Friday 30-10-2020 - 13:46

Hello everyone, you might know that in June this year my predecessor Sam Johnson-Audini launched the Decolonise Durham Network, outlining the necessity for the widespread transformation of our curriculum. Through collaboration and active engagement with anti-racist work and literature, the Decolonise Durham Network aims to confront the racial hierarchies that continue to permeate higher education, often at the expense of people of colour, women, the LGBTQ+ community, and our international students and members of staff. 

As a University community, we have finally acknowledged the need to commit to wider cultural change. This involves creating academic and social spaces which are inherently more transparent and accessible to students from ‘non-traditional’ backgrounds and allows for critical thinking regarding knowledge production and dissemination. If we are finally acknowledging how colonialism and imperialism have shaped our understanding of the world and society, then we are also better able to recognise forms of racism which have previously gone unnoticed. This enables us as a community to protect all of our students from abuse.  

Since the Network was launched, I’ve had many very productive and exciting conversations with members of the University Executive Committee. In the last week, I presented the business case for students to be hired as Decolonise Interns, to provide a critical student voice on the issue of decolonising our curriculum, and importantly be paid for the work they do. I detailed their role within their faculty, the type of work they will be doing, and how they can share and communicate good practice. It is incredibly important that the university listens to the student voice, especially when it comes to your education – we hope this internship role will provide a platform for that voice and allow critical engagement from the student population. In the next couple of weeks there will be more information outlining how you can apply to become an intern and the type of work you would be expected to do within your departments and faculties – so keep an eye out!  

If you have any questions, please feel free to message the Network or myself on Facebook, or email me at su.ugacademic@durham.ac.uk!  

And if you want to understand more about our vision for decolonisation in Durham, read the Durham Decolonise Network’s manifesto here.