In our teaching of (public) international law @Warwick_Law, we have committed to decolonising the curriculum. I'll be sharing some thoughts on this process as we move through the syllabus week by week. It would be great to get feedback. Here's how we started. Thread. @tor_krever

1/12: Decolonising is a process and we will never have a 'finished' product

2/12: We are open with students about our efforts, and about wanting this to be a common project. I posted an online video on decolonising, and we have a video podcast with the teaching team discussing whether it's even possible, where to begin, what to emphasise etc

3/12: As reading (before any of the IL substance), we recommend Paolo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, @wmignolo The Geopolitics of Knoweldge, and Duncan Kennedy, 'Legal education and the reproduction of hierarchy'

4/12: On prep: Michelle Burgis-Kasthala and I have been working on a research/teaching project together for several yrs now - reading decolonial literature and documenting our path of unlearning. Still trying to place the piece, but in the meantime, happy to share our Biblio

5/12: Changing readings around is only part of the process of decolonising. Here is a great resource for anti-racist legal pedagogy from the brilliant @suhraiyajivraj, who also came to Warwick to give a workshop on decolonising https://research.kent.ac.uk/decolonising-law-schools/

6/12: I admit to struggling to adapt some of the pedagogical ambitions of decolonising to the online learning environment. It is much harder to keep an overview on whose voices are not heard in the student body in a virtual classroom. Tips welcome.

7/12: Substance: In our syllabus, we lead with subjects and doctrine rather than events. I attempted an events-led syllabus (foregrounding context) when teaching @LivUni_Law. syllabus: https://www.academia.edu/30732582/INTERNATIONAL_LAW_IN_CURRENT_AFFAIRS_syllabus_2018. At Warwick, we teach in a team, and I was outvoted. Fair enough!

8/12: Another approach, is to offer a module dedicated specifically to resistance to IL, like my colleague and friend @tor_krever, who teaches IL as well as an awesome module on National Liberation, Imperialism and International Law.

9/12: Decolonising IL includes: to problematise IL’s claims of universality, provincialise Europe, highlight our positionality (teaching IL from the former imperial centre of knowledge production), draw attention to exploitation of the Global South without speaking for it

10/12: Allowing students and educators to connect to their experiences of the world means that a whole range of emotions is permitted – apart from being outraged by the inequality, it can also be fun. Satire is welcome.

11/12: We’re not always going to get it right. This is a difficult topic and I have been criticised for it from both right and left of the political spectrum. But I still believe that everyone should be decolonising their curricula.

12/12: And, for all the criticism by peers, not a single student has complained about decolonising, in fact, they…like it…