Paper short abstract:

Where do decolonising processes start and end? What are their limitations? This paper is situated in the decolonising exercises of an environmental and linguistic anthropologist teaching at two different multidisciplinary departments of Leiden University's Faculty of Humanities.

Paper long abstract:

Decolonising processes are often embedded in the historical continuity of higher education institutions, where they often whiten and perish in the process of becoming. This is especially relevant in the academe of countries with a historical past as colonisers. It is often assumed that the epicenter of an effective decolonising process rests in the inclusion of more contemporary and diverse works written by more diverse backgrounds. At the same time, the hegemony of Eurocentric ontologies and implicit biases of today's higher education institutions and study programmes are left unacknowledged. How can we help critically and collectively deconstruct our programme's own conceptual and epistemological boundaries? In this talk, I will focus on the concepts of 'diversity' and 'epistemic discrimination', both experienced as a superficial, decorative and temporary features of learning and teaching environs.

This talk departs from the need to (re) conceptualise 'diversity" and 'inclusivity' beyond the tokenism that has become a trademark feature of Dutch Higher Education. Years of decolonising exercises through the revamping of existing courses and the design of new courses suggest that for as long as "diversity" remains a cosmetic feature of market-oriented reforms no decolonisation will successfully thrive in European Higher Education. Thus, we wonder whether current conceptualisations of 'diversity' and 'inclusivity' in the Netherlands are if not impeding the decolonising of 'the canon'.