Decolonising HE is not just about anti-racism and issues pertaining to race.

Image taken from Brittannia encyclopaedia

While racism was a significant vehicle through which colonial oppression took place, and is currently a vehicle through which colonial legacies live on, Decolonising is about undoing the harm from the elevation of Eurocentricity in the production and use of knowledge (i.e. education), morals (i.e. religion), socially acceptable behaviours (i.e. class), justice (i.e. legal systems), and essentially every element of what is determined "civilized" society. This was intentional to ensure that power was given to and remained with oppressors, and was done so well that it made us all unaware of how deeply we have embodied and articulated oppressive behaviours. I'm speaking here about European colonisation as this is the context within which I was raised (in the UK), my parents were raised (in the Caribbean), and now in which I educate.

'Civilized' European society looked very different to indigenous societies, and colonialism sought to stamp out the difference to create 'order' and a society that worked for Eurocentricity. In its simplest form, the epitome of Eurocentricity promoted whiteness, maleness, Christianity, and upper classness.

So Decolonising HE is not just about racism. Its about religion and belief, its about how we structure the academic calendar, its about how we disseminate knowledge (teach), and who we disseminate knowledge from (research), its about how we perceive our students as "good" students, who gets scholarships, how students can demonstrate learning (assessment), personalisation of learning, representation in the classroom, the subjects we choose to teach, what is considered a "top" university, the list goes...

It is about critiquing what criteria we use to determine what is good, excellent, or not good enough.

I've started collating myths and corrective facts about decolonising the curriculum to help educators when making the case. I have found that often misunderstanding of what decolonising is creates a barrier to its progress...so lets change the narrative.

Myths	Facts
We are automatically removing content of white, Christian, or rich people.	We are questioning why their content is considered superior to that of others.
We are including content because it comes from marginalised groups at the negligence of learning outcomes, or graduate competencies. We are being “inclusive” for inclusions sake.	We are being critical, and questioning whether the learning outcomes are designed to reinforce colonial legacies, and whether our perceptions of a good student or graduate are defined by some groups at the expense of others. Are we making change agents, or good compliant intelligista?
Decolonising is inclusivity and diversity work.	While EDI work can contribute to Decolonising work, Decolonising is about a wider remit of how colonialism created structural and subsequent barriers to the progress of marginalised groups. It is about oppression, but particularly in our context it is about Eurocentricity, and power.
Inclusive assessment design does not automatically equal decolonised assessment design.	Inclusion means we are attempting to ensure that all people can achieve the assessment – decolonisation means we are potentially changing the way we see assessment entirely and looking at alternative ways students can learn and demonstrate that learning.
Decolonising is for people and countries that have been colonised.	Colonial legacies and their intentional oppression of certain groups of people affect everyone around the world – not just postcolonial countries. Decolonising is about rooting out the colonial legacies that affect people – even in countries that were/are the oppressors like Britain. It is important to recognise that we are in a position of privilege in Britain as we benefitted from the oppression of colonialism, but that does not mean that oppression as a result of colonial legacies doesn’t exist here.
Decolonising is for people of colour.	Decolonising the curriculum is about accuracy. It is about ensuring that as educators, we present as full and accurate a picture as we can for our learners. This is for all learners, so that we do not recreate people who think and behave in one way, but we facilitate learning and critique from a variety of perspectives, life experiences, and knowledges. Recognising that there can be validity in variety.
​Decolonising is about race and ethnicity.	While racism was a major vehicle for colonial oppression, and is still a tool of oppression that is systemic, decolonising is not just about race (see above for further clarification). It is also important to understand the foundations of "race" and its intent to homogenise the different experiences and cultures of indigenous peoples. By reducing any action or description to any one ethnicity, we are not being decolonial in our thinking.
Decolonising is not an achievable goal as we can never get rid of the legacies of colonialism.	Decoloniality is not the absence of colonailism or its legacy. There is no world in which this is possible. The very thinking purported in this article has been framed by colonial legacy. Instead, it is the re-imagining of the world rejecting the oppressive structures and ways of being that have been embedded into our minds, systems, and societies. It is the intentional redefining of our thinking, being, and doing.

Comment below on any other myths you have heard in our decolonising work, and lets see if we can help with the facts.