Decolonisation is increasingly become a buzzword in the UK, especially in universities where there is a push toward a decolonial curriculum. It is important to note though that the concept has been around for long. For each country, decolonisation would entail a different process. Perhaps for the UK, it would be more meaningful to engage at both school and university level with its colonial past and look at how contemporary systems and social mores have been shaped by colonialism. I remember the first time when I heard from one of my colleagues about how colonialism is not a major part of syllabi in the UK. It baffled me and still seems quite a strange phenomenon that defies logic in my mind, because if that is not one part of the syllabi then what is taught for say in history of Britain after 1600s? It has always made me wonder and still makes me wonder what is part of the history syllabi there then?
In literature, a push toward decolonial studies would mean incorporating a range of world literature as well. This has always excited me because even when learning literature as an undergraduate student or in my Masters, I often wondered why is my literature so white? Why are only these few authors taught? Why not others? It was refreshing and invigorating when in during my BA, we focused on Indian literature and I remembering discovering so many Indian authors and feeling a sense of oh I can see bits and pieces of myself in this literature; something which was not there in say reading Dickens or Miller. I still remember the feeling of recognition or a kind of empathy I felt for one of characters in Mistry’s novel, Such A Long Journey, simply because he decided to pursue Arts. It is such a common aspect in Indian society to be disparaging of the humanities and even more so now with a push toward more right-wing fundamentalism. But to see this common perception represented in literature felt oddly good. I had not faced any opposition from my parents to study literature but remember some family members and people in general outright showing their disapproval for me pursuing arts/humanities. The point I am making through this diversion is that it is high time we question the English literary canon, particularly because one of the most widespread effects of colonialism (and now exacerbated by globalisation and neo-colonialism) is the acceptance of English as a global lingua franca. Throughout the world, people write literatures in English and even those who do not, get translated into English and gain wider, more international readers. It is essential to broaden our mindsets through a broadening of canons. The need becomes even more urgent as individuals become compartmentalised into very narrow points of view thanks to social media. its vast networks of unfathomable algorithms, and television media. Reading different perspectives through multicultural reading habits would go a long way to create individuals who do not merely think about different people through a prejudiced lens.
In the UK, though there is a push toward decolonising the curriculum, what then of the university itself? How would universities change policies to become more decolonial institutions? Is it merely enough to have decolonial syllabi in universities when the university itself still reaps benefits based on several different colonial privileges?
The Book Cafe 