“Decolonizing Higher Education”
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
9:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Fiterman Hall, Rm. 1306/07
Decolonizing educational practices are actions that educators can take, words we can say, and ideas we learn and unlearn to transform the impact of colonialism in our pedagogical practices. The process of Decolonizing involves critically addressing the colonial pasts of our disciplines and academic institutions and invites us to ask how (and for whose benefit) knowledge is produced and transmitted.
We understand that the term Decolonizing is controversial. Many institutions have used it as a marketing tool. Appleton (2019) asserts “[Decolonizing is a term] that has been co-opted from a vibrant and critical engagement to an academic buzzword”. However, a decolonizing lens in education can also create spaces and possibilities for resistance by articulating solidarity with alternative ways of knowing and the creation of a new and desired future. Using a Decolonizing perspective, Faculty Development Day hopes to highlight modes of being outside of white-Western traditions and capitalist paradigms.
