Foley, A.

Langan-Martin, J.

Sharp, L.

Wilson, M.

Enlighten

Overview of Intellectual Colonisation and DecolonisationInitiating the Process of Decolonising Teaching Materials (in Global Mental Health)Game: Battle for the Bags!Initiating the Process of Decolonising theTeaching Materials (in Global Mental Health) -EdinburghLink: https://bit.ly/4aWO2zyLesson 1 of 3Overview of Intellectual Colonisation andDecolonisation1The initial section of this session examines the concept ofintellectual colonisation and decolonisation.2ColonialismColonialism can be defined as the domination of people and their land togain power, control, and wealth (Blakemore, 2023). Between the 15th and19th centuries, European nations, including the British Empire, embarkedon a brutal global programme of colonisation. The believed superiority ofthe Christian religion, racism, and the pretence of acting in the bestinterests of Indigenous people were excuses used to justify colonisation(Blakemore, 2023). Step 1Intellectual ColonialismDespite the widespread dissolution of European colonial territories in the1940s and '50s, intellectual colonisation continues (Trubnikova &Nazarova, 2018). In addition to appropriation, intellectual colonisationinvolves the destruction of cultural identities, knowledge systems, andtechnologies and the replacement of them with those generated by thecolonisers. This ensures the continued dominance and oppression ofIndigenous peoples.Step 2Decolonising the Curriculum at theUniversity of GlasgowThe University of Glasgow acknowledges it has benefited from the slavetrade and upheld structural racism (University of Glasgow, n.d.). Theinstitution has pledged to proactively address historical and ongoing issuesthrough the process of decolonising the curriculum (University of Glasgow,2022).   3Decolonising Goes Beyond Equality,Diversity, and Inclusion MeasuresDecolonising the curriculum is not the same as taking measures to ensureequality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). While EDI measures create space formarginalised communities' perspectives within the curriculum, they havebeen critiqued for not fundamentally changing how the curriculum isdesigned and delivered.Attempts to decolonise the curriculum go further by assessing and rectifyingthe extent to which colonial ideas are present within the learning materialsand have shaped their development. This involves a recognition thatknowledge within academia is not neutral but is constructed and influencedby socio-historical and political contexts.Instead of simply adding in non-White perspectives, students areprovided with opportunities to explore how power relations andcultural exclusion affect knowledge creation and what forms ofknowledge they are taught to value as important. Decolonising thecurriculum involves challenging colonial knowledge systems(University of Essex, 2023) and creating opportunities for alternativeknowledge systems to be engaged, developed, and valued equally(Ferguson et al., 2019; Jansen, 2019).4The Importance of Decolonising the CurriculumDecolonising the curriculum is important to help close the attainment gapbetween White students and those from Black And Minority Ethnic (BAME)backgrounds. The University of Edinburgh (2019) identified that Whitestudents are significantly more likely to be awarded a First or 2:1 degreethan their BAME peers. Some contributing factors included:  BAME students feeling unaccepted in the university.A lack of role models, including few BAME staff members.The Eurocentric curriculum.Step 1Responsibility for Decolonising the CurriculumUnequal power dynamics may make students feel uncomfortable aboutraising issues with their teachers. It is essential to recognise that it is notthe responsibility of students from marginalised groups to challengecolonised curriculums and practices. Decolonising the curriculum is theresponsibility of those involved at all levels of education.Step 2Lesson 2 of 3Initiating the Process of Decolonising TeachingMaterials (in Global Mental Health)1In this section, the team members involved in the GlobalMental Health (GMH) decolonisation project areintroduced. The methods and findings of the project areoverviewed.Team MembersMs Mia Wilson, Ms Ailsa Foley, Dr Julie Langan Martin, Dr Dimitar Karadzhov, Ms IslaCampbell, and Dr Laura SharpProject OverviewTwo GMH courses were audited using a tool developed by theDecolonising the Curriculum Working Group at Reading University.They collated 27 questions to support staff in discussing teachingcontent, methods, and assessments through a decolonial lens. Uponfamiliarisation with the 27 questions, the GMH team identified thatsome questions pertained to the field under study as a whole (in thiscase, GMH), rather than specific aspects of curriculum content. Assuch, the questions were categorised into two groups:23Questions about specificcurriculum strategies andcontent. These were used toaudit the two GMH courses witha decolonising lens.Overarching field-relatedquestions. These were setaside to revisit after the twoGMH courses had beenreviewed.Of the 27 initial questions, 16 were allocated to the first category.Two were considered similar so were combined. The fifteenquestions below were those used for the audit (n.b. question twowas the combined question).1Are students encouraged and supported to familiarisethemselves with the discipline’s origins and past?  2Do students have opportunities to reflect on howknowledge in the discipline was defined in the first place,who were considered legitimate producers of knowledge,what knowledge claims were made, and whatepistemologies were employed? What principles, norms,values, and worldviews inform your selection ofknowledge for your curriculum? (think about absences aswell as presences, centres as well as margins)3Are there opportunities to interrogate the canon of texts inthe discipline – how and why certain bodies of knowledgewere identified and marked as foundational?4 What ideas/figures/histories have been hidden/excludedfrom the curriculum in this discipline? Why? How has thiscome about? What agenda has it served?  5How has our discipline/global progress been heldback/compromised through exclusion?6How will our discipline/global progress be further heldback/compromised if we do not change?7What resources within your school/context are available tosupport decolonising the curriculum activities?8How does your teaching content fit within the overallprogramme structure, and do decolonised approachesfeature across the whole programme?9What are your social identities and how does it influenceyour research methodologies and teaching philosophy?10To what extent does your curriculum draw on subjugatedhistories, voices, cultures, and languages?  