Introduction

We start Day 1 by establishing a foundation for how to approach teaching using an anti-colonial framework and exploring what that means for each of us, given the unique social identities that we bring to our classrooms.  

Learning Goals

1. Understand and distinguish between colonialism, anti-colonialism, and decolonization approaches.
2. Identify social identities and critically reflect on positionalities in relationship to colonialism and anti-colonialism. 

Read

Although there is a wealth of online resources addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion in our syllabi, we thought it important to specifically address our syllabi using an anti-colonial lens. “But, what does that mean?” Let’s begin by describing colonialism, as this will give us a foundation for understanding anti-colonialism, why it is important, and what taking an anti-colonial approach entails. 

What is colonialism?

Colonialism reflects “the sovereignty of a nation or a people” (Maldonado-Torres, 2007, p. 243). This sovereignty is characterized by the control of land and subjugation of people. There are different forms of colonialism. One form that is relevant to the history of the United States is settler colonialism, in which land ownership is central. Settler colonialism in the U.S. involved forcibly removing Indigenous people from their homelands and systematically erasing (and replacing) Indigenous culture (e.g., epistemologies, practices, etc.; Tuck & Yang, 2012). Power structures were reflected in land ownership and, thus, wealth. People’s varying abilities to own property resulted in hierarchies consisting of people with different rights and privileges. 

While colonialism reflects the sovereignty of a nation, coloniality reflects “long-standing patterns of power that emerged as a result of colonialism” (Maldonado-Torres, 2006, p. 243). These patterns of power are embedded in many elements of our society today, including housing, criminal justice, and schools. In fact, we often see coloniality show up in our teaching. For example, Patel (2014) describes knowledge structures in school settings that center whiteness as the norm. This results in Eurocentric curricula and practices that exclude diverse knowledge forms and approach Indigenous, Black, and Latinx students from a deficit perspective.  

What does it mean to take an anti-colonial approach?

Anti-colonialism reflects the practice of identifying coloniality and how it manifests in learning, knowledge, and knowledge production. Although anti-colonialism and decolonization are often used interchangeably, they do not mean the same thing. An anti-colonial stance requires us to forge a critical standpoint, actively reflect, deconstruct, and rebuild our approach to education. This differs from a decolonizing stance, which addresses the “repatriation of land and alterations to material conditions” (Patel, 2014). 

While there are different ways to take an anti-colonial stance in educational psychology, we recommend doing the following:

• examine institutional power structures, hierarchical relationships, and policies and practices that reinforce them
• question sources of knowledge and the disciplinary perspectives we uphold
• decenter and rethink the use of white intellectual traditions as the “norm”
• recenter and support diverse ways of knowing and making meaning to forge a critical pluralistic standpoint toward knowledge and knowledge development

We should note that this anti-colonial approach is not static. Rather, it is dynamic as we continue to examine power relationships in education and research, learn about Indigenous perspectives and diverse ways of knowing, and reflect upon ourselves in relation to our teaching, learning, and research. The latter is key. Ongoing critical reflection is a theme we will revisit during this 5-day challenge because it is an essential prerequisite to authentic anti-colonial action. Without critical reflection, our actions may serve as mere tokenism or symbolic gestures that reinforce the norm. Thus, in the next section, we invite you to begin this process of critical reflection.

*Note: Some of the outlined characteristics of anti-colonialism overlap with other diversity, equity, and inclusion approaches. For additional information on how anti-colonialism differs from other approaches, please review the glossary. 

Deconstruct

Positionality and Instructor Reflexivity

Estimated Time: 20 minutes

One important component of engaging in anti-colonial and anti-racist work involves reflexivity, the practice of critically examining one’s self, assumptions, beliefs, and biases. Part of this reflexivity involves reflecting on our positionality. Positionality is a construct that, broadly speaking, references the varied social positions we hold, such as gender and sexual identity, nationality, immigrant status, socio-economic background, faith/religious affiliation, race, geographic region, and cultural group. Central to this is how we identify and make sense of who we are in connection to these social positions. Our positionalities are fluid as newer layers of experiences continuously inform our ever-evolving sense of self and how we view and engage with the world. 

For this challenge, we are centering teaching-learning spaces. We invite you to think reflexively about your positionality, including how your social positions are similar to and different from the students you teach, how they impact your teaching, and how your social locations affect power relations in your teaching-learning spaces. We understand that reflecting on social identities and their impacts can be challenging. Therefore, we encourage you to complete a positionality map using a modified version of Jacobson & Mustafa’s (2019) reflexivity tool. 

How to complete the positionality map

1. First, click this link to the positionality map. If you have a Google Drive, make a copy of the positionality map and save it in your Google Drive. Alternatively, download and/or print the positionality map. 
2. Next, complete Tier 1 of the positionality map. Tier 1 consists of broad facets of social identity such as class, citizenship, ability, age/generation, race, sexual orientation, cis/trans status, and gender. The boxes in Tier 1 are suggestions. Feel free to add boxes (e.g., geographical region, immigrant status) that you think are important to your identity or remove boxes that you think are less relevant to your identity. 
3. Complete Tier 2. Tier 2 describes how your social identities affect your life (e.g., positions, values, interpretations, and interactions associated with identities). 
4. Lastly, complete Tier 3. Tier 3 describes emotions that are connected with the experiences of our social identities. The third tier is particularly useful for helping us critically examine how our social identities may impact our interactions with students.  

See Figure 2 from Jacobson & Mustafa (2019) for an example of a positionality map.

Reflect

Estimated Time: 15 minutes

Click this link to access the Padlet for today. Please respond to the following question in Padlet.  

1. Take some time to reflect on the positionality map that you completed above. How do the facets of your identity shape the way that you understand and interact with your students? Or, how might the social identities that you and your students bring shape the dynamics in your classroom?

Rebuild

Estimated Time: 20 minutes

Select one of your syllabi. Now that you’ve learned about anti-colonialism and positionality, draft a short statement for your syllabus that provides insight into your positionality in relation to the course. It’s okay if it’s a “drafty” draft. You do not have to share it because we imagine this will evolve as you revisit it over the course of the challenge. 

For more information, read The Hub’s Positionality in Education. It explains how instructors can use this statement in their syllabi to acknowledge how their social identities may inform their teaching, interactions with students, and biases. It also provides an example of a positionality statement.

Conclusion

Throughout Day 1, you read about colonialism and anti-colonialism and reflected on your social identities. As we move into the next sections of the Syllabus Challenge, we encourage you to take a moment to look over a current syllabus for one of your classes. Our individual perspectives (e.g., social identities, cultures, prior learning experiences) may shape how we approach crafting our syllabi in ways we don’t even realize. Considering social identities different from your own, are there certain parts of your syllabus that you might want to revisit to make them more relevant to students with a range of social identities? In upcoming sections of the Syllabus Challenge, we will tackle language, teaching philosophies, institutional statements, and course materials. Noting places that you want to focus on now may help with the upcoming days of the Syllabus Challenge. 

References 

Jacobson, D., & Mustafa, N. (2019). Social identity map: A reflexivity tool for practicing explicit positionality in critical qualitative research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 18, 1609406919870075. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406919870075 

Maldonado-Torres, N. (2007). On the coloniality of being: Contributions to the development of a concept. Cultural Studies, 21(203), pp. 240-270. https://doi.org/10.1080/09502380601162548

Patel, L. (2014). Countering coloniality in education research: From ownership to answerability. Education Studies, 50(4), 357-377. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131946.2014.924942

Tuck, E., & Yang, K. W. (2012). Decolonization is not a metaphor. Decolonization: Indigeneity, education & society, 1(1), 1-40.