Why Is My Curriculum White? and Diversity in Education.
Breaking the White, Hetero-normative and Ableist Standards of Learning.
I am an English Literature and Philosophy student. My experience of this course overall has not been a happy one. I remember the time l desperately wanted to drop out of university, because I hated the content l was being fed. Both English Literature and Philosophy are dominated by white scholars, and the content is mostly from white, upper class writers and philosophers. There is very little space for diversity, and the many opportunities to teach more about race theory, disability theory or queer theory have gone unnoticed.
Many universities within the UK preach about diversity and inclusion. And yet, the curriculum is neither diverse nor inclusive. The perspectives of people of colour are completely erased and instead dominated by Eurocentric thinkers. When African or Asian literature is taught, it is often from a British colonial perspective, thus, drowning the voices of minorities and replacing them with the voices of white, mostly male thinkers and philosophers.
Bell Hooks theorised about Western education that underneath the promise of empowerment and intellectual advantages, it is also a colonial strategy that aims to disintegrate foreign cultures in its perpetuation of western ideologies and colonial traditions. This is evident mostly in the lack of intersectionality in the modules offered at most colleges and universities.
In a bid to make the University curriculum more inclusive, a campaign was launched a couple years ago by the Equality and Diversity officer titled Why Is My Curriculum White. This highlighted the lack of non-western perspectives in learning and the need for more interesting and diverse modules that challenge the colonial perspectives prescribed by western education. While Leeds University has made the effort, there is still a long way to go until students see greater change. In the meantime, I have taken it upon myself to compile a list of my favourite literature that challenge the norms of society, most of which is written by non-western writers.
- The Whale Rider- Witi Ihimaera
The Whale Rider tells the story of Kahu, a girl fighting the patriarchal standards of her tribe. The Maori tribe are an indigenous people from New Zealand. The whale Rider also highlights the colonisation of traditions within the Maori culture and its effects upon the environment, aswell as, a critique of the ways in which some traditional values are holding back the Maori people. This is a truly brilliant novel, which has some supernatural features and a strong female protagonist.
2. The Interpreter of Maladies- Jhumpa Lahiri
Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies is a collection of short stories, each different and taking on a different issue regarding identity, exile, the colonisation of traditions and community. Each story is written to highlight the struggles of Indian identities exiled in the west, and the various obstacles they must navigate through in order to integrate successfully into the society in which they are living.
3. A Thousand Splendid Suns- Khaled Hosseini
This has always been a long time favourite of mine. Khaled Hosseini is well known for his novel The Kite Runner, however, A Thousand Splendid Suns is another gem that deserves the spotlight. It sheds light on the issue of child marriages in Kabul, Pakistan, in a society taken over by the Taliban. It also shows the beautiful friendship between Mariam and Laila, the two female protagonists, who must unite to overcome the daunting challenges they are faced with.
4. Sleepwalking Land- Mia Couto
Mia Couto is a brilliant Mozambican writer. Sleepwalking Land is a magical realism tale about a young boy and an old man travelling around Mozambique to escape the violence of the war. Their unlikely friendship and bond spring some hope for a country that is sleepwalking through life. This is an unforgettable tale that has also been made into a movie.
5. The Will To Change- Bell Hooks
Bell Hooks is known for her narratives on race and gender. While I would recommend all her books to my fellow readers, I fell in love with this particular one because of the ways in which she relates the truth of patriarchy and the ways in which both men and women are trapped in it.
6. Nervous Conditions- Tsitsi Dangaremba
This novel is the first by a female writer in Zimbabwe. Dangaremba’s novel is a coming of age tale about Tambu, a girl fighting against the patriarchal standards of her community, which affords education to men while women are socialised into the roles of mothers and wives. Tambu’s friendship with her cousin Nyasha also highlight the effects of colonisation and western education upon African identities. They are recommended to strip away their Shona language and traditions and assimilate into the western culture as a method of colonisation. A brilliant tale that l recommend a thousand times.
7. Maurice- E.M Forster
While this one is not written by a non-western writer, it is a tale about a homosexual relationship between two men in British society. Forster challenges the stereotypes of homosexual men as inherently “feminine”, and shows the formation of a strangely intellectual attraction between two scholars, whose friendship blossom into something more.
8. The Fox- D.H Lawrence
The Fox is a brilliant story. I remember being engrossed into its brilliance the first time l read it. Then the second and the third. It is a timeless tale about two girls living on a farm, the nature of their relationship is left ambiguous. The women are opposites, one feminine and frail, the other masculine, strong and dominating. The story moves forward by introducing a male character, a soldier who attempts to marry one of the girls by asserting his male dominance as a way of making the girls submit to his will.
9. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest- Ken Kessey
Kessey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is well known as a film. However, the two are very different. For those who have seen the film, or have not, I recommend you read the novel aswell. Kessey’s novel is written about disability and mental illness. The novel is written from the perspective of Chief Bromden, a native Indian who is schizophrenic, relating his friendship with McMurphy, a new patient on the ward. Kessey shows the compartmentalisation of human nature by a society that prescribes normalcy and uniformity and the fall of a hero who rises up to challenge these standards.
