Decolonizing my educational theory

I was recently asked to give recommendations to someone who wanted some grounding in educational theory.  I gave the fairly standard response – all the big names.  After which I was mortified to realise just how stupendously white and male my recommendations were.



Given that I spent most of my teaching career blithering on about the temporality of changing practice without addressing theoretical contexts that drive behaviour, I did feel incredibly disappointed in myself.

I work in one of the most diverse areas of the UK, with students that reflect that diversity.

How on earth am I meant to contribute to reducing attainment gaps if the theoretical contexts that drive my own pedagogical behaviours remain an expression of historical inequality?

If, I decided, I want to make a positive contribution to inequalities in education, then I needed to recognise the insufficiency of pedagogical frameworks rooted in cultures that are quite simply alien to ‘minority’ students.  Methods of teaching and learning aimed at reducing the attainment gap, needed to be rooted in ideologies framed by people whose cultures and contexts better reflected those of our students.

Otherwise, are they anything more than sticking plasters on a deficit model of difference?

So - belatedly, certainly - I have made a start.

I contacted some expert and wise people for a recommended reading list, which I have created in Zotero (you can access the Zotero library here, subscribe to it here, or see it at the bottom of this post).

My next job is to start reading, and to post the bits I find most exciting in this blog.

In the meantime, if anyone out there can help me with ideas / readings / suggestions I would be hugely grateful!


READING LIST:

• Abdi, A. A. (2012) Decolonizing Philosophies of Education. Rotterdam: Springer Science & Business Media.
• Apple, M. W. and Buras, K. L. (2006) The Subaltern Speak: Curriculum, Power, and Educational Struggles. London: Routledge.
• Bhabha, H. K. (2012) The Location of Culture. London: Routledge.
• Bhambra, G. K., Gebrial, D. and Nişancıoğlu, K. (2018) Decolonising the University. London: Pluto Press.
• Collins, P. H. (2002) Black Feminist Thought. London: Routledge Ltd. Available at: https://www.dawsonera.com/abstract/9780203900055 (Accessed: 9 August 2019).
• Coloma, R. S. et al. (2013) ‘Decolonizing Local/Global Formations: Educational Theory in the Era of Neoliberalism’, Educational Theory, 63(6), pp. 559–560. doi: 10.1111/edth.12041.
• Emdin, C. (2016) For White Folks who Teach in the Hood ... and the Rest of Y’all Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education. Boston: Beacon Press.
• Flores, N. and Rosa, J. (2015) ‘Undoing Appropriateness: Raciolinguistic Ideologies and Language Diversity in Education’, Harvard Educational Review; Cambridge, 85(2), pp. 149-171,300-301.
• hooks, bell (2013) Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope. London: Routledge.
• Jocson, K., Rosa, J. and Curwood, J. S. (2015) ‘Rethinking Gaps: Literacies and Languages in Participatory Cultures’, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 58(5), pp. 372–374.
• Nsamenang, A. B., Tchombé, T. M. and Human Development Resource Centre (Cameroon) (2011) Handbook of African educational theories and practices: a generative teacher education curriculum. Bamenda: Human Development Resource Centre.
• Paris, D. and Alim, H. S. (2017) Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies: Teaching and Learning for Justice in a Changing World. New York: Teachers College Press.
• Rizvi, F. and Lingard, B. (2006) ‘Edward Said and the Cultural Politics of Education’, Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 27(3), pp. 293–308. doi: 10.1080/01596300600838744.
• Said, E. W. (2016) Orientalism: Western Conceptions of the Orient. London: Penguin UK.
• Tatum, B. D. (1992) ‘Talking about race, learning about racism: The application of racial identity development theory in the classroom’, Harvard Educational Review, 62(1), pp. 1–25.
• Tatum, B. D. (2000a) ‘Examining racial and cultural thinking’, Educational Leadership, 57(8), pp. 54–57.
• Tatum, B. D. (2000b) ‘The ABC approach to creating climates of engagement on diverse campuses’, Liberal Education, 86(4), pp. 22–29.
• Taylor, E., Gillborn, D. and Ladson-Billings, G. (2015) Foundations of Critical Race Theory in Education. 2nd edn. London: Routledge.
• Thiong’o, N. wa (1992) Decolonising the mind: the politics of language in African literature. London: James Currey.