Decolonisation Of Higher Education Research Articles

Open Scholarship and Decolonisation in Higher Education

Open scholarship and university decolonisation communities share several values in attempting to promote long-term changes which challenge the problematic status-quo and promote a more representative and accessible research and knowledge infrastructure. Initiatives from these groups often experience similar barriers when attempting to drive such change. The current work therefore argues that further societal progress and justice could be possible with greater collaboration between open scholarship and university decolonisation communities. Open scholarship is a movement to make “knowledge of all kinds more accessible, transparent, rigorous, reproducible, replicable, accumulative and inclusive” (Parsons et al., 2022). Whilst broad, this definition includes a wide range of individual practices and structural changes, including open educational resources, citizen science, open-source software, open peer review and open data, among many others. Such efforts can help tackle many inequalities by challenging, changing or removing exclusionary practices which have been perpetuated by ideological hegemony. For example, pre-printing research on open platforms like the Open Science Framework (osf.io) gives researchers the opportunity to disseminate knowledge and be acknowledged for their contributions, making their work more widely accessible, without the need for either researcher or reader to overcome privileged gatekeeping, approval or financial barriers. Facilitating accessibility and inclusivity are key parts of most models and visions of open scholarship (Syed and Kathawalla, 2022; UNESCO, 2021). For example, open scholarship is considered highly compatible with feminist perspectives (Siegel et al., 2021; Matsick et al., 2021), where exclusion of women, inequalities in invisible labour and recognition, and marginalisation of knowledge created by women, can be challenged. Open scholarship practices are considered predominantly (but not exclusively) positive in helping overcome the precarity faced by minoritised researchers when negotiating power, championing their voice, and democratising knowledge generation and dissemination (Fox et al., 2021; Pownall et al., 2021). With a similar alignment in values, open scholarship has the potential to be considered part of ‘decolonisation’ efforts (Chan et al., 2022). Decolonising the curriculum (and/or university) represents a broad notion (Meda, 2020), typically referring to a focus on addressing the continued existence of embedded oppression and western privilege (Harvey and Russell-Mundine, 2019) and attempts to achieve better recognition and development of alternative knowledge (Arday et al., 2021). In practice, decolonisation demands transformative change to challenge the disproportionate power represented and perpetuated through the systems and knowledge presented. For example, not to look at how western theories apply to the global south or to see work from the global south as an ‘alternative perspective’, but rather to consider and voice (in a genuinely egalitarian way) knowledge created within different areas as contributing to cumulative developments in our shared understanding (Adetula et al., 2022). This work goes beyond developing a diverse curriculum or inclusive assignment to acting on the inequalities, oppression and discrimination perpetuated by current structures, cultures and practices (Dar et al., 2021; Doharty et al., 2021; Hall et al., 2021; Shain et al. 2021) towards greater social justice (Dawson, 2020; Gopal, 2021). These movements of open scholarship and decolonisation are clearly not the same. However, there are several shared values in – and shared barriers to – promoting progression and it is hoped that this work, in elucidating these similarities, will promote further collaboration and synergy between such communities.

An Analysis of the Contributions of Black Academics to Epistemology and Decolonisation in Higher Education in South Africa, 1940s-1990s

This paper looked at the contributions of black academics in the humanities and social sciences and uses their autobiographies as an analytical tool to help us understand their contribution to epistemology in the African higher education space. It also looks at debates on decolonisation and how their work has shaped these debates. Autobiography is one lens of doing critical analysis and understanding the progression of a scholar. This paper analyses different scholars in different generations and hopes to contribute to the search for genealogies of intergenerational Black South African scholars whose work has been forgotten and marginalised in the academic project in the humanities and social sciences curriculum in South Africa and beyond. Using autobiography as a critical method, the paper shows how black scholars from different generations navigated institutions of higher learning to achieve excellent results and produce knowledge that challenged racialised inferiority and white supremacy. The findings suggest that there is a body of work by black scholars and shows that where support is given, black scholars can shape discourse and take leadership positions in the academy.

