Woke and resistance

Why is my Curriculum White? No Democratization without Decolonization! In line with global movements such as Black Lives Matter, more and more students in the Netherlands are asking critical questions about the epistemological basis of their education. They believe that the curriculum is too one-sidedly based on Western knowledge. This selective knowledge, they argue, does not adequately prepare them for living and working in a dynamic, pluralistic, and more just society. At the UHS a group of students also organized themselves under the name Pluralistiek. A curriculum scan confirmed their suspicion of “institutional racism,” which they presented to teachers and administrators. To their dissatisfaction, the latter did not so much address the content as criticize the design of the student research and argue that the findings were polarizing. Instead of becoming woke, a hostile atmosphere arose, as at many universities. In this project, students and staff work together to discover how, in the terms of the philosopher Mouffe (2013), as agonists (critical cooperatives) can work together, rather than as distrustful antagonists, in study meetings, dialogue afternoons, and workshops, in order to translate difficult and contentious issues into curriculum revision in fruitful and concrete ways, taking into account diverse views. The aim here is to develop skills across the full spectrum of the three-pronged approach of qualification, socialization, and personal development. In doing so, students and staff can draw on years of experience with UvH education in dialogical skills. The project will conclude with a public closing conference and focus groups, in which the project will be evaluated and follow-up activities explored.