Professor Gurminder Bhambra and Dr Meera Sabaratnam, will speak on their experience of both the theory and practice of ‘decolonising the curriculum’. Professor Bhambra recently co-edited the publication ‘Decolonising the University ’, which considers the historical and disciplinary context of the decolonising the university movement, and includes contributions offering practical suggestions and discussion of broader theoretical questions.
From being seen of marginal concern, over the past 10 years, the existence of a significant attainment gap between white and ‘Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) undergraduate students is now high on the agenda for most UK universities, but especially those institutions that have an ethnically diverse student body. As well as providing an overview of the nature and scale of ‘the problem’, this presentation will critically explore some of the ways in which BME attainment been theorised ranging from, student deficit, a product of unconscious bias, institutional/structural racism, and colonial curriculum. The presentation will end by offering a range of strategies for addressing the problem.
By Dr Meera Sabaratnam You may have recently read false news reports that SOAS students have called for the removal of white philosophers such as Plato and Kant from their reading lists. It bears repeating that these reports are untrue – they are calling for a greater representation of non-European thinkers, as well as better historical awareness of the contexts in which scholarly knowledge has been produced. This is part