“I tell my brothers that it can be done”: Indigenous Males Navigating Elite Australian Higher Education

ABSTRACT As Australian higher education grapples with its colonial history, there has been significant attention to recruiting Indigenous students. However, while we have seen increases in Indigenous participation, males lag significantly behind. Very few Indigenous males enter university and even fewer enter the upper echelons of the stratified higher education sector. In this paper, we investigate the experiences of four Indigenous young men who attended an elite Australian higher education institution. Central to our analysis is how their identities are realised in relation to their sense of Indigeneity and Western ways of knowing, being and doing. In capturing the complex identity work of young Indigenous men, we report on three themes present in the data: feelings of alienation and isolation; identification with their Indigenous identity; and how they view higher education in shaping their futures. How these young men navigate selective institutions speaks to debates regarding non-traditional and historically excluded student populations in elite spaces as well as the decolonisation of higher education.

Decolonising meritocratic higher education: key challenges and directions for change

ABSTRACT In the context of the global decolonial movement, this paper aims to identify major challenges faced by higher education institutions by following an integrative literature review as a methodological approach. A review of two main bodies of scholarly literatures – decolonisation of higher education and meritocracy in higher education – showed that higher education is a colonial project in which meritocratic logics have been used to justify social, economic and racial inequalities. The paper identifies that the commodification of life, exclusion of racialised faculties and students and colonisation of their epistemologies are three major challenges. Reorienting the praxes of higher education towards collective well-being, taking action for the meaningful inclusion of faculties and students and embracing epistemological plurality for higher education decolonisation are discussed as three potential directions for change.

Decolonisation and the Risks of Exception in South African Higher Education

Abstract Amid competing arguments of what it “looks like” and what it “should be doing”, decolonisation in higher education in post-apartheid South Africa has become increasingly problematised and stultified. On the one hand, a coalescence between decolonisation and Africanisation has taken root in a propagation of decolonisation-as-Blackness and, hence, by implication, anti-whiteness. On the other hand, there is a worrying resort to structural and epistemic violence, which has come to characterise student protests. I argue that decolonisation can neither erase colonialism through a language of exception nor through a language of violence. Decolonisation calls for an epistemic re-prioritisation and restoration of what makes us all human. This means that until students (and others) liberate themselves from a discourse of dichotomous binaries (as found in constructions of Blackness/whiteness), and until they unlearn the violence of colonialism, decolonisation will not evolve in South Africa.

Global Health and Decolonisation in Higher Education: Examining the Attitudes, Perceptions and Possibilities of Educators

Abstract Globally, there have been numerous calls to decolonise Global Health, most of them focusing on research-related practices while less attention has been given to Global Health education. The aim of this paper is to explore the perceptions and the meanings attributed to the decolonisation of Global Health education by Global Health educators from higher education institutions in both the Global North and Global South. To do so, we used a descriptive cross-sectional study using a mixed-method design approach. An online structured questionnaire was sent out in the second half of 2022 to 18 Global Health educators from both the Global South and the Global North to understand what the decolonisation of Global Health education means to practising educators, and what pedagogical practices should be recommended. In total, sixteen respondents filled out the survey. We used thematic analysis for the first question and found four sub-themes that we divided into the epistemic level (knowledge and its validation) and the ontological level (the nature of being). At the ontological level, we found that while the concept of decolonising Global Health was perceived as valuable and relevant; it was also seen as new and evolving, and lacking common direction. We found respondents saw the decolonisation of Global Health in education as a means of challenging power structures and colonial legacies, as well as a means of attaining innovation through reciprocity and equity. We end the discussion with recommendations for the Continuous Professional Development (CPD) of Global Health educators.

Practices and Spaces (Location): Reflecting on the Contribution of Writing Centres for Decolonisation in Higher Education

The location of writing centres in universities has attracted attention from practitioners and researchers in the field of academic support scholarship. These writing centres, known as spaces where students discuss their writing ideas, have become part of the decoloniality discourse in South African higher education. This study adopts a mixed-method approach and builds upon Grimm's theory of transitional space to examine tutor perspectives on the contribution of writing centres' pedagogical practices and physical location to the decolonisation of education at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) and Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT). The findings reveal that the writing centres in these contexts contribute to the decolonial agenda by employing various approaches such as multilingualism and one-on-one consultations that are sensitive to the African context. However, despite these positive contributions, it is necessary to initiate decolonial discussions that address historical past injustices. The study recommends that the creation of decolonised spaces is a complex process requiring collaborative engagement between writing centres and the university community, including management. Writing centres have an integral role to play in decolonising the university space, particularly in the South African context.

