Decolonising the Curriculum: Teaching and Pedagogical Interventions in Sociology

In spite of the fact that colonialism continues to linger over the fate of many countries today, its effects are also extended to academic, teaching and knowledge structures. For over more than half a century, there have been calls from different groups to disengage and de-centre the issue of hegemonic social theories, epistemologies, methodologies and pedagogies. These emerge under broad and connected efforts pertaining to 'autonomous social science', 'indigenous knowledge', 'theory from the global South and elsewheres', 'decolonisation', 'subaltern theory' and 'alternative discourses.' However, many teachers and students continue to uncritically and imitatively subscribe to what Syed Hussein Alatas (1974) terms as the 'captive mind, teaching and circulating ideas that may not necessarily resonate in specific contexts. This panel invites contributions to probe and critically reflect on these inquiries further: What is the nature of knowledge which we teach? What constitutes a legitimate teaching agenda? What are the pedagogical strategies to decolonise the curriculum? Who are we teaching and speaking of and for? More importantly, what does this convey in relation to the dominant ways and means in which teaching and curriculum design is organised, structured, and practiced as knowledge and teachers move and traverse across contexts?