Decolonization , according to Joseph’s blog (2017), “is …a long-term process involving the bureaucratic, cultural, linguistic and psychological divesting of colonial power” (p. 1). Joseph explains that “decolonization is about shifting the way Indigenous Peoples view themselves and the way non-Indigenous people view Indigenous Peoples” (p. 1). Our book interrogates the notion of decolonizing pedagogy and in particular educational institutions. The aim of the book is to capture the fluidity of the decolonizing discourse. In the last decade, decolonization as a practice, theory or debate has been written about and researched so much so that, if we are not careful, we might lose our agency and the very essence of this important scholarship. In 1986, Ngugi wa Thiong’o released his book: Decolonising the Mind. In this book Wa Thiong’o called us to look into how western education was a colonizing tool and how language, culture and religion were central to colonizing mission. Wa Thiong’o building on the works of Fanon, Cheikh Anta Diop was calling on the colonized people to decolonize their minds. In addition, others who also echoed Wa Thiong’o were Chinua Achebe, Albert Memmi, Wole Soyinka, Ashis Nandy, Aimé Césaire, Linda Tuhiwai Smith, just to name a few. All these authors provided excellent analyses of the destruction of cultural traditions, education and any form of social fabric through the colonial machinery. Many of them went a step further and offered suggestion on how to decolonize from the colonial master. Some spoke about the importance of relearning Indigenous languages (Thiong’o 1986), while Smith (1999) talked of research as a dirty word and how the colonizers had justified their colonial agenda through research. Albert Memmi (1965) paid attention to the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized. Many questioned how colonial systems disrupted all forms of institutions, both public and private. In this anthology, our focus is on decolonizing the pedagogy. Our debate in this anthology on decolonial pedagogy in many ways, mirrors the journey that many scholars, educators, activists and researchers have taken, in trying to make sense of this colonial machinery that has an identity of its own.
Decolonizing of any form is a long and central component of colonized subjects. The chapters in this anthology provide an excellent analysis of how people have resisted despite the disruption. Decolonial Pedagogy: Examining Sites of Resistance, Resurgence, and Renewal therefore takes up the question of how to decolonize systemic structures, institutions and educational systems that have emerged out of colonial logics. This book delves into areas of psychology, education , spatial analysis and Indigenous technologies in an effort to critically engage sites of ongoing colonial oppression and delve into the potential for decolonial ruptures and transformation . This anthology demonstrates the potential inherent in decolonial work to cut across fields of study, engage Indigenous knowledges and transform sites of oppression . It highlights the need to heal colonial wounds and revitalize knowledges that fall outside of the colonial paradigm. This book utilizes provocative and critical research that takes up issues of race, the shortfalls of empirical sciences, colonial education models and the need for a resurgence in Indigenous knowledges to usher in a new public sphere; a public sphere brought about by decolonization . This book is a testament of hope that places decolonization at the heart of our human community.
The book consists of nine chapters wherein various authors engage the reader with the significance of decolonial pedagogy to usher in transformative change in various colonial sites. Additionally, this book subverts western hegemony by affirming the value of Indigenous technologies and the need for new education models that are inherently decolonial. This introduction provides the overview of the book, while the conclusion charts the way forward in regards to decolonizing the public sphere.
Ardavan Eizadirad in “The University as a Neoliberal and Colonizing Institute: A Spatial Case Study Analysis of the Invisible Fence between York University and the Jane and Finch Neighbourhood in the City of Toronto” (Chapter 2) uses a spatial analysis to trace the growth, expansion and development of both the Jane and Finch area and York University . The work is situated in anti-racist and anti-colonial framework by unveiling the racial, colonial and class logics that demarcate the two spaces. The Jane and Finch neighbourhood characterized by poverty, racism and violence is contrasted with York University , an institution characterized by privilege, whiteness and mobility. Eizadirad unfolds the process by which the university as an instrument of the State partakes in white privilege , racism and neo-colonialism at the expense of the Jane and Finch neighbourhood through implementation of invisible borders, segregation and a systemic racial hierarchy.
Glenn Adams et al. in “Decolonizing Knowledge in Hegemonic and Psychological Science” (Chapter 3) delves into the need for a shedding of colonial epistemic violence as a starting point for true liberation . They chart how the western hegemony inherent in the psychological sciences is failing a majority of the population. In an effort to address this issue head on, Glenn Adams et al. highlight their findings on the most effective approaches to begin decolonizing the psychological sciences . They call to light the strengths, limitations and possibilities inherent in each approach. This chapter provides much promise for the way in which the psychological sciences can become decolonial in practical and viable ways.
Kimberly L. Todd and Valerie Robert in “Reviving the Spirit by Making the Case for Decolonial Curricula ” (Chapter 4) explore the need for alternative decolonial curricula to disrupt the hegemonic and colonial narratives of state curricula . It chronicles the challenges of Todd and Robert as they move through teacher’s colleges and classrooms butting up against colonial structures and systems that are inherently violent for both teachers and students alike. Todd and Robert demonstrate how the Cartesian separations are weaved within the school day and how these separations perpetuate deeply embedded disconnections from mind, body, soul and nature. The chapter posits that alternative decolonial curricula are needed to lay the groundwork for a decolonial revolution in schooling and act as a catalyst for this process. The purpose of decolonial curricula is to provide decolonial tools for teachers to aid in the rupturing of epistemic colonial barriers that are inherent in provincial curricula (in a Canadian context) and elsewhere. As such, decolonial curricula should be designed to work in conjunction with the provincial/state curriculum in the average classroom and to be the building block for teachers’ lesson planning. Decolonial curricula are posited as an act of resistance and revival in the wake of colonial structures. Decolonial pedagogies need to flourish within schools to begin the process of casting off the hegemony of western knowledges.
Chizoba Imoka in “Training for ‘Global Citizenship ’ but Local Irrelevance: The Case of An Upscale Nigerian Private Secondary School” (Chapter 5) uses a case study to unveil western hegemony within the secondary school system in Nigeria. This chapter demonstrates how the curriculum and pedagogy flows from a western Eurocentric canon and with this comes a loss of Nigerian knowledges, languages and values. Imoka unveils the violence that this schooling enacts on the students and the need for resistance against such hegemonies. At the heart of this chapter is a need for decolonial pedagogy and transformation that honours the lived experiences, histories and ancestries of the student body. In order to further this analysis, Imoka provides a resource in the form of a lesson plan for teachers and students to engage the questions embedded in this chapter in a critical and transformative manner.
Marilyn Oladimeji in “Using Arts-Based Learning as a Site of Critical Resistance” (Chapter 6) takes up art as a medium for transformation both personal and collective. Oladimeji posits that art, because of its ability to generate new ways of perceiving and engaging with the world, act...