11How does your teaching recognise and affirm the agencyof Black and first-generation students? How does yourteaching legitimate and respect their experiences andcultures?12Can you speak Indigenous or regional languages andrelate to the cultures and lived experiences of allstudents? Do you draw on these valuable resources inyour teaching?13How does your curriculum level the playing field byrequiring traditional/White students to acquire theintellectual and cultural resources to function effectively ina plural society?14How do you build a learning community in your classroomwhere students learn actively from each other and drawon their own knowledge sources?15How far do your teaching and assessment methods allowstudents to feel included without assuming assimilation?Audit OutcomesThrough the audit, several problem areas were identified, along witha range of small adaptations and more extensive developments thatcould be made to help remedy issues. Here is an example of aproblem identified through the audit and some ideas of how it couldbe addressed.Models of Health4ProblemIn an early week of one of the courses audited, different modelsof health are introduced: the biomedical, socio-cultural,biopsychosocial (BPS), and salutogenic. The first is referred toas the 'traditional biomedical model', all models were developedby Western scholars, and the BPS model is almost exclusivelydiscussed for the remainder of the week and course.Possible SolutionsTokenistic Remove the word 'traditional'.MeaningfulIntroduce Eastern models of health (e.g.Ayurveda, Chinese medicine) too.RadicalExplore how health systems operating withinthe BPS model have integrated practicesfrom Eastern models of health withoutacknowledgement (e.g. mindfulness).Throughout the week and course, include anevidence-based discussion of how healthissues are interpreted and treated differentlydepending on whether various Western orEastern models of health are applied.Student WorkshopThe project team progressed many of the small adaptations andbegan to make some of the larger developments before invitingstudents to a 2-hour workshop, in which they provided feedback onthe changes and suggested additional ones.Workshop participants were invited to pursue the Athena Swan EDI awardby engaging with the project team to further develop their suggestions andcreate and develop new learning content. Several MSc students wereinterested in this opportunity.5Game: Battle for the Bags!The room will now be divided into two groups. A series of problemsidentified by the team during the decolonisation audit and workshop will bepresented. Call out solutions to each problem to fill your group's goodiebag(s). The amount of goodies earned will depend on whether the solutionis:Tokenistic: One handfulMeaningful: Two handfulsRadical: Three handfulsLesson 3 of 3Game: Battle for the Bags!1The Psy-Disciplines Problem: The learning materials discuss evidence-basedpractices in both psychiatry and psychology with aspects ofclinical/personal recovery. There is no acknowledgement of theepistemology of the psy-disciplines being Eurocentric, oracknowledgement of medications or methods of managingmental illness used in other cultures. There was no recognitionthat only Western medicines and methodologies have been2sufficiently researched to form 'evidence-based' practice, andmany non-Western practices have been appropriated [e.g.mindfulness].If the same effort had gone into researching non Westernmethodologies, evidence based practice may look very different.How can the week be adjusted/amended to remedy theEurocentrism and failure to acknowledge the power dynamicsthat have influenced the development of psychology andpsychiatry into what they are today?The Psy-Disciplines –TokenisticAcknowledge EurocentrismMeaningfulProvide a discussion of alternative medicines/practices used in non-Western contextsRadicalOffer a critique of the history of the psy-disciplines that recognises thestealing of resources [knowledge, plants, practices], the ridiculing ofCritiquing the Evidence HierarchyProblem: In one of the courses, the evidence hierarchy isintroduced and some limitations are acknowledged. However,there is no recognition of the Eurocentrism of the evidencehierarchy.some cultures for using some medicines, and the lack in progressmade through the banning of some psychotropic drugs.Encourage discussion of how racist approaches to research andresource gathering feeds into medicalised racism within the disciplinestoday. The use of black bodies in experimentation for example.Encourage discussion of the inappropriateness of exporting the psy-disciplines to non-Western cultures as they are culturally embedded inthe West3ThumbnailCritiquing the Evidence Hierarchy –TokenisticAcknowledge that the evidence hierarchy is Eurocentric as part of thecritique but without expansion.MeaningfulDevelop learning materials that examine how colonialism has resultedin certain forms of knowledge-gathering being viewed as better thanothers and how this has led to the erasure of some forms ofknowledge-gathering.Radical Develop content highlighting the value of knowledge gained throughIndigenous research methods (e.g. storytelling, ceremonies, artcreation, etc) and include knowledge gained through such methodsthroughout the course. Incorporate Indigenous research methods intothe course, possibly as a formative or summative assessment.Decolonising the Classroom Problem: During the workshop, the students were invited toparticipate in a positionality activity as a group discussion. Theywere asked to describe an ideal childhood for a single child, andan ideal childhood for 10 children under the protection of WHO.This period of the workshop took a direction that the facilitatorshad not anticipated. Three [Caucasian] students contributed to the discussion. Therest of the class was silent despite efforts from the team toencourage other speakers. At the end of the discussion, thetutors highlighted that nobody had identified community, land, orspirituality/religion as a priority and that this may be important tomany communities. At this point, a student who had previouslybeen quiet raised their hand and expressed that they were froman Indigenous community [Indonesia] and that their list hadbeen so different from the other suggestions in the class thatthey had not felt confident contributing to the discussion.4This discussion highlights the difficulties in creating a spacewhere all opinions and thoughts feel welcome and managingdiscussions so that a minority of voices do not dominate whilstnot shutting anyone down or singling anyone out. It shows howeasy it can be for the voices of those most impacted bycolonialism to be silenced or missed. How do we as facilitators create a space where everyone feelsable to speak?

Initiating the Process of Decolonising the Teaching Materials (in Global Mental Health)

https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/325841/1/325841.pdf

Initiating the Process of Decolonising the Teaching Materials (in Global Mental Health)

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Enlighten