proposal to decolonise the corriculum

Proposal for the 'Decolonising the Curriculum' of the School of Global Studies Extract According to the Independent Newspaper UK (2015) report on Runnymede Trust research on how diverse how British Universities and how accessible is it to racialized and minoritised Black professors The report concluded that racial inequality is widespread in British universities According to a report, in the British academic community, there are 18,510 university professors, 85 are Black origin and only 17 are Black female professors in the entire system Overall, 92.4 per cent of professors are white, while just 0.49 per cent are black Only 15 black academics are in senior management roles Introduction 'Making the Future' – 2018: Fracture between old Vision and new In present day, University of Sussex claims a unique place among British universities As the first of the new wave of UK universities in the second half of the 20th century, it is renowned for radicalism and rebelliousness Sussex asserts itself by continue to foster that founding spirit of intellectual, social and pedagogic adventure In 2009, University of Sussex under the leadership of the outgoing Vice Chancellor, Michael Farthing, created a renewed vision for Sussex's called 'Making the Future' The vision is to make Sussex a university of high quality by 2018 Sussex therefore, recognised that in order to contribute to the global academy and human knowledge, the university must sustain its distinctive academic endeavour for the future Therefore, internationalised education, would be embedded into the intellectual and social life of Sussex, and the institution will strive to make Sussex ever more welcoming to international students and staff University of Sussex's 'Making the Future' Strategy Among 'Making the Future' strategy, two that stood out were 'research and knowledge exchange' and 'teaching, learning and students experience' The strategy promised to deliver an internationalised education of high quality teaching and research of lasting academic value and with impact that benefits and enriches society and leading to increasing number of students getting an outstanding Sussex experience Deviation from inter-disciplinary teaching and research approach However, the successive reforms by the senior management have diluted the original vision the university, which contrary to the preceptors who founded Sussex, who were fed up with the intellectual conservatism of early universities such as Oxford and Cambridge The University of Sussex founders’ ground-breaking vision was to promote 'interdisciplinarity' approach in research and pedagogy Conventional divides between subjects were thrown out Academics from different areas were brought together in schools of study revolving around themes which crossed the normal academic boundaries Because at the time the other early universities where pro elite who majority perpetuated British imperialism and legitimisation of colonialism and their studies participated in the justification of slavery The initial defining principle aim was to avoid the assumptions and prejudices of the academic establishment and provide students with an education unlike any other university, was not only compromised, but also virtually abandoned Problem Whitewashed curricula Careful assessment of the 'Making the Future' 2018, it is evidential that University of Sussex have deviated from its founding father original goal of promoting and fostering 'interdisciplinarity' approach in research and pedagogy at the university In contrast, black and minority ethnic students are fairly represented For instance, the Black Minority Ethnic (BME) students current entrant baseline at the University of Sussex is at 12% The entrant baseline is subjected to increase from 12% to 15% Yet black academics are a rarity, particularly those in senior positions There are multiple contributing factors Partly, because the university senior management who broker power between themselves in the decision making are dominated by 'white left' and 'white libertarian' and are mostly males, whose objectives and vision has changed overtime as capitalism values permeated the culture of intellectual freedom in research and teaching to profit making one Therefore putting more pressure than ever on the very 'white' academics to appeal to the very 'white' corporate world as British government funding on education gets squeezed This led to gradual whitewashing of the curriculum which has now badly affected the Race Equality and Diversity of staffing, senior lecturers composition such as lack of Black professors at the University of Sussex and their promotions to such post and the all white curriculum Therefore, perpetuating the same prejudices and inferiority assumptions in pedagogy which the university in the first place was trying avoid during its establishment Coloniality at University of Sussex campus At the moment, the University of Sussex campus ‘colonies’ of British imperial times, ‘where intellectual power and authority are in the hand of the ‘White’ Drawing on Walter Mignolo, who explained that coloniality as an underlining logic of which historical colonialism have been constitutive of the foundation and unfolding