In this Teaching Matters podcast series, produced by The Race Equality and Anti-Racist Sub-Committee (REAR) at The University of Edinburgh in collaboration with Teaching Matters, we hear from different academics at the University about what Decolonising the Curriculum means for them, and how they have put this into practice in their learning and teaching or research. They also share some readings that they have found useful.
In this episode, Dr Gwenetta Curry, a lecturer in Race, Ethnicity, and Health in the Usher Institute, discusses with Professor Rowena Arshad about decolonising the curriculum as a practice that consists of acknowledging the racist history of certain disciplines. Trained as a medical sociologist, Dr Curry endeavours to embed issues of race and racism within the medical training programme at the Usher’s institute. Her role ranges from redesigning course material to include the lens of race and racism, to delivering webinars for the NHS to raise awareness about how systemic racism impacts patient care. In this engaging conversation, Dr Curry reminds of the importance of questioning the power dynamics that underlie various forms of knowledge-making.
If you are interested in contributing a podcast to this series, please get in touch with Emily Sena (emily.sena@ed.ac.uk) or Johanna Holtan (johanna.holtan@ed.ac.uk), co-convenors of the Race Equality and Anti-Racist Sub-Committee.
Dr Gwenetta Curry’s Reading Recommendations:
- Fanon, Frantz Black Skin White Masks New York : Grove Press, Inc., (1952, 1967)
- Fanon, Frantz The Wretched of the Earth New York: Grove Press, (1968)
- Curry, Tommy J. Decolonizing the Intersection: Black Male Studies as a Critique of Intersectionality’s Indebtedness to Subculture of Violence Theory in Critical Psychology Praxis: Psychosocial Non-Alignment to Modernity/Coloniality (Advances in Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology Series) (pp.132-154) Chapter Eleven, Publisher: Routledge
- Curry, Tommy J. The Derelictical Crisis of African American Philosophy: How African American Philosophy Fails to Contribute to the Study of African-Descended People. Journal of Black Studies. 2011, 42(3):314-333
- Ladner, Joyce A. The Death of White Sociology (1973)
Series Produced and Edited By
Joséphine Foucher
Joséphine is doing a PhD in Sociology at The University of Edinburgh. Her research looks at the intersection between art and politics in contemporary Cuba. She supports Jenny Scoles as the Teaching Matters Co-Editor and Student Engagement Officer through the PhD Intern scheme at the Institute for Academic Development.
Joseph Arton
Dr. Joe Arton is an Academic Developer at the Institute for Academic Development at the University of Edinburgh, he is a member of the University’s Curriculum Transformation Programme Team and curated The Edinburgh Hybrid Teaching Exchange, the University of Edinburgh’s internal site for Hybrid Teaching and Learning resources and best practice. He has a PhD in Film and Media and specialises in digital media for academic development and multimodal teaching strategies.