How do different gender identities interact with the key challenge of decolonising higher education?

Editor Jan Etienne brings together a range of experiences from a diverse group of feminist scholars to explore how perspectives of race, class, gender, and social identity can impact and inform decolonising activism.

Ideal reading for students of Gender Studies, Critical Race Theory Studies, Black Studies, Decolonial Studies, Activism Studies, and other related and interdisciplinary courses, this book will be of interest to all scholars interested in the decolonisation of the higher education curriculum.

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Copyright Page
• Abstract
• Lead author’s message
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• About the contributors
• Learning objectives
• Introduction to chapters
• Theme one: Understanding Black and decolonial feminist approaches in anti-racist, decolonising work in higher education
  • Introduction
  • 1 Thinking Black and decolonial feminist in higher educationA Black British womanist perspective
    • Themes in the book
      • Why use Black feminist principles to decolonise higher education?
    • Intersectionality: Emerging out of Black feminist praxis
    • Black feminist engagement with womanist principles and the challenge of representation
      • Black British feminisms
    • Learning objective
  • 2 Using Black feminist text in the writing of the self: Acts of decolonisation in the writing of the self: sexuality and learner self-reflection in higher education
    • Introducing reflection
    • Gloria E. Anzaldúa: The writing as a theoretical crossing
    • Autohistoria as theorisation: A concept for the practice of telling stories
    • The wounds that (still) bleed
    • Learning objective
• Theme Two: Sharing good practice in using Black feminist theory in higher education decolonising work
  • 3 Decolonising from the marginsCentring tutor identity and Black feminist thought in higher education
    • Introduction
    • Beginnings – A privileged child unaware of race
    • Class distinctions
    • Celebrating comprehensive school education
    • Encountering misogyny
    • Working in the margins
    • Creating change from the margins
    • Challenging institutional norms from a portacabin in the car park
    • An ethic of care and personal accountability
    • An example of decolonisation
    • Putting Black feminist thought into practice
    • Thinking about a decolonising pedagogy
    • Not leaving the self behind
    • Foregrounding personal stories to decolonise the curriculum
    • Learning objective
  • 4 Conversations that change the decolonising world: Exploring class, disability, and race perspectives in decolonising arts-based feminist research
    • Introduction
      • Part 1: Habitual Currents
    • Introducing those in conversation, bell hooks and the research participants
    • Conversations in context
    • In conversation with bell hooks
    • Feminist arts-based research
    • Conversations to change the world
    • Conversations using an ethical caring matrix
    • Conversation matrix
    • The feminist researcher’s reflections upon art-based practices
    • Learning objective
• Theme Three: Leading and delivering Black and decolonial feminist approaches in higher education
  • 5 Resisting the neoliberal higher education academy: A decolonising feminist imaginary for existing in and surviving the neoliberal university
    • Introduction
    • Who am I?
    • A decolonising feminist imaginary
    • The rise and rise of neoliberalism in English higher education
    • Surviving in a neoliberal university in England (or fewer people = more work = violence)
    • Black feminist responses to neoliberal challenges
    • Decolonising feminist collectives and surviving the neoliberal university
    • A reflexive engagement with “the politics of exhaustion”
    • Learning objective
  • 6 Combahee and beyondBlack feminism, activism, and decolonising approaches to research
    • Introduction
    • Producing theory from lived experience – Finding our voice
    • Black feminism in the academy – teaching with love – a decolonising tool
    • Motherhood and “refugeeness” – Can you see us?
    • The invisibility of the refugee, asylum-seeking mother
    • Black feminism post-Covid-19
    • Conclusion
    • Learning objective
  • 7 Black feminist practice in decolonising for social justice and well-being
    • Opening up marginalised voices
    • The adultification of Black girls
    • Black feminism and activism
    • What is decolonising for well-being in higher education?
    • Social justice strategies in higher education
      • Black women’s activism in social justice approaches impacting well-being
    • Narrative storytelling
    • Black women – showing up for activism
    • Black women and a sense of responsibility
    • Black women’s activism is historically represented as a default state of being
    • Black women and representation
    • Black feminist approaches to collaboration
    • Who cares for us?
    • Conclusion
    • Learning objective
  • Conclusion: Closing remarks
  • 8 Decolonisation, intersectionality, and changeBlack and decolonial feminist collaboration
• Recommended assignments/Discussion questions
  • Other assignments
• Notes
• References
• Recommended further activities
• Index

Jan Etienne PhD is Lecturer in Psychosocial Studies. She is a womanist researcher and Chair of the Womanism, Activism, Highest Education Research Network in the School of Social Sciences, at Birkbeck, University of London, UK.