of western civilisation from renaissance till today , which manifested itself in Higher Education and its curriculum This exposes the embedded structural and institutional racism in university against racialized and minoritised people However, this is downplayed by the 'white' management and lecturers in the day-to-day collegial interactions between the BME students and Staffs and even to the non-BME students and staffs who raises these issues On critical evaluation of the senior management proposed 'Making the Future' 2018 strategy, there is lack of evidence of diverse internationalised and critical inter-disciplinary approach its teaching, research and evening among the staffs teaching these students This feed into the notion and believe in Black intellectual inferiority, which remain profoundly persistent and pervasive This also suggest something fundamentally terrifying about the way in which Blackness and Black Bodies are too often conceive in relation to intellectual space It seems as if the presences of Black body is a representative of a ‘body out place’, an ‘interloper’ or more precisely an ‘intruder’ that does not really belong in the tradition of ‘production of academic knowledge’ in Britain or anywhere Inclusion or ‘Bodies out place’ Black Academic find themselves struggling against exclusion once they are included within the academia or within the senior management Therefore, 'inclusion' as a tool-kit of racial equality and diversity is problematic This makes Black Academics and university/union management staff live and work within the context in which they are surrounded by negative affects such as discourse and contentious tolerance Black Academics and university/union management staff struggle because inclusion acknowledges that ‘race’ marks some as lacking in proficiency, intelligence and talent so that those left unmarked, 'White' bodies, are seen as able, intelligent, proficient and having the temperament for success Therefore, 'inclusion' does not empower the minority Instead, it charges longevity of White hegemony at Sussex and perpetuate White privilege because the 'White' bodies continues to be the unmarked norm Problematic of Race Equality and Diversity One way which senior management of Sussex are complicit is the way they approach Race Equality and Diversity in staffing lecturers and creating diverse curriculum is problematic One of the ways in which the universities these are by isolating the axis of equality issues into single framework which most often benefit ‘White men’ and then ‘White women’ Without realizing that the characteristic of the axis of each equality areas converge to form a multiple layer of inter-sectional discrimination Another contributing factor affecting the staffing is that young Black students aspiring to go in to academia and those Black people who have already made it in to academia face multitude of issues that ranges from tuition fees, zero hour temporary contract, austerity and marketization of the university education, all have played a role in silencing the issue of race at the British universities Way forward Sussex need to face up the condition of coloniality by starting to dismantle its intersectional discriminatory practices Therefore, necessitating the prerogative to research ways to harmoniously, 'decolonising the curriculum' at the School of Global Studies The research questions hinges around the 'alleged' failure of Race, Equality and Diversity Policy to diversify academic 'production of knowledge' canon Furthermore, to deconstruct paradigm of 'diversity', the ‘decolonising the curriculum’ research project now, grapples with the questions such as; a) What is internationalised education? b) What is academic coloniality? c) How should decolonising the curriculum be approached? d) What is Black or African studies? e) How should Black/ African, Caribbean and Asian studies be positioned, as a discipline? f) Should a new Black/ African, Caribbean and Asian studies syllabus be a interdisciplinary critic of every reading/theories of every modules module? if not why? g) How can we create an inclusive studies that reflect the structural intellectual and philosophical canon of minoritised people, such as African, Caribbean and Asian studies? h) Should a new Black/African studies department be created? if not why? i) Should a new Black/African studies course be created? if not why? j) Should Black/African studies in embedded in the existing course? if not, why? k) Should a new Black/African studies modules in very course be created? If not, why? l) Should Black/African studies be embedded into the existing modules? If not, why? m) Should a new Black/ African, Caribbean and Asian studies syllabus for every module be created, if not, why? n) Should Black/ African, Caribbean and Asian studies be embedded into the existing syllabus?, if not why? o) Does it matter what ‘race’ dominate the 'production of critical knowledge'? p) How this critical knowledge produced taught? q) Who is feeding us this 'production of critical knowledge'? r) What are the restrictive conditions for the recruitment of permanent Black academic at the Sussex? s) What are the restrictive conditions for the promotion of permanent Black academic staff to a