The long road to decolonisation still has miles to travel

The impact of the Black Lives Matter movement has raised urgent issues for universities about who should be taught what – and how. After 40 years of pushing to widen the range of voices taught on literature courses, Lyn Innes still sees much to be done that is crucial for students of all races

Published on
December 10, 2020
Last updated
December 16, 2020
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POSTSCRIPT:

Print headline: Making the curriculum more cosmopolitan

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Reader's comments (2)

Just a minute which decolonisation are we talking about and why just stop somewhere in the 18th century. So what about William the Conqueror the clue is in the name what literature is going to be discussed in relation to that episode of history. Why stop there what about the colonisation of these shores by the Anglo Saxons and who should we be apologising to there. How about the Vikings taking over land that didn't belong to them what about that colonisation. Further the Romans have got a lot to answer for in their use of slaves from these shores how about a word with their ancestors, plus lots of angst, hand wringing etc etc. The list goes on and on doesn't it. Further isn't it the case some communities just want the world to see themselves as victims regardless and not as aggressors in any way, because we all know that isn't true don't we.
Isn't it the case that we all have a shared role in unravelling the entwined and often messy histories of our past? No one sees themselves as victims.. Rather, making sure that literature and history is learned about from a Global, multi-racial and shared perspective is an empowering thing to do wouldn't you agree?

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