Toolkits and other resources for decolonising the curriculum and classroom
Read MoreDecolonising SOAS Working Group meetings, public SOAS events and wider network events.
Read MoreOn 18th February 2019 Meera Sabaratnam, Senior Lecturer in International Relations and Chair of the Decolonising SOAS Working Group was on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme. She was interviewed by presenter John Humphrys about what it can mean to decolonise. You can listen to the audio here:
30 January 2019 By Harriet Swain “When students at the University of Cambridge called two years ago for more non-white writers and postcolonial thought to be included in their English curriculum, there was a backlash. Lola Olufemi, who led the call, became the target of online abuse after one report wrongly suggested it meant replacing white authors with black ones. Sam Gyimah, the then universities minister, later appeared to weigh
21 August 2017 with Kirsty Wark BBC Newsnight’s Kirsty Wark discusses the question of whether controversial statues should be removed or kept as a reminder of the past with Historian Tim Stanley and Dr Rahul Rao, Senior Lecturer in Politics at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies.
21 August, 2017 with Dr Rahul Rao, Senior Lecturer in Politics at SOAS “With the controversy raging over historic statues in the US, Rahul Rao from London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) argues that disputes like this reveal more about the present than the past.”
As SOAS staff members of The Decolonising SOAS Working Group, we stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter protestors around the world. We are appalled by the brutal murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor by the US police and strongly condemn racism in all its forms. We recognise that this event has directly affected and traumatised Black students, students who have already suffered as a result of the disproportionate
Decolonising SOAS Working Group Chair, Meera Sabaratnam, took part in Chatham House’s podcast, Undercurrents. Meera was interviewed alongside Tristram Hunt about decolonisation, the role of civic institutions in re-thinking the legacies of the British Empire and how to break down colonial power structures. You can listen to the podcast here
The Criposium is a collaboration between King’s College London Disability+Intersectionality reading group and SOAS Crip Feminist reading group. It is also supported by the Decolonising SOAS Working Group. It is a public symposium taking place on two Saturdays: 6th June and 13th June. We are currently seeking submissions to the event from scholars, artists and activists – details can be found here https://criposium.wordpress.com/. The Criposium draws on this disruptive quality of
Call For Papers Decolonising Film and Screen Studies A Screen Worlds Open Access edited volume “… you cannot mobilize a movement that is only and always against; you must have a positive alternative, a vision of a better future that can motivate people to sacrifice their time and energy toward its realization.” Obioma Nnaemeka, “Nego-feminism: Theorizing, Practicing, and Pruning Africa’s Way”, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 29.2
On 18th September 2019 a conversation event was held at SOAS University of London to discuss research practices in higher education institutions from a decolonial point of view. A report has been written about the event, summarising what was discussed. You can read that report here. The event emerged from concerns about the changing funding landscape in recent years, and the role of research offices in research development practices, especially
In the Autumn of 2019, Decolonising SOAS Working Group Chair, Meera Sabaratnam, gave the Mead Lecture at Trinity College, Connecticut. The lecture was entitled “Decolonising the University: A Struggle for Our Times”. Below is a video of the lecture, as well as a description. Campaigns to ‘decolonise the university’ have spread rapidly around the world over the past five years – a spread which shows no sign of slowing down. Alongside
We Exist Too is an initiative launched by Rianna Raymond-Williams, founder of the sexual health social enterprise Shine ALOUD UK, an enterprise that prides itself in developing creative solutions to address sexual health inequalities among marginalised young people and adults who work with young people. Rianna applied for funding from the SOAS Decolonising Grant initiative and although she was not successfully awarded money for her venture, she was given space
Heritage Corner was on the the successful applicants of the Decolonising SOAS Public Engagement and Outreach Fund. Below is the report from them about the work they do. Heritage Corner is a Leeds based public engagement project, founded in 2014 to disseminate African and Transatlantic narratives with Yorkshire connections. This is done through academia, research, arts, education and community projects by building strategic partnerships. The impetus for this project is
In June a workshop took place with financial help from the Decolonising SOAS Public Engagement and Outreach Fund. Below is the report from The Asociación de Madres y Padres Latinos en UK, the group awarded the money to hold the workshop. Workshop Dates: Friday, 14th June, 4 – 6.30pm: Introduction to storytelling / narrative techniques: How do I write a documentary film script, what themes can I explore? / Pitching a theme
On Monday, 14 October 2019, Decolonising SOAS hosted a panel event entitled ‘What is racism, and how do we over come it?’. Below is the video of the event, as well as the event description and list of speakers. Over the past few years, racism – and how we should understand it – has increasingly been debated in the public domain. Some conversation has been focussed on what actually constitutes racism,
