This group of resources serve as introductory materials to get you started on your decolonising journey
Decolonising DMU: a working position
Our work on Decolonising DMU is grounded in a developmental conceptual analysis, through which it serves as a basis for our activities in each strand. As a result, it also supports discussion about why the work is important. Therefore, the team have produced a working position paper, which is part of the team’s commitment to dialogue about this work, including its historical, cultural and material basis. It sets out how the project emerges from previous struggles over the idea of the University and of the production and purposes of knowledge. It relates this to the idea of dignity and the dignity of difference, and uses this to set out a series of questions for those working and studying in higher education. Finally, an extensive reading list is provided.
This may be one of the most misrepresented and misunderstood terms used in contemporary debates
on race and racism. White privilege does not mean that whiteness necessarily brings more wealth, power,
or ‘luck’ to white people. Privilege, in this context, simply means ‘unearned advantage’. It is important to
explore this to understand the impact which these unearned advantages can have on people who do
not share these, and for us to understand our own personal relationship to these. Understanding white
privilege and understanding how we relate to this individually is vital to developing a decolonised and anti-racist university, as we seek to create structures and practices which are inclusive to all.
This resource provides an overview of key concepts associated with developing an anti-racist institution. Each
of the terms presented here represents a social concept. As such, they are each what are sometimes
called ‘essentially contested’ concepts. In other words, there are multiple, competing, and even conflictual
or contradictory definitions available for them. In this glossary, we attempt to provide the most general
overview we can of how each term is used and understood today. The aim is to make the definitions clear
and accessible, to aid people who are unfamiliar with, or uncertain of, some of the terminology commonly
associated with decolonising projects.
This series examines the work being undertaken by Decolonising DMU – an Institutional project at DeMontfort University in Leicester which seeks to ensure there is no racial disparity across the organisation, the composition of the staff and the way we teach and the experiences our students receive. Each episode includes interviews with people working at De Montfort University or students who are undertaking their studies at the University.
Decolonising DMU 