In easter term, I embarked on a project regarding decolonisation as part of the Combined Honours department. As a student studying anthropology, sociology, and economics as part of my degree, I have always been intrigued by the interdisciplinary overlaps of topics, such as in decolonisation. The Combined Honours department runs a Level 1 module Decolonising Knowledge and Power, which I had always hoped to take but unfortunately was unable to fit within my credits. Thus, when the opportunity emerged for me to learn more about decolonisation and do a project surrounding it, I was thrilled to get involved.
My background
It is important to establish my positionality as an international student whilst carrying out this project. I am from Singapore, a former British colony and reasonably young nation today at sixty years old. We only established our independence in 1965, before which we were a part of Malaya. Throughout my education, however, I feel that we weren’t always taught to question our colonial history or to consider the consequences of colonialism on our identity as a nation-state. Coming to the UK for my further studies, I have found that I now embrace a more critical mindset towards thinking about history and the effects of colonialism. This was also one of the motivating factors for me to do this project.
Freedom within the project
We were granted a lot of freedom around what we wanted to do our projects on and how we wanted to do it, and I eventually settled on doing a podcast, as I saw it as a unique medium for conveying knowledge. I read and write a lot as part of my degree, thus I thought this would be a different and more engaging way of sharing knowledge and reaching out to different audiences. I reached out to some guests from different departments to come onto my episodes and share -their work in decolonisation. What I especially appreciated was the range of viewpoints I got from people in Anthropology, Sociology, and even a museum curator. It is fascinating to see how decolonisation is being incorporated in classrooms, museums, and even in assessment formats.
My podcast
So, here’s the podcast titled “Bite-sized: Decolonising the Curriculum from an Interdisciplinary Perspective”, which is on Spotify. It is publicly accessible, along with an information poster I made with some extra references and resources. The poster link is attached in the ‘Description’ section for each episode.
My poster
Final thoughts
My greatest takeaway from this project is that decolonisation applies to everyone and anyone! Whether you are studying a Maths degree or Music, there are many ways in which Decolonisation intersects with our lives. I am also deeply inspired by the other Decol interns who presented their projects at the Decolonising the Curriculum fair earlier this year, which truly showed me how decolonisation is applicable to every field.
I hope you enjoy listening to my podcast, and please feel free to share it with anyone you think may be interested!
Discover more
Listen to my podcast Bite-sized: Decolonising the Curriculum from an Interdisciplinary Perspective
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