Running throughout 2021, the Decolonising the University event series seeks to move debates on decolonisation into new areas with practical and theoretical implications for higher education and international research. It will invite prestigious speakers to critique existing approaches to decolonising processes in Western institutions, centre perspectives from the global South and review the progress, practical steps and measures universities have taken.
All our events are free and open to the public. Read more about the series below and sign up on the event pages.
Events
This event will address the potential for new publishing models that overturn the dominance of Global North research, addressing support non-Western languages, Global South journals and the values underpinning the types of work considered publishable. To achieve these decolonial ambitions, we ask whether the academic publishing sector only responds to the whims of university practices or whether it can be a force for change in itself?
Speakers: Dr Godwin Siundu, Dr Simidele Dosekun, Professor Florence Piron, Elizabeth Walker, Dr Ram Bhat (Chair)
Date: Wednesday 27 January 2021
Recording now available on YouTube
Has decolonising been colonised?
Debates on decolonising universities have grown in prominence in recent years, yet within these conversations voices from the Global South are often sidelined to centre Western perspectives. Striving to overturn educational, teaching and research practices rooted in colonial and Euro-centric histories, can universities engage with meaningful reform if these debates are cut off from the regions decolonial aspirations seek to engage?
Speakers: Lee-Ann Sequeira (Chair)
Date and time: TBC
Decolonising the teaching, career and campus environment
While decolonisation has entered the imaginations of most UK universities, it is about much more than transforming course reading lists, and rather engaging with the ways staff, space and power structures within universities interact with learning and professional experiences. This event will address the steps universities can take to ensure students from all backgrounds flourish during their studies and the practical challenges those seeking change in universities face.
Speakers: Dr Akile Ahmet (Chair)
Date and time: TBC
Decolonising global research
This event will ask how we can create an institutional structure that truly engages diverse forms of knowledge and knowledge-creators, examining the ways colonial legacies are embedded in research practices. It will explore the systems that can be implemented to create equitable partnerships with Global South researchers and how can we promote research engagement. Crucially, the event will ask whether these issues are affected by the priorities of research grant donors who are, mostly, based in the global North.
Speakers: Dr Divine Fuh, Professor Simon Hix, tbc
Date and time: TBC