Decolonising the curriculum: the 'male, pale and stale' voices that need to be banished
Source: jisc.ac.uk
Katie Sperring argues that anti-racism must include the decolonisation of Western curricula.
We must discuss and enact decolonisation of the curriculum in our universities. The groundswell of activity for the Black Lives Matter movement has rightly renewed pressure on academic institutions to reconsider their role in contributing to the marginalisation of BAME voices and the propagation of a defunct intellectual hierarchy reminiscent of colonial values. The narrative about the importance of facilitating education that combats racism has been invoked more than ever; this impetus should be seized by our institutions to spur on systemic change.
Put simply, to ‘decolonise the curriculum’ is to recognise the legacy of colonialism, and the civilisational hierarchy that it propagated, on our educational frameworks and institutions and, where necessary, to effect changes to these frameworks so that they cease to be reminiscent of these colonial values. More broadly, it is about how we “create, record and disseminate knowledge,” says Katja Holtz, a UCL alumna who campaigned to decolonise the university’s curriculum, now studying for a master’s at Oxford University. At worst, the way knowledge is currently created, recorded and disseminated could be labelled, as Marlon Moncrieffe describes, “epistemic violence”; obstructing and undermining non-Western, non-white experiences and approaches to knowledge. By doing so, it normalises the white, Western voice and leads to an othering of BAME voices. BAME scholars and citizens are systematically granted neither the space nor the necessary empowerment to communicate from their own frames of reference. Decolonising the curriculum seeks to address this.
Deconstructing this intellectual hierarchy means many things practically; what it does not mean is token inclusion of BAME authors as ostensible evidence of decolonisation. It is far more fundamental. Instead, it means the decentering of the imperial mode of academia, and the content and scholars that embody it, to construct a system that platforms a variety of perspectives. This means critically appraising what we are studying to avoid excessive Eurocentrism and perpetuation of the hubris of the white West and systematically implementing content and scholars that embody a non-Western perspective to foster humility. Importantly, this implementation must not be confined to canons concerning race and intersectionality. The work of BAME scholars should be implemented throughout our curriculum.
At the most fundamental level, more epistemological study should be undertaken. As Katja notes, classes on epistemology should be “front and centre in a curriculum.” We, as students, should have to consider “how we acquire knowledge and what that says about us and the world we envision.” As students, we should be oriented towards critical appraisal of our acquisition of knowledge.
The ramifications of decolonisation, or its absence, in academic environments are significant. A report released by Universities UK in 2019 on the BAME ‘Attainment Gap’ repeatedly cited an inadequate sense of “belonging” as a key contributory factor to the 13% ‘gap’ between the likelihood of white students and students from BAME backgrounds getting a 1st or a 2:1 degree classification. Only an academic environment that affords BAME scholars the ability to communicate from their own frames of reference can cultivate this sense of belonging for BAME students. The absence of this sense of belonging is symptomatic more broadly of the fact that university curricula have overwhelmingly failed to mirror the development of their space and function as institutions. Though it is true that universities were formerly incubators for the reproduction of white elites, they have developed to become more oriented to the education of the citizenry but this greater inclusivity has not been reflected in the curricula, which continues to marginalise minorities. Thus, it is an imperative for universities wishing to create an inclusive environment that they modernise curricula. This, in turn, will facilitate the necessary sense of belonging.
For universities to fulfil their functions with respect to intellectual rigour, decolonisation is essential. The current state of curricula, with the overwhelming centrality of ‘male, pale and stale’ voices, fails to facilitate an adequately challenging dialectic. The failure to engage with multiple perspectives cultivates dogmatism and intransigence, undeniably negative traits in an academic. By engaging with the work of the marginalised, we avoid dogmatic adherence to ideas propagated by the white West and we avoid breeding excessive pride in Western values.
The impact of this is manifested in UK politics, symptomatic of the need for decolonisation in curricula further down the educational system too. The fundamental misunderstanding in the country’s population, about the West and how it has come to be, undoubtedly informs negative attitudes to issues like migration and globalism. Reframing these phenomena by decentering the white Western voice would facilitate the necessary humility and multidimensional perspective to develop informed perspectives on migration and globalism.
Unfortunately, the desperate need for decolonisation detracts little from the fact that it is complex in its implementation and requires sustained commitment to action for decolonisation rather than notional commitment to ‘diversity’. An investigation by the Guardian revealed that although 84 of 128 universities said they are committed to making curricula more diverse, only 24 of them asked about reforms are actually engaged in active measures to decolonise the curriculum. Evidently, even where there is a narrative of diversity and decolonisation, action that reflects this is infrequent.
Might we as students be able to facilitate decolonisation? It is essential to note that decolonisation of curricula is not a top-down endeavour. Although critical appraisal of established intellectual hierarchies and attempts to decolonise must be carried out by academics, we as students can contribute too. We should not be acquiescing to the imperial mode of academia. Katja cites “becoming undisciplined” as the most promising step to take individually, something advocated by Christina Sharpe in In the Wake: On Blackness and Being. To become “undisciplined,” Katja suggests reading “beyond assigned reading lists [when you can], submit probing and adventurous essays that don’t follow all the style conventions, submit module feedback forms that give actual constructive feedback on the ‘diversity’ or creativity of the reading list or lectures, participate in student elections and speak to your student rep and make sure they’re actually holding your lecturers accountable.” Through these actions, students can pose the necessary challenge to Western-centric curricula that will push academics to reciprocate in fulfilling their role.
Decolonisation of curricula cultivates for BAME scholars and students a deserved academic environment; it facilitates the deconstruction of those academic environments whose mode of academy has failed to develop alongside the space and function of academic institutions, and the construction of an environment in which narratives other than that of the Euro-American liberal thrive. It affords minorities the space to properly communicate from their own frames of reference. That this was not done long ago shall forever be a failure of our academic institutions. Nevertheless, the now heightened engagement with the idea of decolonisation is an opportunity that must be mobilised into action.
*Throughout this article, ethnic minorities are referred to using the terms BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic). However, we understand that this umbrella term is not nearly nuanced enough when talking about particular marginalised groups. By using the acronym ‘BAME’ (as on the Stand Up To Racism website), please know that we do not mean to homogenise the individual cultures and experiences of racial prejudice of those who are not white.
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