Decolonising sits within Critical Pedagogical approaches to learning and teaching. This page is designed to given an introduction to begin a process of Decolonising the Curriculum in a broad sense, and provide some direction for further research as suits your discipline needs.
Video Panel
Research shows the first step is to be aware of and start to decolonise yourself as an educator starts with understanding and acknowledge your own location and privileges in society. This helps to become you to become aware of the other..
This video introduces concepts of sociological theories considering the Power of Location – Social, Economic, Political, Experience, Environment etc as a way of understanding your own social location. This approach will help you understand your own location and empathise with others.
Content Block
Broadening your perspective and introduction to literature on empathy
- pedagogy of the oppressed
- decolonising methodology
- Latin America perspective
- African perspective
Video Panel
Paulo Freire and the Development of Critical Pedagogy
Decolonising education processes – introducing critical pedagogy: to encourage ‘critical awareness that precedes action’.
- Teacher poses problems using key words.
- Students discuss and pose solutions.
- Together, teacher and student work to implement a path to change.
Paulo Freire: Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
Alternative video:
Critical pedagogy learning from Freire’s pedagogy of the Oppressed
Ideas to approach curriculum changes
Now you have an idea of your social location and perspectives, take a look at your existing materials - what bias is there and what can you do about it?
Adapted from Decolonising-SOAS-Learning-and-Teaching-Toolkit https://blogs.soas.ac.uk/decolonisingsoas/files/2018/10/Decolonising-SOAS-Learning-and-Teaching-Toolkit-AB.pdf
Ideas grouped by Activity
Use the search to sort this table by your faculty.
- Collaborative/Group
- Individual
- Yarning
- Knowledge building
| Keyword | Title | Description | Authors/source | Links | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Content Block
Further reading
Grosfoguel, R. (2007). The epistemic decolonial turn: Beyond political-economy paradigms. Cultural studies, 21(2-3), 211-223
Mignolo, W. D., & Walsh, C. E. (2018). On decoloniality: concepts, analytics, and praxis. Durham: Duke University Press.
Grosfoguel, Ramón. 2013. “The structure of knowledge in westernised universities: Epistemic racism/sexism and the four genocides/epistemicides.” Human Architecture: Journal of the sociology of self-knowledge 1.1 p. 73-90.
Zembylas, M., 2018. Affect, race, and white discomfort in schooling: Decolonial strategies for ‘pedagogies of discomfort’. Ethics and Education, 13(1), pp.86-104.
Zavala, O., 2016. Narco. The Encyclopedia of Postcolonial Studies, pp.1-6.
DiAngelo, Robin J (2010) .Why Can’t We All Just Be Individuals?: Countering the Discourse of Individualism in Anti-racist Education. UCLA Journal of Education and Information studies, 6(1).
Zavala, M. (2016). Decolonial Methodologies in Education. In: Peters, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory. Springer, Singapore.
Woldeyes, Y.G. and Offord, B., 2018. Decolonizing Human Rights Education: Critical Pedagogy Praxis in Higher Education. International Education Journal: Comparative Perspectives, 17(1), pp.24-36.