‘Your rent is due, higher education’: beyond apologies and towards reparations

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ABSTRACT Recognising that many universities have approached ‘decolonisation’ in superficial and tokenistic ways, this article invites readers to critically and reflexively consider the possibilities and challenges of pursuing reparations as a response to universities’ colonial entanglements. It suggests that meaningful reparations would entail both material and relational repair in ways that interrupt business as usual, deepen universities’ commitments to social and ecological well-being, and support the educational self-determination of systemically marginalised communities. The article positions reparations as a viable pathway for addressing historical and ongoing harm while fostering the conditions for genuinely different educational futures to emerge. It also specifically examines how a reparative approach might be applied to institutional practices and policies related to decolonisation and climate change. Finally, it considers the complexities and circularities that tend to arise in these efforts, particularly in contexts where efforts to address systemic harm are met with highly polarised responses.