This event is only open to King's staff and students.

Calls to decolonise the curriculum have been circulating for several years within and beyond KCL. Yet what exactly this means, and how academics might go about it, can appear ambiguous.

Furthermore, while most academics are in favour of diversification and internationalisation, the term ‘decolonisation’ can generate confusion or trepidation. This event provides an open forum to explore colleagues’ and students’ questions and concerns about decolonisation. All Faculty members are warmly invited, whether you’re convinced of the decolonisation agenda or have worries you’d like to voice.

The session will be Chaired by Dr Aggie Hirst (EDI Lead for the Dept of War Studies), and the discussion will be opened in conversation with Professor ‘Funmi Olonisakin (Vice President – Global Engagement and Co-Lead of the SSPP Decolonisation of the Curriculum Workstream), Dr Eka Ikpe (Director of the African Leadership Centre and Co-Lead of the SSPP Decolonisation of the Curriculum Workstream) and Dr Vinicius de Carvalho (SSPP Vice-Dean International).

The event is organised as an open discussion structured around three common concerns:

Concern 1: Decolonisation means throwing out our existing curricula and reading lists, and replacing them with an alternative canon.

Concern 2: Decolonisation turns everything into a conversation about empire and racism, for which I don’t feel equipped.

Concern 3: I can’t decolonise because there are no authors of colour/authors from the Global South writing in my field.

We very much hope to see you there. This event is part of the KCL Decolonising the Curriculum Showcase Series. The diversification of the Curriculum to incorporate the historically suppressed knowledge of previously colonised places in curricula has become ubiquitous in debates concerning the transformation of HE. This series proposes to explore what this—decolonising the curriculum—might look like at King’s. The Series includes contributions from academics, students and professional services staff from different departments and schools within SSPP. The Series is curated by the Decolonising the Curriculum Steering Group of the Decolonisation of the Curriculum EDI Workstream.

This event will take place via Teams. Join the meeting.