professorial position? t) How does power brokerage in decision making at the Sussex senior management level compounds academic coloniality of the University of Sussex’s ‘production of critical knowledge’ u) How does the State neo liberal policies such as privatisation of education and immigration rules compounds the coloniality of the 'production of critical knowledge' at the University of Sussex? Arising issue areas to investigate How to define 'Black Studies'? It is a term that means different things to different people and can be attractive to some and exclusionary to others There needs to be clarity For example, on the Black British Academics website (http://blackbritishacademics.co.uk/about/) it is made clear that 'Black' is used conceptually and is inclusive of staff and students from all racialised minority backgrounds It is made clear also that our members are staff and students of all ethnic backgrounds (including those of White ethnicity) This is because cultural democracy is the conceptual framework through which we operate - as it deals both with power and privilege while also creating an inclusive culture for all ethnic and cultural groups Investigation area: Cultural Democracy This need serious consideration Black British Academics strongly recommend that we adopt a culturally democratic approach and aim to incorporate a range of ethnicities and cultures into the curriculum development The precise make-up should be determined through a consultative process There are alternatives to 'Black Studies' such as 'Ethnic and Racial Studies' or better still 'Racial, Ethnic and Cultural Studies (REC)' that is visibly inclusive In a London institution like UCL that has a large proportion of Black students, 'Black Studies (BS)' is more meaningful to that institution, but at UoS it may not be 2 Consultation - with both staff and students The foundation of 'decolonising the curriculum' should begin with consultation - with both staff and students within the school Investigation area: Survey and focus group A survey will be conducted to start with to gauge interest in enhancing the curriculum and this is where you can include questions about the areas of interest: e.g South Asia, South-East Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, etc But I think it should also focus on diverse cultures within the UK as diasporas For this development to be successful we need to ensure it will meet the needs and interests of students and prospective students and attract both existing and new staff Also focus groups would also be extremely valuable Staff and students are stakeholders in this development so they must have the opportunity to help shape it in a meaningful way How to create a pedagogy and providing training and support for staff to embed ethnic and racial diversity? The above two considerations and resulting actions will largely influence what options you will take Investigation area Option Focus on pedagogy and providing training and support for staff to embed ethnic and racial diversity into the existing curriculum, into existing modules/units Black British Academic have already worked with an institution on this (see http://culturaldemocracy.blackbritishacademics.co.uk/2015/10/02/bbaceo-and-special-adviser-co-presenting-on-cultural-democracy-at-iafor-education-conference/ ) Investigation area Option Is to create new units at all levels UG and PG whose foundations are critical and culturally diverse Re – instituting Inter-disciplinary and Research Inform Teaching Next consideration is the proposal to make Black Studies or 'Racial, Ethnic and Cultural Studies' an embedded inter-disciplinary approach This might help strengthen the whole project as we can draw in expertise from other areas within University of Sussex and also spread the impact beyond Global Studies Research Inform Teaching Next consideration - research informs teaching, we think that alongside the new department or new units, there must be dedicated research Investigation area Looking at the research centres, any of them could produce research to inform the teaching but equally research centres in other schools could also A feasible and practical step, is simply to establish a research group (not centre) to coordinate and lead research to support the teaching on the units or in the new department, whichever is decided This can include working with academics within and external to University of Sussex The objective should be working collaboratively on research projects and funding bids to help grow the units/department, to engage students and encourage both student output in this area and staff output Methodology The project is continuum of two phases The research phase and campaign phase Former cannot be divorced from latter, vice versa The project begins as a path finding research project as aforementioned The outcome will define the 'Decolonising the curriculum' campaign The methodology for the research project, would be to develop a theory explain the 'power brokerage' at the university, interviews with the few Black Academics and Black students and then interview with non Black academics and students In addition, survey would be developed and would be circulated among staffs and students There would be academic