Studying at York
The Challenges of Decolonising & Transforming Education - EDU00115M
- Department: Education
- Module co-ordinator: Dr. Constantino Dumangane Jr
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: M
- Academic year of delivery: 2022-23
Module summary
This course aims to provide participants an opportunity to explore the tensions and challenges inherent in the decolonisation and transformation process. Recent movements (e.g. Rhodes Must Fall, Critical Race Theory, Black Lives Matter, Culturally Relevant Historical Curriculums: the 1619 Project - an inclusive, but not exhaustive list) - and the call to decolonize and transform higher education institutions across the globe has seen great efforts on the part of universities to ensure Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. This course will explore the role of power, interests, resources, identity and positionalities within the decolonization process. Challenges involved in decolonizing education – as well as the role individuals and institutions play in the decolonisation and transformation process will also be examined.
The pulling down of Cecil Rhodes Status in South Africa, the movement in the UK, which began in the University of Oxford, reveal a rise in concern about the entrenchment of colonial legacies and the continued reproduction of such legacies in the fabric of higher education institutions.
The goal of this course is to help you to understand the nature of colonial legacies and their impact on our current ways of knowing and being. Importantly, through this course, we will explore the challenges of the decolonisation process and the roles that individuals and institutions play in the decolonisation process.
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Autumn Term 2022-23 |
Module aims
This module will introduce students to:
· Key debates and issues on decolonization
· The nature and impact of colonial legacies on education
· The importance and challenges of decolonisation
· The role of individuals and institutions in the decolonisation process
· Current events/debates in ethnicity, race/racism in society
You will engage with, participate, reflect and evaluate approaches to debates on issues of decolonisation. On this module, you will explore the importance of the decolonization process in our daily engagements, practices and within our educational institutions.
Module learning outcomes
Through your work on the module, you will be able to:
· Develop an understanding the meaning of decolonial change in their educational setting
· Develop an understanding of the history of colonialism and the role of education in entrenching colonial legacies.
· Demonstrate an understanding of the debates around decolonisation
· Identify and critically discuss different decolonial approaches and their contextual relevance
· Critically access and engages issues of power, privilege, identity and positionality in the decolonisation process.
· Reflect on their positionality and identities with respect to decolonial practices.
· Apply the knowledge student have gained to discussing and trying to make improvements on recent/current racist British events through the use of decolonisation strategies
Graduate Skills
Through your work on this module, you will develop
Identify and use keywords to search sources.
Understand and critically analyse key concepts and issues/debates.
Present arguments in a formal manner appropriate to the level of study.
Work with others in groups.
Manage time efficiently.
Develop skills and confidence to work independently; identify your strengths and weaknesses as a learner; understand how to utilise strengths and address weaknesses.
Module content
The module will be taught weekly through lectures and independent reading. There will be regular reading and activities that you will be expected to engage with, critically discuss and debate in class.
Defining decolonisation: What do we mean by decolonization? Why decolonise? Why is it important for promoting cognitive, social and epistemic justice?
Colonialism and the legacies of colonization.
Confronting the colonial library: Knowledge production and decolonising education.
Decolonisation Movements: Discussion of key movements (e.g. Rhodes Must Fall, Critical Race Theory, Black Lives Matter, and Culturally Relevant Historical Curriculums: the 1619 Project) as well as the way in which certain movements only become relevant once they were an issue at Oxford – and what this symbolizes.
Decolonising knowledge and the curriculum: Education as a tool for realising epistemic, cognitive and social justice. (Examples of strategies implemented at some Universities, including DEC at York.)
Questions of legitimacy, power, privilege, identity, and positionality in the decolonisation process.
Decolonisation strategies: structural/institutional strategies. Examining what literature says about how institutions can transform and decolonise their curriculums (e.g. reflexivity and consciousness).
Decolonisation strategies: individual strategies.
Confronting race and (institutional) racism in current British society. (News story examples, readings, videos, class discussion and debate.)
Where theory intersects with educationally realities: British Universities as institutionally racist foundations: (Fanon, WEB Dubois, Bourdieu). How can students begin to use decolonisation strategies to make headway on addressing inherently pernicious educational issues?
Conclusion and assessment preparation.
Indicative assessment
| Task | Length | % of module mark |
|---|---|---|
| Essay/coursework 3500-4000 word essay |
N/A | 100 |
Special assessment rules
None
Additional assessment information
Formative assessment will be through a range of small tasks, including group discussions, presentations and debates assigned during the semester. These will provide students with frequent feedback, which will aid lecturers in assessing student learning progression in relation to intended learning outcomes of the module.
Indicative reassessment
| Task | Length | % of module mark |
|---|---|---|
| Essay/coursework 3500-4000 word essay |
N/A | 100 |
Module feedback
Individual written feedback reports, with follow-up tutor meeting if necessary. The feedback is returned to students in line with university policy. Please check the Guide to Assessment, Standards, Marking and Feedback for more information
Indicative reading
Ahmed, S. (2012). On being included. In On Being Included. Duke University Press.
Arday, J., & Mirza, H. S. (Eds.). (2018). Dismantling race in higher education: Racism, whiteness and decolonising the academy. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Bonilla-Silva, E. (2006). Racism without Racists. Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Durrheim, K. (2003). White opposition to racial transformation. Is it racism? South African Journal of Psychology, 33, 241–249. doi:10.1177/008124630303300407
Hylton, K. (2012). Talk the talk, walk the walk: Defining critical race theory in research. Race ethnicity and education, 15(1), 23-41.
Idahosa, G.E and Vincent, L., 2018.“The scales were peeled from my eyes”: South African academics coming to consciousness to become agents of change, International Journal for Critical Cultural Studies, 15(4): 13-28.
McLaughlin, J., & Whatman, S. (2011). The potential of critical race theory in decolonizing university curricula. Asia Pacific journal of education, 31(4), 365-377.
Morris, A. D. (2008). FIFTEEN. Sociology of Race and WEB DuBois: The Path Not Taken. In Sociology in America (pp. 503-534). University of Chicago Press.
Möschel, M. (2013). Race in mainland European legal analysis: Towards a European critical race theory. In Fighting Discrimination in Europe (pp. 23-39). Routledge.
Van Dijk, T. A. (1984). Prejudice in discourse: An analysis of ethnic prejudice in cognition and conversation. Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Wijngaarden, V., & Idahosa, G. E. O. (2020). An integrated approach towards decolonising higher education: A perspective from anthropology. In Decolonisation of Higher Education in Africa (pp. 36-59). Routledge.