‘Unpacking the curriculum’ report launch

Join us at the University of Westminster for the launch of the ‘Unpacking the Curriculum: A decolonial enquiry’ report. This two-part launch creates space for critical dialogue on the challenges and possibilities of decolonial work in the university. Through an interactive workshop and a panel discussion, we will explore the realities of decolonising the curriculum, celebrating the progress made while grappling with the tensions that arise in our academic spaces. Whether you are a student, educator, researcher or member of the public this launch invites you to engage in meaningful conversations about reimagining education through a decolonial lens.

About the report:

The ‘Unpacking the Curriculum: A decolonial enquiry’ report presents the findings of a university-wide study conducted by the Pedagogies for Social Justice Project, aimed at understanding how students and staff perceive and experience social justice work in the university, with a particular focus on decolonising the curriculum. Through a survey spanning the twelve academic schools and professional services departments, the research captures students’ and staff perspectives on existing initiatives and their aspirations for decolonial change. The insights shared in the report are intended to inform institutional strategies, strengthen dialogue on decolonial approaches, and support the development of transformative learning environments.

About the launch:

Date: Tuesday, 8th April 2025

Part 1: ‘Creative Chaos for Another University’ workshop with Dr Annapurna Menon

Time: 2-4pm

Location:University of Westminster Regent Street Campus (309 Regent St., London W1B 2HW) You can find information about the location and access details at: https://www.westminster.ac.uk/about-us/visit-us/regent-street

Registration: Please register using this TicketTailor link. You will receive an email before the event with specific room information.

Please note: this event will be held in person only.  It will not be livestreamed or recorded.

Description: Cuts. Redundancies. Course Closures. Voluntary severance. Strikes. The UK higher education sector has been stressful (to say the least) in the last year and while the government continues to increase its military budget, staff and students at Universities are the most impacted. Despite this, we have continued teaching, learning, researching and organising. In this workshop, we bring forth our experiences to dream and imagine another university, amidst the chaos. We’ll reflect on our experiences through guiding questions to create a collective collage using newspapers, magazines, university brochures, fabric cut-outs, thread and most importantly, your imagination! We hope the final work of art will remind us of our connections to each other and the university, and enable us to imagine and build further. Bring your stress, rage, joy, passion, all of you!

The final work will be displayed in-person at the launch. 

About the facilitator: Annapurna Menon (she/her) is a Teaching Associate in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Sheffield. She works with postcolonial and decolonial approaches, aiming to bridge the gap between theory and praxis. She loves engaging with her students and is interested in utilising decolonial approaches to reinforce the importance and joy of learning while emphasising criticality. Currently, she is thinking about resistance in pedagogies. Her doctoral research focused on the coloniality of postcolonial nation-states, specifically examining the Indian nation-state’s exercise of power in Indian-administered Jammu & Kashmir. Additionally, she has published works on topics relating to Hindutva, gender, and activism.

Part 2: ‘Learning and teaching coloniality in the present’ panel discussion

Time: 5-7pm (in-person only)

Location: University of Westminster Regent Street Campus (309 Regent St., London W1B 2HW) You can find information about the location and access details at: https://www.westminster.ac.uk/about-us/visit-us/regent-street

Registration: Please register using this TicketTailor link. You will receive an email before the event with specific room information.

Please note: this event will be held in person only.  It will not be livestreamed or recorded.

Description: This panel is co-hosted by the Critical Pedagogies Group as their 2025 Annual Lecture, bringing together scholars, educators, and students to discuss the realities of coloniality in higher education today. The panellists will explore how decolonial work is understood, the challenges of institutional resistance, and the role of student-academic collaboration in advancing social justice.

About the panellists:

Carol Tellez Contreras (she/her) is an Indigenous queer Bolivian Law student. Living in Europe, she has faced issues with colonial thinking that prevails, which affected her views of her identity. This emphasised her interest in issues surrounding decolonisation, anti-racism, and intersectionality. Her legal studies have made her even more aware as to how these issues are present through legal systems and institutions. 

Kelsea Costin (SOAS) is a research assistant for the Pedagogies for Social Justice project (PSJ). Her most recent publication on student and staff perceptions on decolonising the curriculum has appeared in a special edition centring social justice and pedagogical partnership in Social Sciences. As part of a student-staff collaboration, Kelsea believes that relationality and student-staff partnerships are crucial for dismantling institutional structures and challenging coloniality in the academy.

Kyra Araneta (she/her) is a Lecturer in Student Partnership and Social Justice in the Centre for Education and Teaching Innovation (CETI) at the University of Westminster. Her research focuses on decolonial pedagogies, social justice education, storytelling and the role of student-staff partnerships in fostering ethical learning environments. As a mixed woman of African-Asian descent, Kyra dedicates her praxis to challenging contemporary forms of coloniality in academia, centring underrepresented and marginalised voices, and advocating for anti-racist and decolonial learning spaces.

Mrinalini Greedharry (University of Essex) has been having conversations about colonialism in Canadian, Finnish, and British university classrooms for about thirty years now. She is interested in how people understand themselves through colonial systems and re-imagine themselves through colonial critique.

Onni Gust is Associate Professor in History at the University of Nottingham. They teach transgender history and histories of race, gender and sexuality in colonial context, mainly focusing on the ‘long’ eighteenth century. Their book, Unhomely Empire: whiteness and belonging, 1760-1830 was published in 2021. Onni is currently working with natural history museums and artists on a new research project, ‘Kin: transgender history with and beyond the human’ looking at what it means to write transgender history in the context of climate catastrophe. Their article, ‘Of mermaids and monsters: transgender history and the boundaries of the human in the eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Britain’ begins to address this question.