Curriculum Transformation at a Private Higher Educational Institution: An Exploratory Study on Decolonisation

Decolonisation of higher education is an important subject which has gained much support in public universities in South Africa. While curricular and other changes are currently being implemented in public universities to align with decolonisation goals, there currently does not exist a decolonisation and transformation strategy for private higher education institutions (PHEIs). The private sector’s role in education is becoming increasingly important, with a higher growth rate than that of the public sector. Despite this, most studies on decolonisation continue to reflect the public sector context. There is little scholarly work, if any, that reflects decolonisation initiatives in the private educational sector. However, private higher education has an important role to play in South Africa, and decolonisation is thus also important in this domain. The purpose of this study is to explore ways to transform curricula at a private higher education institution in South Africa. This article, which is an exploratory study, aims at initiating conversations that support curriculum change and to unpack some of the obstacle’s lecturers face regarding transformation at a private tertiary educational institution.

Rethinking and redefining internationalisation of higher education in South Africa using a decolonial lens

ABSTRACT Over the past few decades, internationalisation of higher education in South Africa has been framed and conceptualised based on the dominant approaches, concepts and definitions from the global North. Using a decolonial lens, we focus on how internationalisation is defined in South Africa. This is important as definitions influence strategic directions, policies and priorities of higher education systems and institutions. We show that replication of Eurocentric definitions is inappropriate for post-apartheid complexities and transformational priorities and contributes to the maintenance of coloniality and Eurocentric hegemony in higher education. We propose a new definition, which is relevant for the South African context and takes into consideration historical complexities and injustices, contemporary socio-economic realities, and the need for epistemic decolonisation. We hope that the new definition will have a progressive impact on different aspects of internationalisation and contribute to transformation and decolonisation of higher education in South Africa and, potentially, elsewhere.

A critical interrogation of paradigms in discourse on the decolonisation of higher education in Africa

There have been persistent contestations over the conceptual implications of paradigms in the decolonisation of higher education in Africa. As a contribution towards the continued pursuit of a succinct conceptualisation of decolonisation, this conceptual article interrogates four paradigms that undergird the decolonisation of higher education in Africa. These paradigms – decolonisation as Africanisation, decolonisation as indigeneity in education, racial undertones, and decolonisation as Ubuntu – are employed as benchmarks for decolonisation. The unexamined entrenchment of these paradigms within the decolonisation of higher education, however, tends to encumber the intended goals of that process. The conclusion arrived at here, is that while decolonisation is a noble cause that must be pursued consistently; the distortion of these paradigms ultimately hinders the objectives of decolonizing African higher education.

Decolonisation, knowledge production, and interests in liberal higher education

AbstractThis essay explores how calls for decolonisation in universities have engaged with ideas about liberalism and liberal education. It maps the historical context of liberal education as embodied in the development of modern European universities and colonial interests in their respective nation‐states. It offers comparative perspectives on how ideas of decolonisation in higher education have confronted liberal and nation‐state interests at different historical conjunctures in three postcolonial settings: in the establishment of a national university in India during the 1960s; in protests by university students in postapartheid South Africa between 2015 and 2017; and in growing commitments to Indigenous recognition and knowledges in Australian universities from the 2000s. The essay highlights the need for those active in contemporary decolonisation movements in universities in the global North and South to confront the paradoxical interests of liberal education and nationalisms in knowledge production, epistemic and socio‐economic justice, and sociality in higher education.Key insightsDespite enthusiasm about decolonisation in/of academic debates, few have sought to critically analyse its relationship to ideas of liberalism and liberal education in universities. This essay considers how ideas of decolonisation in higher education have confronted liberal and nation‐state interests at different historical moments in India, South Africa, and Australia. The essay highlights the need to confront the paradoxical interests of liberal education and nationalisms in knowledge production, epistemic and socio‐economic justice, and sociality in higher education.

