Diversification and Decolonisation Reading List 1: Ten minutes or less

1. Diversification and Decolonisation Reading List 1: Ten minutes or less NohaAbou El Magd, “Tokenism in teaching: Why is my curriculum white?”, gal-dem (2016) Priyamvada Gopal, “Yes, we must decolonise: Our teaching has to go beyond elite white men”, The Guardian (2017) Shannon Morreira and Kathy Luckett, “Questions academics can ask to decolonise their classrooms”, The Conversation (2018) James Muldoon, “Academics: it’s time to get behind decolonising the curriculum”, The Guardian (2019) Sista Resista, “Is decolonizing the new black?”, sisters of resistance (2018) Meera Sabaratnam, “Decolonising the curriculum: What’s all the fuss about?”, SOAS Blog (2017)

2. Diversification and Decolonisation Reading List 2: An Hour or so Joanna Davis-McElligatt, “Hands up, don’t shoot: Teaching black lives matter in Louisiana”, south: a scholarly journal (2018) Achille Joseph Mbembe, “Decolonising the university: New directions”, Arts and Humanities in Higher Education (2016) Meleisa Ono-George,“Beyond diversity: Anti-racist pedagogy in British history departments”, Women’s History Review (2019) Kyoko Kishimoto, “Anti-racist pedagogy: From faculty’s self-reflection to organising within and beyond the classroom”, Race, Ethnicity and Education (2018) University of the Arts London, “Decolonising the arts curriculum” (2018) Universities UK and NUS,“BAME student attainment at UK universities: #closingthegap” (2019)

3. Diversification and Decolonisation Reading List 3: A day or more Claire Alexander and Jason Arday (eds), “Aiming higher: Race, Inequality and Diversity in the Academy”, Runnymeade(2015) Jessica Marie Johnson and Martha S. Jones, “Black Womanhood” Syllabus, Diaspora Hypertext (2018) National University of Students, “Race for equality” (2011) Jacqueline Stevenson et al, “Understanding and overcoming the challenges of targeting students from under-represented and disadvantaged ethnic backgrounds”, Report to OfS (2019)

4. Diversification and Decolonisation Reading List 4: Media BBC Moral Maze, “‘Decolonising’ the curriculum” (2019) Birkbeck, “Decolonising the curriculum: What’s all the fuss about?” (2019) Goldsmiths, “Diversifying our curriculum” (2015) LSE, “Decolonising the curricula: Why necessary and why now?” (2019) Melz Owusu, “Decolonising the curriculum”, TEDx (2017) Social History Society, "History and Diversity Panel" (2018) UCL, “Why is my curriculum white?” (2014) UCL, “Why isn’t my professor black?" (2014)

5. “I can’t teach this subject without mainly using texts by white men” Some questions you might ask yourself: *Do I need to teach this subject at all?  *Why does this subject form part of the curriculum in the first place? *Is there a way of pairing this subject with a different perspective? *Do I need to teach it in this particular way? *Could alternative methodologies be introduced? *If the primary reading is just white men, could the secondary reading be more diverse? *Can I frame the material through critical race studies? *Are there critics who problematise this subject from a decolonial or antiracist perspective?

6. “Does diversifying or decolonising my reading list actually have an effect?” A more “diverse” curriculum or individual reading list is certainly not enough (on its own) to alter higher education. Decolonisation requires consistent work and structural change. The following research projects can provide you with information, statistics and further studies to investigate: “Bridging the Gap and Sharing the Learning” (co-investigated by the University of Hertfordshire) “Improving the Degree Attainment for Black and Minority Ethnic Students”

7. “I already have diverse reading lists. What else can I reasonably do?” Some questions you might ask yourself: *What do I mean by “diverse”? Is this the same as “decolonised”? *Is the reading list diverse intersectionally? *What perspectives am I favouring and/or ignoring?  *How could I decentre my position (as white, as a man, etc) in the class? *Could I use secondary sources by scholars of colour? *Are there online videos or lectures I could use that foreground other identities? *Do I have resistances to “decolonisation”? If so, what might they be? How could I work through them (alone or with colleagues)?

8. “Where does decolonisation come from?” Key quotes and ideas here come from Bhambra, Gebrial and Nişancıoğlu’sDecolonising the University (2018).  Decolonising the university emerges out of the long history of Empire and colonialism. In the present, “decolonisation” requires us to see how colonialism and its aftermaths are “key shaping forces” (2) in the world. For our educational context, we have to recognise that “the university” as an institution is a key site through which colonialism and colonial knowledge is “produced, consecrated, institutionalised and naturalised” (5). We cannot, in other words, think of the university outside of colonial history and its legacies.  Decolonising requires continual work, hard questions, structural change and a transformation of the literal and metaphorical ground we walk on.