Abstract
This article focuses on the public German higher education sector as a site upon and through which coloniality is enacted. This status quo indicates exclusionary effects and merits interrogation. We briefly discuss the history of German colonialism to understand how coloniality pervades higher educational structures in the German context today. Two proposals addressing coloniality in German higher education are made: the development of structures centering diverse faculty and the support of ethnic and identity studies.
Highlights
Coloniality is an ongoing and pervasive system of hierarchy that persists worldwide, and whose antecedent is the physical occupation of colonialism
How is the German nation state understood as colo‐ nial or vehicle for coloniality? German principalities and Imperial Germany pursued colonial territory through‐ out the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, and by the mid‐19th century Germany acquired the fourth largest colonial empire behind Britain, France, and the Netherlands (Conrad, 2013)
Of the 20,732 programs included in the database, we found that while there are regional studies programs focused on Asia and Africa (German Rectors’ Conference, 2021), there are no programs in place focused on Afro‐German Studies or Asian‐German Studies at German higher edu‐ cation institutions (HEIs)
Summary
Coloniality has been described by Grosfoguel (2007, p. 219) as “the continuity of colonial forms of dom‐ ination after the end of colonial administrations, [which] produced colonial cultures and structures in the modern/colonial capitalist/patriarchal world‐system.” That is to say, coloniality is an ongoing and pervasive system of hierarchy that persists worldwide, and whose antecedent is the physical occupation of colonialism. Social Inclusion, 2021, Volume 9, Issue 3, Pages 142–153 lematic by Italy’s colonial history, thereby “foreclosing any discussions of race and white privilege in public space.” This reflects a relationship between colonial‐ ity’s structures and institutionalized, nationally specific racism (Friedrich, 2011), as well as European taboos around race‐based discourses (Grigolo et al, 2011). 1341) have noted, “recognition of racism as a structuring feature of European societies is needed to address how Europe’s migration regimes articulate and are articulated by racialization and colo‐ niality” (see Gutiérrez Rodríguez et al, 2010; Lentin, 2014; Mignolo, 2012; Möschel, 2011) These discourses extend to the tertiary education sector as well. In other words, establishing race and ethnic studies courses and pro‐ grams can disrupt the racist coloniality of the curriculum, as well as improve access to faculty positions for racially minoritized scholars
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