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Supporting Curricula Decolonisation

Find out what you can do to support the decolonisation movement within higher education and find links to useful podcasts, videos, articles and resource lists that can help support you to decolonise your modules.

What is curriculum decolonisation?

Group of students on wall

There are many different definitions of decolonisation.

The decolonising movement within higher education focuses on deconstructing power relations that lie within teaching, learning and assessment. It's of paramount importance to acknowledge the impact of coloniality on university culture and to focus on efforts to open up the academy so that students, lecturers and researchers are able to engage with multiple other perspectives, in addition to Euro-American knowledge and methodologies.

As an explainer, Dr Lwazi Lushaba from the University of Cape Town introduces what is meant by a decolonised education.

At NTU, there is an increasing number of researchers and academics who are engaging with decolonial practices, with many teaching staff now starting to consider how they might decolonise their modules.

In support the library is actively identifying ways we can help staff with the process and the University’s wider decolonisation agenda. The library has purchased over 13,000 new titles to expand resources for black, disability, gender and sexuality studies.

Resources to support curricula decolonisation

These external resources, which include videos and podcasts, can be used to introduce yourself to the importance of curricula decolonisation and to familiarise yourself with current movements and debates taking place within higher education.

The Internationalist Podcast - Decolonising higher education

This podcast series brings together academics, students and practitioners from across the Commonwealth to provide insight into how universities are responding to the decolonisation movement.

See the Internationalist Podcast episodes

The Interrogating Spaces Podcast

This podcast series examines ideas around inclusivity and attainment in Higher Education, exploring topics that include: women of colour in leadership; the international student experience; belonging in online environments; and belonging in Higher Education.

See Interrogating Spaces Podcast list

Black Student Voices: What Does It Mean To Decolonise the Curriculum? (YouTube)

This video explores the impact of decolonising education. It provides insight from students who are from a historically marginalised background as they share their perspective of what it means to decolonise the curriculum.

View Black Student Voices video

Discipline-specific resource lists

For subject specific resources click on the link to your School, where you will find a variety of guides and case studies around decolonisation. If you would like to add further titles, please email your recommendations to libinfodirect@ntu.ac.uk.

Please note, staff will need to sign in using their online NTU accounts to access these resources.

Critical questions for discipline-specific resource lists

The Centre for Academic Development and Quality have designed a series of critical questions to be use alongside the resource lists to support the process of curricula decolonisation. Asking yourself these questions will help you engage effectively with the material.

  • Have I made efforts towards understanding the global and local impact of colonisation and decolonisation, coloniality and decoloniality?
  • What are my assumptions and biases about knowledge and power?
  • Have I reflected on my positionality and power dynamics within my discipline, teaching and wider communities?
  • What overall do I hope to gain by engaging with the discipline-specific resource lists?

Further critical questions to ask yourself:

  • Have I further developed my own understanding?
  • Have I explored new resources to include in my module/course reading lists?
  • Am I exploring how I can bring the topic of coloniality and decoloniality into my teaching, discourse and content?
  • Am I increasing my confidence in talking and teaching about coloniality and decoloniality within my discipline?

  • How has colonialism and eurocentrism shaped my understanding of the world and my education practice?
  • How has colonialism shaped knowledge production and power relations within my discipline?
  • Can you identify areas of your curriculum and teaching practices that could perpetuate coloniality?
  • What are the lived experiences and perspectives of the students and communities I work with?
  • Have I reflected on my positionality and power dynamics of working with these students and communities?
  • Am I collectively working towards dismantling hierarchies of difference?
  • Am I reflecting, critically thinking and engaging in pedagogical praxis?

Ahmed, S., 2012. On Being Included: Racism and Diversity in Institutional Life. London: Duke University Press.

Freire, P., 2018. Pedagogy of the oppressed 50th anniversary edition. 4th ed. Boston, Massachusetts: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

Hooks, B., 1994. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. New York: Routledge.

Maldonado-Torres, N., 2016. Outline on Ten Theses on Coloniality and Decoloniality [online]. Available at: https://fondation-frantzfanon.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/maldonado-torres_outline_of_ten_theses-10.23.16.pdf.

Maldonado-Torres, N., 2007. On the coloniality of being: Contributions to the development of a concept. Cultural Studies [online], 21 (2-3), 240–270. 10.1080/09502380601162548.

Hidden voices

The logo representing the Hidden Voices campaign

Our Hidden Voices campaign was launched in 2023 and due to its success, returned in 2024, in a bid to find the ‘unsung heroes’ in different subject areas whose voices have not been heard. The library aims to develop the collection, moving away from a Euro-American framework, to reflect a worldview of knowledge. We asked staff and students from across the University to tell us about the articles and books you have read, written by authors from a historically marginalised* background.

The suggestions you made have now been purchased, where possible, and are available in a virtual collection. This can also be accessed by searching for Hidden Voices within Library OneSearch.

*Groups of people who have experienced discrimination and exclusion due to race, disability, class, sexuality and/or gender as a result of various social, political, and economic factors, having been given little or no importance in society.

View the Hidden Voices collection

Advice and guidance

The Academic Engagement Team: Learning and Teaching can provide tailored support for staff looking for further information about decolonising their resource lists. Please contact your Learning and Teaching Consultant: Academic Skills who will be able to help you find a diverse range of sources: libinfodirect@ntu.ac.uk.