Programme of activities
Activities for 2023-24
Decolonising Reading Series
The 2023-2024 series will be held on:
- Thursday 30th November 2023 (3.30-4.45pm)
- Thursday 14th March 2024 (3.30-4.45pm)
- Thursday 23rd May 2024 (3.30-4.45pm)
There will be a reading/readings as a catalyst for each session, and Dr Geeta Ludhra will provide some loose prompts to get us thinking. The discussions are intended to develop our knowledge and thinking, in a safe and respectful way. The zoom link for the sessions is noted below. Dr Ludhra will gauge how session 1 goes before choosing the readings for sessions 2 & 3.
Session 1: Thursday 30th November 2023 (3.30-4.45pm)
Title of session: Diversity or Decolonization?
Readings:
Prompt questions:
- How does the article 'Diversity or decolonization? get you thinking about the reading lists on your modules/courses?
- What are the possible tensions in moving from diversifying to decolonising?
- In the article 'From silence to ‘strategic advancement’: institutional responses to ‘decolonising’ in higher education in England', the 'add and stir approach' is cited on p.925. Do you have examples of moving beyond this from personal experience? What questions does this paper raise for you in relation to strategic advancement in decolonizing work in HE?
Join these Zoom meetings:
Activities in 2022-23
Brunel Seminar Series: Decolonialising Green Spaces: Intercultural dialogues about climate conservation, sustainability, engagement and inclusion
Led by Dr Geeta Ludhra and Dr Giuliana Ferri.
Supported by Michelle Lee (Doctoral Researcher) and Dr Eliza Kania (Journal Manager and Research Impact Officer).
This seminar series was set within the broad context of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and dialogues around access to green spaces for systematically underrepresented communities. The series aimed to connect community and conservation experts from minority ethnic organisations, individual activists from underrepresented groups, and academics who operate in the areas of interculturality, social justice and decoloniality. The series represented an opportunity to encourage knowledge exchange and conversations around notions of belonging, inclusivity and diverse forms of engagement with common natural resources. The seminar was launched on International Women's Day 2023 with a free downloadable e-book, then followed on by two on-line seminar days on: 30 March 2023 & 4 May 2023.
International Women's Day e-book: #IWD2023WOCinnature
As part of documenting this series, we wanted to celebrate the voices of WOC in UK nature spaces, those that are usually side-lined in mainstream nature books and writing. We decided to create a live e-book to be launched on IWD 2023, and this would be kept open throughout the academic year so that contributions could grow as new connections were built. The purpose of the book is to centre the narratives and experiences of women of colour whose work aims to bring about participatory social change in natural green and blue spaces, enhance visibility of structurally underrepresented groups, and support the wider discourse around belonging and identity in the perceived culturally homogenous countryside in the UK. We draw on a decolonial theoretical lens to centre minority ethnic narratives and lived experiences. In adopting this approach, we pay deep attention to minority ethnic perceptions around how access, inclusion, sense of belonging, and the ways in which a genuinely embedded approach to diverse representation can have a positive impact on health and wellbeing in its broadest sense. Our ambition is to develop an expert network and knowledge exchange of key people across disciplines, ages and cultural backgrounds, to create opportunities for intercultural dialogues and engagement with policy makers.
|
13 October 2022
|
Interculturality research group meeting to discuss REF 2028 and next steps including impact case study from the group
|
|
17 November 2022
|
Seminar: ‘Towards a transformative and decolonial approach to preparing teachers in post-apartheid South Africa: the case of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa’, Eva Bulgrin, University of Sussex
Networking event/follow up meeting with contributors to EDI special issue: ‘Reconceptualizing the Inter/national subject: Unsettling Equality and Interculturality in HE’
View speakers and bios
Dr Eva Bulgrin is an honorary research fellow in the Centre for International Education at the University of Sussex (CIE). She is also a temporary lecturer at the University of Münster (WWU, Germany) and a research associate at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (Centre for International Teacher Education, South Africa). Her research interests extend from basic to higher education and include post-structural, feminist and postcolonial theories; issues of quality, equity & inclusion; governance, globalisation, democracy & power; and different approaches to teaching and learning.
Dr Marcina Singh is a Research Fellow at the Centre for International Teacher Education. She publishes in the area of Teacher Education, Teacher Professional Development, Crises and Disruptions in Education, Citizenship and Social Cohesion, with a particular emphasis on the Global South.
Prof Yusuf Sayed is the Professor of International Education and Development Policy at the University of Sussex. He also holds the SARCHI Chair for Teacher Education in South Africa, CITE, CPUT. To date, he has published more than 10 books/ monographs, over 120 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and over 50 research reports on key education policy, focusing in particular on teachers and teacher education; education exclusion and inclusion; the governance of education.
View presentation
|
|
1 December 2022
|
Interculturality group meeting followed by social event in central London
|
|
Rescheduled for 2023 - Date TBC
|
Roundtable discussion with contributors for Bristol books series on Gendering intersections of religion and secular/ism within and beyond education: International, Comparative and Post-Colonial Perspectives
|
|
9 March 2023
|
Seminar by Dr Antonina Tereshchenco and Balbir Kaur; Racial microaggressions on PGCE programme: implications for minority ethnic teacher retention
|
|
23 March 2023
|
Online symposium on Gender Equality in HE in India
|
|
18 May 2023
|
Doctoral symposium on positionality
|
|
27 July 2023
|
Interculturality research group meeting/planning for 2023-24
|
Other activities
A study to advance gender equality in Higher Education in India
Prof Maria Tsouroufli was a speaker at this event, held on 23 May 2023 and hosted by University College London's International Centre for Intercultural Studies.
Monthly feminist series seminars, led by Dr Geeta Ludhra
There were 3 seminars held across 22-23, including on decolonial feminism. There was a pre-reading and a couple of suggested follow-up readings, with key questions on slides as before.
Brunel University Internally funded research seminars
Led by Dr Geeta Ludhra and Dr Giuliana Ferri: Decolonializing green spaces: Intercultural dialogues about climate conservation, sustainability and inclusion
Podcasts
Organised by Balbir Kaur
- Re-examining social justice for teacher education
- Gender and education
- Literature and decoloniality
- Decolonising the curriculum
- Supporting refugee children.