Call to create decolonisation role in each university department

This would be an inappropriate use of funds in STEM subjects when we have recruitment freezes and drastic spending curbs. If there are subjects where this is a problem, they should address it but my own (Engineering) is not one of them. We tackle scientific and technical material that does not come with the sort of issues that seem to be common (if we are to believe the reports) in some subjects. Given the diverse mixture of staff (including senior professors) and students from all over the world in our department, this seems an extravagance.

Shouldn't it be 'decolonialisation', or is that a different 'issue'?

One trouble is that many people don't really know what 'decolonisation' actually means, or get put on the defensive by aggressive people who adopt a "white Western=bad, anything else=good" uncritical approach. This isn't a virtue-signalling exercise, or a blame game about what may have happened in the past. This is an opportunity to broaden our horizons, to share ideas from many cultures and traditions - universities are, after all, places of learning. Having a dedicated post in every department seems overkill, though, unless you happen to have an individual whose research interests include the introduction of greater diversity into the study of [insert discipline here]. There are unlikely to be that number of people worldwide with that research interest to fill a post in every department in every university. Anyway, it's something we all should have an eye to in our teaching, not just leaving it to one person to think about.

The topic matters. The practice matters. Three thoughts: 1 Could we keep the spirit of decolonization whilst reframing it as being for something (positive), rather than against something (bad)? As things we should be doing rather than things we should stop doing? That might feel more – well – positive? 2 It's vital to define the role well. The danger with making it one person's responsibility is that it can become their responsibility alone. And, given that the role is probably going to end up something like "supporting / ensuring / leading / facilitating ... " aforementioned good things to happen, isn't is inevitably the responsibility of Course Leader / Head of Department? They might need some help. That might be the role. 3 Practice is more likely to be effective when supported by good, thought-through policy and QA frameworks. It would be great to see examples of these. Maybe in a future THE? (Unless you've already run it and I missed it, in which case, my apologies.)