YSJ, Academic Development Programme
Professional Development for Learning, Teaching and Research
Discussing Decolonisation 2024/25
October 15, 2024 - June 30, 2025
About:
Hosted by the Teaching and Learning Enhancement Team at York St John University (YSJU), the Discussing Decolonisation series returns in 2024/25 with a series of talks and discussions taking place online and in person over the course of the academic year.
The events include guest lectures, workshops, roundtables and panel discussions, and are designed to be both probing and participatory in nature – challenging attendees to reflect on their own positionality and personal/disciplinary assumptions, but also to engage critically with the institutional policies, practices and broader structures surrounding and constraining anti-racist and decolonial work.
This year, the series will also be complemented by a cross-disciplinary internal reading group exploring the theory and politics of anti-colonial thought, alongside ongoing debates over efforts to ‘decolonise’ higher education. You can read more and sign up to the reading group here (please note, the reading group is currently for YSJU staff and students only, but this will be reviewed and the sessions potentially opened up in future).
Co-organisers Dr Laura Key and Lucy Potter hope that these events and sessions will facilitate critical, collective exploration of the history, politics and praxes of decolonisation and anti-colonial struggle, whilst also functioning as a call to action and demand for change in relation to higher education at YSJU and beyond.
Schedule of events:
Tuesday 15th October, 6-7.30pm: Guest lecture by Dr John Narayan (KCL), followed by audience Q&A [CC Auditorium, and livestreamed via Zoom]
Friday 22nd November, 3-5pm: Roundtable discussion on decolonisation in HE [CC/201]
Tuesday 28th January, 2-4pm: Decolonising academic writing workshop with Dr Amita Nijhawan (UAL) [CC/201 and/or MS Teams]
February 2025, date TBC: Guest speaker at YSJ London campus TBC [in person and livestreamed]
March 2025, date TBC: PGR panel on decolonial research, teaching and the future of academia [online/hybrid]
May 2025, date TBC: Panel discussion on decolonisation and the politics of abolition [online]
June 2025: Building a decolonising movement in the North – half-day event with talks, workshops, refreshments and networking opportunities [Creative Centre, York]
More information:
Booking for all events in the series is via Eventbrite, with each event bookable separately; the Eventbrites for each event will be made available at least 3 weeks in advance.
If you have any questions about any of the events in the series, please email Lucy Potter (l.potter@yorksj.ac.uk) and/or Laura Key (l.key@yorksj.ac.uk).
If you would like to receive updates about forthcoming events in the series, along with recordings and materials from past events, please sign up for our new Discussing Decolonisation mailing list, here.