Multilingualism: A Resource for Meaning-Making and Creating Ontological Access

This article explores first-year Extended Curriculum Programme (ECP) students’ multilingual practices in a university course where students have access to professionally translated technical terminology of the subject field. The study examines whether multilingual technical terminology—embedded in a dialogic teaching model—can contribute to students’ epistemological and ontological access to the disciplinary content, and whether it can contribute to knowledge construction in a discipline by incorporating students’ oral contributions of their lived experiences into the curriculum content. In order to answer the research questions, qualitative data were collected by transcribing, analysing and interpreting students’ multilingual oral contributions on key political science topics. The findings of the study confirm that students’ vernacular literacies can play an important role in providing epistemological and ontological access for students at university, and can contribute to authentic transformation and decolonisation of higher education.

Decolonising Teacher Education Curriculum in South African Higher Education

Calls for the decolonisation of higher education in South Africa gained prominence after the #Rhodesmustfall, #Feesmustfall and series of 2015-2016 students’ protests in South African higher institutions. Visible in the demands of the students during these protests was the need for the decolonisation of higher education curriculum to ensure reflection of diverse realities in South Africa. This led to various conferences in different parts of the Republic. However, while some scholars are clamouring for the need for decolonisation, others consider the desire for decoloniality and glocalization. Thus, the subject of decolonisation remains a debate in South African society. Meanwhile, decolonisation is still very much crucial. Seemingly, in the words of Steve Biko, decolonization should begin from the mind. Hence, this discursive study explores how pre-service teachers’ minds can be decolonised for realities in transforming South African higher education. The study adopts Critical Race Theory as a lens for this phenomenon. South African higher education curriculum has predominantly been Eurocentric and epistemic, reflecting Western dominance in post-apartheid South Africa. The study argues why and how South African higher education institutions can place teacher education at the centre of learning experiences, for students to adapt and maximize the realities in their contexts, and for responsive lived experiences. Thus, adding voices to a curriculum that promotes total rethink, reflections and reconstruction of students' minds in integrating the existing Eurocentrism and epistemic knowledge with African philosophy in higher education institutions.

Higher education decolonisation: #Whose voices and their geographical locations?

ABSTRACT Calls continue for the decolonisation of higher education (HE). Based on internationalisation debates, a research team from Africa, Europe and Latin America reviewed published decolonisation voices. Using bibliometric analysis and a conceptual review of abstracts, the authors examined the drivers framing decolonisation in HE and identified the voices in those debates which involved the historically oppressed and those wishing to elicit change in these debates. The paper recognises the importance for decolonisation in education as the tensions explored by the authors often intersect through HE into other domains of the political, social, economic and culturally important areas for replication and change in society.

A reflective analysis of articles published in the journal of Transformation in Higher Education (2016–2020): Beyond transformation?

Background: The fault lines exposed by the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and global economic recession unfolding during 2020 in societies around the world, reiterated the need for transforming higher education globally. In South Africa, transformation in higher education has been a priority since 1994. The first article in this journal was published in 2016 during the 2015-2016 #mustfall protests. During the protests, decolonisation and decolonising of higher education were central. Aim: A reflective analysis of articles published in the journal of Transformation in Higher Education 2016-2020. Setting: Transformation and decolonising in global and South African higher education. Method: A reflective analysis is done through a decolonial lens. The contributions of authors are reflected upon through three themes: place (local and global), epistemology and alienation. Results: Although I find the engagement with decolonising substantive, I argue that there is still a lack of publications on specifically decoloniality and decolonial analysis. Conclusion: I argue that the journal of Transformation in Higher Education provides a platform for difficult and robust discussions on decoloniality, transformation, epistemology, issues of sexuality, gender and race, internationalisation and possible pluriversalisation in higher education for South African and international scholars.

