Wednesday 21-04-2021 - 10:00

This year, Bristol SU's strategy on decolonising the curriculum has been focused on moving decolonising work from conversations to action.

 

What does it mean to Decolonise the Curriculum? 

There’s no simple definition, but decolonising the curriculum means looking at the structure and content of academic courses and questioning whether our education is committed to tackling racial inequality and injustice.   

 

What is a Decolonising working group?  

Decolonising working groups are student groups that seek to add more de-colonial aspects to education by suggesting practical changes. 

Decolonisation will look very different in different disciplines, so high-level discussions alone will result in a lack of tangible, effective change on the ground. As such, all decisions should be made at a local level - which is where working groups come in. These groups should provide a central platform to the opinions and experiences of students of colour, who are most impacted by the colonial legacy in education. 

At their core, these groups are designed to:  

• Be student led
• Operate at a programme or school level where they can have most direct impact
• Be focused on suggesting tangible actions on how staff can engage with decolonising the curriculum

Working groups can include staff, or they can be an independent group of students that are in regular contact with staff to feed into ongoing discussions around decolonisation.

The 'Decolonising Working Groups' project is now a key part of the University's decolonising strategy. We want to celebrate the great work that students from across the University have already been doing in terms of adding decolonial material to their course. Working groups have already been set up in SPAIS, Languages, Medicine and History, and they've started really important work by platforming student voices opinions in their schools. 

We also want to reach out to all students who may be interested in setting one up in their own school. We're asking you to get in touch with us so we can help you do so. 

If you’re interested in setting up a student or staff decolonising working group in your programme or school, get in contact with David Ion (Undergraduate Education Officer) or Khadija Meghrawi (BAME Network Chair) for support.

 

You can find all the information you need to set up a group at bristolsu.org.uk/decolonisation