Decolonisation Statement
As a digital platform hosted by the Department of History, Religions and Philosophy at SOAS, the SOAS History Blog editors and contributors committed to decentring the deeply engrained views of a world dominated by the ‘West’ and the Western-centric modes of narrating histories. Our commitment to decolonisation begins with critical self-/examinations of our standpoints and the role historiography has played in processes of colonisation and colonial oppression.
SOAS History Blog Editors, 2023
For us, a decolonial approach includes non-hierarchical collaborative work: Members of the editorial team, contributors and reviewers each contribute their expertise to our published pieces. We encourage contributors to challenge wide-spread colonialist Western narratives and perspectives on historiography through curiosity, creativity and critical thinking. In contributions, we value the use of a broad range of historical and contemporary sources and the foregrounding of underrepresented voices. Accessibility is also an essential marker of inclusion and decolonisation. This is reflected in our openness to content in any language as well as the use of a range of formats and media for our publications.
Contributor Guidelines
The SOAS History Blog welcomes contributions from all SOAS Staff, Students and Alumni. Please contact us (soashistoryblog@soas.ac.uk) before you begin creating your contribution, so we can how to best support your ideas and final publication. Please also read through our submission guidelines below so you have an idea of how to best format your contribution, or so you can tell us how you would like your contribution to be different.
If you have any questions or comments, or require a .doc or .docx version of the below style guide, please contact us directly via email soashistoryblog@soas.ac.uk.
This document was last updated 30 September 2023.
About this Blog
History at SOAS
History at SOAS is part of the School of History, Religions and Philosophies and as SOAS, is based in the study of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. This means that our historical enquiries are informed by a close familiarity with the various languages and cultures of these regions. They range from the local to the global, with a particular focus on the connections, encounters and exchanges across borders, in a conscious effort to decentre the deeply engrained views of a world dominated by ‘the West’ and offer alternative perspectives. We are a dynamic and expanding department with an emphatically decolonial vision. History at SOAS is also a profoundly interdisciplinary endeavour that seeks to understand the past in all its dimensions in order to inform the present and shape the future, in an effort to address inequality, injustice, discrimination, marginalisation, erasure – towards histories of being human in this world and futures that allow every single individual to thrive.
Publication and Editorial Decisions
Unless otherwise specified, published content is created entirely by the contributors as listed with their work. The opinions reflected in these pieces are indicative of the individual author/s viewpoints only. The SOAS History Blog Team edits and administers all published content, with ultimate editorial decisions made by our full-time SOAS Staff team member, Dr Andrea Janku. This platform is funded through the SOAS School of History, Religions and Philosophies and hosted by the SOAS IT Systems.
Logo and Credits
Our logo has been designed in part by Sumayyah Wong, now a SOAS BA History of Art and World Philosophies alumni.
Community Policies
The SOAS History Blog is a SOAS University of London initiative, is hosted by SOAS IT Systems, and is officially run through the SOAS School of History, Religions and Philosophies. We ask that our contributors be familiar with the following community policies and guidelines.
Academic Honesty, Plagiarism and Ethics
The SOAS History Blog is primary an academic initiative aimed at showcasing the work and research of SOAS Students, Staff and Alumni. We follow the same principles for submissions as students are asked to use for their assessable work, as laid out by the School Statement on Plagiarism. We follow the same guidance for ethics as laid out by the Research Ethics at SOAS policies and accept works for publication that meet this standard.
SOAS Publications
The SOAS History Blog collects information for the mailing list and contributor details in accordance to the SOAS Publications Information Compliance guidelines.
SOAS University of London IT Policy
As a platform hosted by SOAS University of London IT systems and run by SOAS Staff members and students, contributors to this blog are asked to observe the SOAS IT Policy.
SOAS Student Union and Safer Spaces Policy
The SOAS History Blog is officially run through the SOAS School of History, Religions and Philosophies. Contributions are welcome and encouraged from across all Schools and Departments, as well as from Alumni. This blog is both an ‘outward facing’ platform to showcase SOAS Student and Staff work and research, and an ‘inward facing’ platform to celebrate and recognise the SOAS community. Given the community orientated nature of this blog, as well as the various events our team promotes and runs, we are committed to ensuring Student and Staff safety and inclusion. As such, we ask that contributors to our platform and to our events follow the SOAS Student Union Safer Spaces Policy, as we believe that this policy reflects the broader SOAS community standards. This includes a commitment to EDMI focus and the ongoing effort to Decolonise SOAS.
SOAS History Blog, Department of History, Religions and Philosophy, SOAS University of London