Critical-collaborative reflections on a decolonising the humanities and social sciences curriculum internship : a case in a Scottish University

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Govender, Navan and St George, Sara and Ali, Daniyaal (2026) Critical-collaborative reflections on a decolonising the humanities and social sciences curriculum internship : a case in a Scottish University. Equity in Education & Society. ISSN 2752-6461 (https://doi.org/10.1177/27526461261444743)

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Abstract

How might we engage with DtC in ways that are authentic to anti-oppressive efforts, within the confines of a Western university located in an imperial metropole? In 2022, two final-year, undergraduate students from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at a Scottish university undertook an internship on DtC. This article presents a critical socio-material analysis of our reflections on the internship, focussing on: (1) Our intersectional positionalities and desire for equity, (2) the role and effect of space and place, and (3) activist genres in/for the academy. These underpin our key lessons, including how our positionalities are entangled with our desires for institutional change; grappling with DtC involves grappling with the politics of space and place; and that DtC resource design works discursively, materially, and affectively. We contribute to practical knowledge by offering a vivid case study that outlines the internship structure, the practices we used and their effects, as well as examples of resources produced – which can be applied to a range of contexts. Conceptually, we further understanding of university internships ‘at the decolonial front’, understandings of how decoloniality ‘travels’ with those bodies doing DtC work, and ‘compulsory sanitisation’ as an effect of the university acting upon us.

ORCID iDs

Govender, Navan ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6764-1169, St George, Sara and Ali, Daniyaal;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)