Through working on the seminar preparation work for week 3 I started reflecting on the idea of decolonising the curriculum and the question of whether the curriculum is ‘white’? After reflecting on this, I have to agree that there are certain perspectives and parts of history which are excluded from the curriculum.
High School
I can think of a variety of different aspects of my high school education which can be considered as a ‘white’ curriculum. For example, in English class, I cannot recall reading a text which was not written by a white male or female author. This lack of diversity could therefore be considered as a racial bias towards white authors. Another aspect of my high school education came to light after reading a text set during the preparation work for SPAU9AE week 1. After reading ‘Why I am no longer talking to white people about race’ I realised that the topics covered in history class in relation to race were primarily to do with the fight against racism in the USA. We learnt about Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat and Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech – both considered monumental moments from two very important figures in the fight against racism – but what my school failed to teach about was the fight against racism in my own country of the United Kingdom itself. Through reading a chapter of Eddo-Lodge’s book I discovered a history of racism against minority racial and ethnic groups in cities across the UK, all dating back centuries to the start of colonialism and The British Empire. I feel let down to have not discovered this information earlier in my education.
University
At University I feel that my eyes have been widened to the issues surrounding racism and discrimination. Throughout the lectures, films and texts for Spanish and Latin American studies I have discovered a range of different perspectives through a more diverse reading list and the process of critical analysis. However, I do believe that I come from a place of privilege and that I need to do more research and reading myself to fully widen my eyes to the suffering still experienced today by many due to the effects of colonialism. First on my list is to finish reading Reni Eddo-Lodge’s novel.