I'm probably fighting a losing battle in trying to get academics based in North America to stop saying "decolonizing" when they actually mean "work towards more equitable practices in our currently quite racist, Eurocentric education system." Will I try anyway? Yes.

You cannot decolonize the syllabus of a class you are teaching on stolen Native land.

You can make it anti-colonial. You can use it to foster equity. You can make sure its readings and assignments work against white supremacy. But you can't decolonize it.

Also, attribution where it's due: I was thinking of Tuck's and Yang's article "Decolonization is not a metaphor" while I wrote this!

If you haven't had a chance to read it yet, it would make my heart happy if you did so. :)

Also if anyone would like to come to the TED talk version of this thread, I'm giving a paper at the annual SAM conference next month about anti-colonial practices (as opposed to decolonization!) in the arts, using the Canadian Opera Company as a case study. ;)

*and by next month, I mean June. What even is time these days?!