- Explore Critical Race Theory. Expose the way in which racial inequality is perpetuated through ‘normal’ or everyday structures in society and in your subject. See Rollock & Gillborn (2011).
- Audit readings lists. Map the geopolitics of academic publication (Canagarajah, 2002) and consult a wider range of source materials, especially sources from the global south (Collyey, 2018).
- Learn about Advanced Literature Searching using a variety of resources - see your Liaison Librarian
- Work and co-create with students. Survey the content students would like to study and make space in your module to teach these topics, consider what training, preparation and guidance students need to effectively participate in curriculum decolonisation and agree how to do this and seek support if necessary from librarians or academics.
- Do language learning. Engage students with language learning as a means of decolonisation of Eurocentric approaches (Rettová, 2017).
- Include diverse guest speakers. Go the extra mile and contact speakers who represent the diversity of the student cohort.
- Identify ‘diverse’ learning spaces. Choose venues named after diverse people who have contributed to the advancement of knowledge in your field and bring this to students' attention.
- Collaborate with international colleagues, especially former colonies.
- Question, question, question. SOAS University of London has created a great questioning toolkit
Curricula (what we teach)
- What is the demographic profile of authors on the syllabus / programme? Include works and perspectives from scholars of various backgrounds and from historically marginalized communities that include different points of view
- What is the effect of this on the diversity of views with which the students are presented?
- To what extent does the programme design and delivery enable, encourage or require students to study non-European languages?
- Do programmes / modules enable the use of non-English sources in the curriculum?
Pedagogies (how we teach)
- Is my/our pedagogy transparent in terms of a) what students are expected to learn, b) how they are expected to learn it and demonstrate their learning, and c) how it is assessed?
- Does assessment clearly match the learning outcomes and the skills taught by the course?
- Is there an opportunity to negotiate assessment methods with the students?
- Do the dynamics of the lecture / seminar / tutorial / office hours help to engage students who have been discouraged to actively participate or take risks in academic work as a result of structural and interpersonal racism?
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Do not pay lip service, teach with intentionality. Critical, inclusive, transformative pedagogy and student centred learning inherently create a dialogic environment conducive to decolonising. Encourage critical thinking about the origins and impacts of knowledge and about epistemic justice.
For general decolonising resources, please see our Decolonising QMU resource list.
For subject-specific decolonising resources, please see the section Decolonising Resources by Subject within the drop-down Table of Contents of the same list.
Please do contribute to the above list whether you are a student or staff (contact Ileana Thomson).
