Vizazi contemporary visual culture of Tanzania

By Guest Author|August 27, 2019|Events|0 comments

This post was written by Elsbeth Court In July, a public screening and workshop took place with financial help from the Decolonising SOAS. Below is the convenor’s report for Vizazi Contemporary Visual Culture of Tanzania.  The two events to share and consider developments in Tanzania’s visual culture were motivated by separate conversations early in the new year with two emerging scholars. Their ongoing research projects resonated with my post-university experience in the decolonization

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The Guardian: Black academics bear brunt of university work on race equality

By Maya Goodfellow|July 2, 2019|In the Media|0 comments

By Harriet Swain “Earlier this year, Maxine Thomas-Asante asked her university if she could pause her work supporting black, Asian and minority ethnic students. She was running for office at her students’ union, finishing coursework and preparing for her final exams. “I had to say I’m going to take a break.” For the past two years, Thomas-Asante, co-president for democracy and education at Soas University of London student union, has

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Research reflexivity in the current governance framework: Problematising trends and reconsidering the meaning of research ethics in ‘cultural translation’

By Romina Istratii|June 3, 2019|Research Practice|0 comments

Recently the University of Sheffield organised a two-day workshop to explore best practice for research ethics when conducting research in the global South, the new ‘umbrella term’ referring to countries that fall outside of Euro-America and where much international development research takes place. The organisers were also interested in raising more awareness about the UKRI’s Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) and its consequences, a funding scheme directly tied to UK

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Discover Society: Decolonising Politics – Diversity is Democracy

By Saskia Kerkvliet|March 2, 2019|Learning and Teaching Resources|0 comments

Published 4 December, 2018 By Manjeet Ramgotra “Politics is about who we are. How we communicate, how we fit into our communities and negotiate our shared political life and how we reflect where we come from. Politics is inherently diverse. The beauty of liberal democracy is that it has been capable of expanding its boundaries to include individuals of diverse backgrounds, cultures, gender, race, social class and outlook into public

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History Workshop: What does it mean to decolonise History teaching and research at SOAS?

By Saskia Kerkvliet|February 28, 2019|Learning and Teaching Resources, Research Practice|0 comments

11 February 2019 By Eleanor Newbigin “SOAS is unique in the regional focus of its History teaching. It is the only History department in Britain and north America that does not teach courses on western history Rather, our BA and MA History programmes focus exclusively on the histories of regions and people in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. In their 2013 study of the western-centric focus of UK and

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BBC Radio 4: I Can’t Be Racist

By Saskia Kerkvliet|February 28, 2019|In the Media|0 comments

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0002rkq Social psychologist Dr Keon West explores racial bias, and the concepts of both conscious and unconscious bias, drawing on the latest pyschological and sociological research. He examines common misconceptions surrounding racism and examines how bias is formed, asking how far we are responsible for our unconscious associations. The term “unconscious bias” has gained a great deal of popularity as an explanation for continued discrimination in Britain – and Unconscious

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Operation Black Vote: UK Establishment resisting attempt to ‘Decolonise Curriculum’

By Maya Goodfellow|February 19, 2019|In the Media|0 comments

19th February 2019 By Nina Kambili The complete version of this article can be found on the Operation Black Vote website, below is an extract. “[I]t is worth asking: what does “decolonising the curriculum” mean, and why has it been so divisive? As Dr. Meera Sabaratnam, a lecturer in International Relations and Chair of the Decolonising SOAS Working Group, recently explained in the Times: The project of decolonising education argues

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Meera Sabaratnam on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme

By Meera Sabaratnam|February 18, 2019|In the Media|0 comments

On 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: