Towards Decolonised Futures: An interdisciplinary conference challenging the politics of knowing and being

Towards Decolonised Futures: An interdisciplinary conference challenging the politics of knowing and being

When

26 May 2021 - 28 May 2021    
9:00am - 5:00pm

Event Type

Conference

On Wednesday May 26, Prof. Leon Tikly will be providing a keynote address ‘Decolonising Education: From theory to practice’. On Thursday (27/05) and Friday (28/05), there are 9 panels addressing various issues regarding decolonizing education. Registration for the various panels on the university website is here.

 

From the toppling of slave-trader Edward Colston’s statue in Bristol in early June 2020 to renewed demands to decolonise the (higher) education curriculum, the indignation following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis prompted a global movement aiming at reversing social injustices and inequalities generated by slavery, settlerism and colonialism.

Among scholars, postcolonialism and decolonisation have attracted great interest. From the earlier writings of Fanon and Said, to more recent contributions by scholars such as Quijano, Mignolo or Spivak, academic research has challenged Western dominance over knowledge production and its devaluation of indigenous ways of knowing and being.

This has great relevance for practitioners working in a variety of fields, including education, social work, international development and humanitarian assistance.

This conference aims to further deconstruct and unravel the notion of one universal way of knowing and being, focusing on the different ways of knowing (epistemic plurality) of those who are traditionally silenced and excluded from power – in academic terms often referred to as the ‘sub-altern’ or ‘the historically muted subject of the non-elite’ (Spivak 1999).

We are interested in critical theoretical and/or empirical research that examines how colonial and eurocentric practices and worldviews are reproduced; that decenters the politics of knowing and being; or that explores decolonised futures. We also welcome examples of decolonisation in contemporary practice.

Themes include, but are not limited to, decolonising the curriculum, legacies of slavery, settlerism and colonialism, justice in a postcolonial world, social movements for decolonisation, and the politics of knowledge production.

The conference explicitly welcomes research and good practices from across all disciplines and sectors, encouraging interdisciplinary and nontraditional (presentations of) research and practice.

Professor Leon Tikly headshot

Professor Leon Tikly
Keynote Speaker

Professor Tikly holds a UNESCO Chair in Inclusive, Good Quality Education for All at the University of Bristol. He is currently involved with colleagues across the University in efforts to decolonise the curriculum. Leon has published widely on issues of decolonisation and postcolonialism. His ideas are informed by research over many years into initiatives to improve the quality of education for disadvantaged learners in Africa and for Black and minority ethnic learners in the UK. He currently directs a large research network in the UK, Netherlands, South Africa, India, Rwanda and Somalia focusing on Transforming Education for Sustainable Futures.

Decolonising Education: From theory to practice
In this keynote, Leon will start by critically considering what we mean by ‘decolonising education’ in the light of contemporary debates. In the second part of the talk and drawing on his experiences of decolonising efforts in the University of Bristol and further afield, Leon will consider some of the practical considerations involved. In his talk, he will attempt to address the following broad questions. Why decolonise? What is the role of Northern based universities in wider efforts to decolonise? What does decolonisation mean within and across diverse disciplinary contexts? How can we retell the history of the disciplines to take account of the colonial legacy? How can we make the curriculum more relevant for our students? How can we create new ecologies of knowledge that embrace diverse ways of knowing the world and knowledge systems? How can we overcome resistance and embed change?

REGISTER HERE