Course Content
Resource: Wilson, Channelle. Revolutionizing my Syllabus: The Process. Bryn Mawr College Teaching and Learning Institute.
Description: In higher education, where knowledge is often contextualized through racialized power relations, decolonizing a syllabus and anti-racist course planning go hand in hand. Channelle Wilson approaches the decolonization of her syllabus through five of the eleven principles highlighted in the Keele Manifesto for Decolonizing the Curriculum, explaining what each principle means to her as she actively builds the content she plans to share with her students. Through the course of three blog entries, Wilson provides specific ideas and instructions for professors seeking to organize their curriculums in ways that broaden the process of knowledge production beyond white academics. Any professor who wants to shift the content in their syllabus towards anti-racist pedagogy can benefit from Wilson’s candid delivery and the connections she draws between theories of decolonization and her own classroom planning. For those interested in learning more, the Keele Manifesto that Wilson cites contains the full list of principles and other relevant material on decolonizing the curriculum of higher education.
Reflection Questions:
- Which authors’ work do you privilege in your syllabus? Do you notice any trends in the demographics or backgrounds of the authors you cite? How might the Keele manifesto and Wilson’s interpretation guide your selection of texts and the process through which you encourage students to read them?
- Consider Kishimoto (2018)’s differentiation between ‘additive’ and ‘integrative’ processes of building an anti-racist syllabus - how might you decolonize your syllabus with an ‘integrative’ approach?