Decolonising the curriculum at Queen's University one scéim at a time

So, why are we here today, and why this network?

Universities, Queen’s included, have pledged to work on decolonising the curriculum.

Decolonising the curriculum is about;

1. acknowledging the inherent power relations in the production anddissemination of knowledge, and
2. reclaiming what has been dismissed, silenced, and marginalised. It is a complex endeavour that varies according to disciplines, about the authors we introduce to students, areas of interests, angles, methodologies and so on.

We are still grappling with this challenge, but there is one thing we know for certain: we do not get to choose what and what does not need to be ‘decolonised’. Especially if our selective approach is shaped by colonialism itself.

So a meaningful decolonisation of HE cannot just about faraway places. It is also about here, and now. In Northern Ireland, it entails, among many other things, the need to recognise that this place is not, and never has been, monolingual. That while the English language is the dominant medium we use everyday to communicate, it is not a ‘natural’ result or, as I’ve sometimes heard, ‘neutral’.

Why is it important?

Of course, the Identity and Language bill that was passed in 2022 is going to compel institutions to undertake major works in that direction. But a university should not need legal obligations to be progressive. It is important because a significant part of cultural and economic life in this region exists through media other than English and it has implications for our students’ employability and future, which should encourage us to reconsider the existing flaws in our curricula.

It is about understanding the learning experience of our students, many of whom have been educated through Irish until they come to Queen’s.

It’s about inclusion: we have heard too many stories from students being asked what was their ‘real name’, or hearing their names being laughed at in the classroom; colleagues scolded for using a couple of words in Irish in their communication.

And of course, monolingual normativity has extended to those of us whose mother tongue is not English. Condescending comments on our accents, pointy remarks on students’ teaching evaluation forms talking about ‘language barrier’, many of us shared the experience of being multilingual in our workplace, not as a valuable asset, but as a stigma.

Making of the monolingual native the ideal, has potential implications for career progression: how about those students’ evaluations that are used for confirmation in post and promotion? We know from social studies that foreign accents affect students’ evaluation of their lecturers’ competence and hence teaching scores. Add gender and ethnicity on top of that. And imagine yourself entering the classroom every day.

What about the many times that publications written in languages other than English are received with disappointment for the REF exercise? Do you have a translation (as if one would write in English and then translate into another language)? Can you write a translation? What about funding for the translation? Should we submit it for the REF anyway because, who will read it?

Too often, this taken for granted monolingualism goes against excellence because, sometimes (sometimes!) we do write excellent pieces in a language that is not English.

But monolingualism also impedes internationalisation. International profiles and networks are supported by communicating in more than one language; international research and collaboration, fieldwork abroad and among diverse communities, cross-cultural comparisons, all of this is supported by multilingualism.

It is not my intention to be critical. Or only critical. Not least because we have made significant progress in recent years. what I’m trying to convey however, is the sheer importance for us to reconsider our relationship with language/languages. Much has yet to be done and this is what this network intends to address.