events on panel discussion to raise the profile of the research project and the survey The methodology for the campaign would be through consultations (see proposal for more information) Step one To produce an article/essay making a case for decolonising the curriculum to get the conversation started Step two a) Consultation with Black academic staff at Global Studies b) Consultation with existing Black professors about their experience in academics and Decolonising the curriculum c) Consultation with the Students’ Union d) Consultation with Black British Studies Association e) Consultation with Black British Academic f) Consultation with Non Black Academics at Global Studies g) Consultation with the Black Students h) Consultation with Non Black Students i) Consultation with Black Academics leading the campaign on decolonising the curriculum List of Interviewees i Dr Roiyah Saltus University of South Wales Faculty of Life Sciences and Education Principal Research Fellow Board Member, Race Equality Sub-Group, University of Glamorgan Member, Ethics Committee, Faculty of Health, Sport and Science, University of Glamorgan roiyah.saltus@southwales.ac.uk (01443) 83194 ii Dr Musab Younis SOAS iii Koshka Duff University of Sussex, PhD candidate Philosophy iv Dr Christine Callender BA (Hons), PGCE, MA, PhD Lecturer in Teacher Education Department of Learning and Leadership Tel:+44 (0)20 7911 5343 Email:christine.callender@ioe.ac.uk UCL Institute of Education University College London 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL v Dr Hélène Neveu Kringelbach Lecturer in African Studies h.neveu@ucl.ac.uk helene.neuveu@africa.ox.ac.uk G04 Institute of Advanced Studies, South Cloisters, Wilkins Building Gower Street London WC1E6BT vi Dr Caroline Bressey Departmental Tutor Department of Geography University College London 26 Bedford Way London WC1H 0AP Email: c.bressey@ucl.ac.uk vii Prof Heidi Mirza Professor of Race, Faith & Culture +44 (0)20 7717 3109 heidi.mirza@gold.ac.uk Goldsmiths University of London Professor Heidi Mirza BA(hons) PhD Emeritus Professor of Equalities Studies in Education h.mirza@ioe.ac.uk Department of Education, Practice and Society UCL Institute of Education University College London 20 Bedford Way London WC1H 0AL viii Dr Shirley Anne Tate, Associate Professor in Race and Culture, Director Centre for Ethnicity and Racism Studies School of Sociology and Social Policy The University of Leeds Leeds LS2 9JT T +44 (0) 113 343 4903 ix Dr Deborah Gabriel Lecturer in Politics, Media & Marketing Communications Faculty of Media & Communication | Bournemouth University, Dorset BH12 5BB T: +44 (0)1202 965275 Founder and Chief Executive of Black British Academics Member of the Advisory Editorial Board for the International Race & Education Book Series at Michigan State University x DR Nathaniel Adam Tobias Coleman, PhD University College, London (former) natcphd@me.com or natcphd@me.com xi Dr Pamela Kea Senior Lecturer in Anthropology Convenor PhD International Development School of Global Studies University of Sussex Falmer, Brighton BN1 9SJ xii Dr Kerem Nisancioglu Department of Politics and International Studies Programme Convenor - MSc International Politics kn18@soas.ac.uk SOAS, University of London Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XGBuilding Russell Square: College Buildings Office No:252Office xiii Prof Cecile Wright Honorary Appointment at the Nottingham University xiv Kehinde Andrews Birmingham City University School of Social Sciences Senior Lecturer/ Reader in Sociology 0121 331 5526 xv Dr Lisa Palmer Postgraduate Forum - Black British studies Dr William Ackah Lecturer in Community and Voluntary Sector Studies Birkbeck University, London w.ackah@bbk.ac.uk + 44 (0)20 3073 8354 xvi Dr Amanda Arbouin Nottingham Trent University Senior Lecturer in Education Studies within the School of Education amanda.arbouin@ntu.ac.uk +44 (0)115 848 3092 xvii.Professor Raminder Kaur Department of Anthropology School of Global Studies University of Sussex Brighton BN1 9SJ xviii Prof Maya Unnithan Professor Of Social And Medical Anthropology (Anthropology, Sussex Centre for Migration Research, International Development) M.Unnithan@sussex.ac.uk University of Sussex Stages of research Step three Organise a conference on 'decolonising the curriculum' at a quarter of 2016 Step four Work with Black British Academics to design a comprehensive survey, to distributed widely among staffs and students Step six Work with Black British Academics to design working/ focus group to review the survey Step seven Work with Black British Academics to report and make recommendation  ... discriminatory practices Therefore, necessitating the prerogative to research ways to harmoniously, 'decolonising the curriculum' at the School of Global Studies The research questions hinges around the. .. aforementioned The outcome will define the 'Decolonising the curriculum' campaign The methodology for the research project, would be to develop a theory explain the 'power brokerage' at the university,...However, the successive reforms by the senior management have diluted the original vision the university, which contrary to the preceptors who founded Sussex, who were fed up with the intellectual