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- Convenors:
-
Stephanie Diepeveen
(University of Cambridge)
Annette LaRocco (Florida Atlantic University )
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- Stream:
- Politics and International Relations
- Location:
- Appleton Tower, Room M1
- Sessions:
- Thursday 13 June, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
The 2015 Rhodes Must Fall movement opened a new wave of debate surrounding issues of decolonization of the academy, research practices and pedagogy. This panel seeks papers exploring the politics of building socially-just classrooms, and developing and advocating for decolonized teaching practices.
Long Abstract:
The 2015 Rhodes Must Fall movement at the University of Cape Town opened a new wave of debate surrounding the issues of decolonization of the academy, research practices, scholarly publication, and pedagogy. This panel takes seriously diverse engagements with the decolonize movements and aims to explore transnational connections and (potentially) disruptive best practices in decolonial teaching. This panel seeks papers exploring the politics of building socially-just classrooms, and developing and advocating for decolonized teaching practices amidst a wide variety of pressures including—but not limited to—the neoliberalization of higher education, increasingly stringent student visa requirements in the Global North (notably connected to isolationist immigration policies in the US and the UK), and the lack of diversity in the facultariat along race, gender, and class lines. Paper submissions can address a wide variety of questions, including: how are different actors navigating the constrained space of academic institutions, career pathways and markers of success in order to decolonize knowledge production, to varying degrees and ways? What space is there for students, faculty and others to initiate change? Are there lessons to be learned from decolonize movements among other marginalized communities and regions? This panel recognizes the complexity and contradictions in attempts to decolonize an institution premised upon the exclusion and devaluing of particular realities and forms of knowledge. This panel aims to provide space to critically consider different entry points for disrupting the implicit and explicit constraints around the classroom, in relation to people, ideas and content.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Thursday 13 June, 2019, -Kojo Aidoo (University of Ghana)
Paper short abstract:
This paper basically describes the intellectual tradition of the University of Ghana, and discusses some specific features of a skulking transition from what is essentially an encyclopedic university rooted in western social science to an engaged university with a humanistic curriculum.
Paper long abstract:
This paper describes the intellectual traditions of Ghana's premier university, the University of Ghana, and discusses some specific features of a skulking transition from what is essentially an encyclopedic university rooted in western social science to an 'engaged university' with a humanistic curriculum. The paper is based on my field experiences as a Principal Investigator of the "Humanities across Borders: Asia and Africa in the World" Program funded by the Mellon Foundation, the primary objective of which has been to develop a critical humanistic curriculum based on co-creation of knowledge between academics and community groups. The paper will shed light on the existing pedagogical practices at the University of Ghana, seen largely as a typical 'ivory tower' where 'walls' are constructed that insulate it from the larger society. Knowledge production in such encyclopedic university is thus skewed, and that lopsidedness fails to take cognizance of the fact that knowledge production, equally legitimate, goes on in the communities as well. How, then do we create space within the academia for such legitimate knowledge generated outside it? Based on my field work in Ghana, Togo and Benin to interact with field informants to generate knowledge for the development of a new 'Mobilities of Grassroots Pan Africanism' Course in the last two years, my paper makes a persuasive case for decolonizing education via 'breaking down walls' and co-creation of knowledge between the academia and the communities.
The paper contributes to the existing body of knowledge on the humanistic pedagogy.
Laura Seay (Colby College)
Paper short abstract:
Study abroad practices in Africa are often inherently unequal & neocolonial. This paper examines an attempt to decolonize study abroad through a US-Uganda exchange program. Through exchange, the program facilitates understanding, more equal opportunity, & long-term partnership.
Paper long abstract:
Study abroad by American undergraduates can be inherently neocolonial, allowing those students to travel & learn on the African continent while offering little opportunity for those they learn from to do the same. In doing so, faculty and students often use communities as the backdrop for their own learning and observations, with little benefit - and even harm - to community members themselves.
This paper explores an effort to decolonize the study abroad experience in Africa through the creation of an exchange program between an American university, Colby College, and a Ugandan village, Kikuube. With a goal of helping all involved to understand that we have much to learn from one another, since 2015, four groups of Colby students and two groups of Kikuube residents have traveled to one another's communities for short-term study abroad experiences. In Kikuube, Colby students reside with host families, participating in every aspect of daily life, from farming to washing, cooking, and cleaning. In Maine, Kikuube citizens stay on the Colby campus, attend classes, speak to community groups and schools, and explore the community. Through the exchange, we are building a long-term partnership based on mutual respect, more equal opportunity, and better understanding.
This paper examines the effects of this program in Kikuube and at Colby, and engages broader questions of decolonizing pedagogy. Challenges, including visa issues, language barriers, and funding inequality, are also discussed, as is the pedagogical challenge of teaching American students to think outside typical study abroad & service-learning models.