By Laura Key.

On Wednesday 8^th November, I was fortunate to join colleagues from across the UK at De Montfort University’s ‘Reimagining Higher Education: Journeys of Decolonising’ conference. Picking up on the current (inter)national focus on decolonisation and anti-racist work in universities, the conference was held aptly at the first UK university to receive the Race Equality Charter (REC) Silver Award in April 2023. This achievement was thanks largely to its ongoing ‘Decolonising DMU’ project, under the banner of which DMU seeks to build an actively anti-racist university.

No small feat. This type of commitment requires the active participation of every member of the university community, be they staff or students. And indeed, the importance of the individual was a strong thread running through the conference, which brought together attendees from universities across the UK. Many of the talks stressed the importance of looking inwards, at ourselves as HE practitioners and the values and experiences upon which are ideas, beliefs and practices are founded. We must take the time and do the work of knowing ourselves and understanding the privileges and prejudices that our positionality has conferred upon us before we can begin the decolonisation process. But, will the conditions for this sort of mass self-reflection ever be right? Can we really expect every member of our academic community to engage with such a process?

Dr Javeria Khadija Shah (Royal Central School of Speech and Drama), in her articulate and thought-provoking keynote, spoke of the prevalence of colonial amnesia and the need for us to understand colonial legacies if we are ever to move beyond the colonisation of HE. Her talk was an important reminder that in order to understand the much-used term ‘decolonisation’, we must first unpick ‘colonisation’ and ‘coloniality’, if we are ever to understand the meaning behind this movement for change. Here, inward reflection on the self was broadened out to a need to explore and understand our shared histories and our complicity within the hierarchies that emerged from the past, as well as to realise that the very act of decolonising indicates the endurance of colonial systems and mindsets.

And so, one of the larger questions at play was whether or not we can ever decolonise the curriculum and the university more broadly within the confines of the archaic HE structure imbued through and through with colonial influence. While contrasting views on this topic remain, the vast amount of interest in advancing decolonising work indicates that, although this work may never be completely finished – and, indeed, we may never get everyone on board, such actions are valued and worthwhile. Working in the context of the structures within which we are entrenched is better than not working on towards a decolonised academy at all.

At DMU, I was able to share details with colleagues about York St John’s current contributions to this area of work, including a revitalised Anti-Racism and Decolonial Pedagogies (ARDP) Working Group, Teaching and Learning Enhancement’s ‘Discussing Decolonisation’ event mini-series and the ongoing work to implement actions associated with our own REC Bronze Award. Echoing the closing remarks from my own talk, I know there is still much more work to be done at YSJU to develop our approach to decolonisation and anti-racism. These endeavours will be strengthened greatly through partnership with other institutions, and I look forward to further opportunities to meet and collaborate with those passionate and active colleagues with whom I shared a varied, vibrant and, most importantly, hope-filled day at DMU.

With thanks to the conference team at DMU for hosting such a well-organised, rich and stimulating event.