Decolonising a higher education system which has never been colonised’

The notion of decolonisation implies the existence of a territory, entity, structure, or system which has previously been colonised by exogenous forces and thus needs to be liberated. In most African countries, the discourses of decolonisation of higher education emanate from the shared experience of imposed European colonisation that perpetuated epistemic violence on African indigenous knowledge systems. Thus, a lived experience of colonialism became a foundation for the decolonisation debates imagining and aspiring to alternative and inclusive futures. This point of departure yet makes the discussion of decolonisation as the subject of only those who have had colonial experiences – an event of interruption of a specific process considered colonial and therefore, undesirable. This approach conceptualises decolonisation in a narrow sense as a linear process with a distinct historical beginning, which is colonial, and an envisaged liberating decolonial end. This article critically challenges this dominant narrative of decolonisation and reconceptualises it as a complex, dynamic, and lifelong process of re-centring. It argues that decolonisation, as a concept in higher education, goes beyond a pre-existing colonial foundation. Taking the context of Ethiopia, a country that remained independent during the European colonisation of Africa, this article aims at reconceptualising the notion of decolonisation of higher education in a space that has never been colonised. The article discusses epistemological challenges of the Ethiopian higher education system and provides a proactive alternative future departing from monolithic epistemic tradition to a pluralistic approach that accommodates diverse structures of knowledge.

Indigenous Elders’ wisdom and dominionization in higher education: barriers and facilitators to decolonisation and reconciliation

ABSTRACT Decolonisation in higher education requires congruent social processes that support human rights and inclusive knowledge generation. While often discussed, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s. Calls to Action, and similar reports published over several decades, have yet to disrupt existing power structures and shift government or popular relations with Indigenous peoples. To explore why reconciliation seems to be idling, we sought local Indigenous Elders’ guidance, who in addition to offering support, advised a westernised research method combined with decolonised knowledge mobilisation to satisfy the ‘two worlds’ of academic expectations and Indigenous community needs. Subsequently, we undertook a grounded theory study with academics from a Canadian university. Interviews and surveys revealed the social process of dominionization, the entrenched ownership of expertise that maintains westernised academic privilege over decolonisation efforts. Before seeing these results, the Elders prayed together and shared observations presaging researchers’ findings. Elders expressed how their guidance is rarely treated as relevant. This paper provides insight to the social processes that obstruct and support decolonisation in the academy and begins to explore how social innovation through co-learning and meaningful consultation with Elders raises opportunities for positive disruption.

Epistemic (in)justice and decolonisation in higher education: experiences of a cross- site teaching project

Epistemic (in)justice and decolonisation in higher education: experiences of a cross- site teaching project

Invisible Statues of Colonisation: Regulatory Curriculum Requirements in South African Higher Education

Over the past 20 years, the South African higher education (HE) system has become increasingly regularised. All programmes offered at South African public universities have to be registered and accredited by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET); the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) under the auspices of the Council on Higher Education (CHE); as well as the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA). Such accreditation, registration and quality assurance is subject to a growing series of stringent regulatory frameworks that must be adhered to, chief amongst which are the Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (HEQSF) and the Classification of Educational Subject Matter (CESM) manual and the later Addendum. Increased calls from both students and government for curriculum transformation and the decolonisation of HE require a critical review of the regulatory regime as one of the barriers to curriculum transformation at South African universities. The aim of this article is to present a conceptual analysis of the CESM and its regulatory context within a decolonial framework in order to show that the regulatory requirements for curricula have created a rigid and colonised conception of what universities may and may not teach. The CESM categories and their concomitant requirements have become the so-called invisible statues of colonisation based on narrow and morally decadent Western conceptions of academic disciplines in current university curricula.

Black working-class students’ negotiation of boundaries across time and space: A longitudinal analysis

This article critiques representations of black South African students as victims, as colonised by academic discourse or as entitled millennials in the current debates about decolonisation in higher education. It argues that, albeit from different ideological perspectives, such representations depict black students’ experiences as homogenised and reified, and separate identity from the processes of learning. We draw on data from two qualitative longitudinal studies to analyse the ways in which black working-class students are positioned by the expected subject positions within the academy and at home. We illustrate the diverse and contradictory ways in which the participants reposition themselves as they straddle the boundaries of home and the academy over time. The article argues that the activity of straddling boundaries and making meaning from a diversity of positions is situated agentic work, and is central to learning, to critical engagement, and to enabling new ways of knowing and being.