‘While I knew I was raced, I didn’t think much of it’: the need for racial literacy in decolonising classrooms

Brown, Lilly; Kelada, Odette; Jones, Dianne

doi:10.1080/13688790.2020.1759755

Cited by 12 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…Collaborative teaching teams that include both Indigenous and non-Indigenous staff can be a strategy for sharing the load. Our understanding of genuine collaboration aligns with others who have published on their experiences: non-Indigenous staff must be prepared to interrogate their own subjectivity and accept that this work is personal for everyone, not only for Indigenous staff (Daniels-Mayes et al, 2019;Brown et al, 2021).…”

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confidence: 55%

“…This can come at a cost to Indigenous staff, whose very "presence can be unsettling for students" (Bond, 2014, n.p. ) and who bear the brunt of students' discomfort when presented with ideas that destabilise their senses of history, nation and self (Gatwiri et al, 2021;Brown et al, 2021). The potential for burnout of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander academics is compounded by the small number employed in Australian higher education, the many demands on their time and knowledge, and the often-invisible work required to fulfil community responsibilities (Asmar and Page, 2018).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Aboriginal knowledge, the history classroom and the Australian university

Musgrove

Wolfe

2021

HER

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PurposeThis article considers the impact of competing knowledge structures in teaching Australian Indigenous history to undergraduate university students and the possibilities of collaborative teaching in this space.Design/methodology/approachThe authors, one Aboriginal and one non-Aboriginal, draw on a history of collaborative teaching that stretches over more than a decade, bringing together conceptual reflective work and empirical data from a 5-year project working with Australian university students in an introductory-level Aboriginal history subject.FindingsIt argues that teaching this subject area in ways which are culturally safe for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff and students, and which resist knowledge structures associated with colonial ways of conveying history, is not only about content but also about building learning spaces that encourage students to decolonise their relationships with Australian history.Originality/valueThis article considers collaborative approaches to knowledge transmission in the university history classroom as an act of decolonising knowledge spaces rather than as a model of reconciliation.

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confidence: 55%

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confidence: 99%

Aboriginal knowledge, the history classroom and the Australian university

Musgrove

Wolfe

2021

HER

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“…To answer these questions with some intellectual integrity, we must acknowledge that "throughout the history of education and research, Blac/k scholarship and literacies have long been ignored, silenced, and pathologised" (Laughter et al, 2021). As Brown et al (2021) write, the "taxonomy of race that emerged in Australia in relation to Indigenous Peoples [. .…”

Section: Racial Literacy: Reading Race In Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As Skerrett (2011) asks, what is our “apprehension and critique of [our] own understandings about, and practices of dealing with, race?” To answer these questions with some intellectual integrity, we must acknowledge that “throughout the history of education and research, Blac/k scholarship and literacies have long been ignored, silenced, and pathologised” (Laughter et al , 2021). As Brown et al (2021) write, the “taxonomy of race that emerged in Australia in relation to Indigenous Peoples […] is underpinned by an ongoing logic of elimination”.…”

Section: Racial Literacy: Reading Race In Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pedagogy or “trauma porn”? Racial literacy as a prerequisite for teaching racially dignifying content in the Australian social work context

Gatwiri

Mapedzahama²

2022

JME

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Purpose On June 21, 2021, a motion was introduced to the Australian Senate calling on the federal government to reject critical race theory (CRT) from the national curriculum, claiming that CRT is divisive and racist. This was allegedly sparked by revisions to the national school curriculum, which included a more accurate reflection of the historical record of First Nations peoples’ experiences of colonisation and the framing of British arrival onto the continent as an invasion. This paper aims to overview the omnipresence of Western thought systems in the academy and critiques how knowledge production as a disciplinary practice positions race as a “marginalised knowledge”. Design/methodology/approach This paper is conceptual and it theorises the morphology and functions of racism within the Australian education system specifically, and across the board. This theorisation offers an invaluable starting point in rethinking how we advocate for and preserve Blac/k scholarship in academia. It examines how the political economy of racism in education offers a transformative position from which scholars can contribute to potential systemic change that promotes racial literacy and racial dignity, and the conditions necessary to foster these changes. Findings The paper confirms what studies by Blac/k scholars already highlight: that racialised knowledges are marked – as an aesthetic addition or as disruptive – or unnecessary – and how these patterns of colonial desires are manifested in the classroom or in race discourse. Originality/value Specifically, the arguments made in this paper examine two undertheorised concepts, namely, “racial dignity” and “trauma porn” to foreground the reimagination of practices that inform racial literacy in education. This offers a helpful starting place to consider how this form of education facilitates ongoing settler colonialism in Australia. The authors then propose an anti-racist pedagogical practice in social work education entailing three core crucial and transformative elements: self- reflexivity, storytelling and collaboration with Blac/k people.

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“…Can twenty-first-century Scottish society recognise historical and contemporary cultural, ethnic and religious diversity as enriching rather than divisive, and begin to probe and challenge the deep-rooted and damaging mythologies of eugenics and 'White' superiority that have been used for exploitative purposes (Charles, 2019)? The challenge is for Scotland to recognise the intersectionality of race, culture, gender and class, and to use conceptual tools such as racial literacy in reconfiguring itself and striving to be authentically inclusive (Brown et al, 2021). This will prompt contemporary Scotland to move beyond the initial challenges to the status quo, such as Black History Month.…”

Section: Decolonising the Curriculum In Scotlandmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decolonising curriculum in education: continuing proclamations and provocations

et al. 2022

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There is no denying the importance and increased significance of interest in decolonisation in education and the wider social sciences. This article aims to bring a continuing contribution to an evolving and important discussion. The methodology of this work allows a range of academics from different cultural contexts to voice their decolonising proclamations. The authors of the article are a combination of White, Black, Asian and mixed-race academic researchers in higher education who have come together to proclaim their viewpoints. They draw upon their research and apply professional practice in relation to differing aspects of generally decolonising education and specifically decolonising curricula. As a group, we believe that the notion of decolonising applies to all sections of education – not only to primary schools, but also to nurseries, secondary schools, colleges and universities. We hope this article will encourage more research, advocacy and action within education and interdisciplinary contexts into the complexity of decolonising the curriculum.

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‘While I knew I was raced, I didn’t think much of it’: the need for racial literacy in decolonising classrooms

Cited by 12 publications

References 0 publications

Aboriginal knowledge, the history classroom and the Australian university

Aboriginal knowledge, the history classroom and the Australian university

Pedagogy or “trauma porn”? Racial literacy as a prerequisite for teaching racially dignifying content in the Australian social work context

Decolonising curriculum in education: continuing proclamations and provocations

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