Decolonial Practices in Higher Education from the Global South: A Systematic Literature Review

Authors

  • Maryluz Hoyos Ensuncho Graduate Student

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32674/jcihe.v15i5.5299

Keywords:

decoloniality, decolonial higher education, decolonial practices , Global South

Abstract

Higher education institutions have been complicit with the ongoing coloniality project that reinforces and perpetuates inequities, dismisses interests, knowledges, alternative discourses, and world views different from Western European thought (Bell, 2018; Dastile & Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2013; Harms-Smith & Rasool, 2020). Education is rooted in colonialism, which raises doubts about the feasibility of universities implementing a decolonial agenda (Dhillon, 2021). To contribute to the conversation about decolonial praxis and the documented efforts in the literature on how to enact a decolonial rehumanizing agenda, this paper presents a systematic literature review of works from the Global South that attempt to disentangle universities from colonial practices in higher education. The works reviewed describe a variety of practices from pedagogical practices, curriculum changes, and institutional connections with marginalized communities that make visible knowledges, languages, and perspectives traditionally excluded from universities.

References

Barraza García, R. A. (2014). La Escuela Intercultural de Diplomacia Indígena: academia, posdesarrollo y diálogo de saberes. Desafíos, 26 (1), 13-56. https://doi.org/10.12804/desafios26.1.2014.01

Bell, D. (2018). A pedagogical response to decoloniality: Decolonial atmospheres and rising subjectivity. American Journal of Community Psychology, 62(3-4), 250-260. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12292

Blanche, M. T., Fourie, E., & Segalo, P. (2021). Teaching community psychology decolonially: A pedagogical journey. Review of General Psychology, 25(4), 369-384. https://doi.org/10.1177/1089268020974588

Carolissen, R., Canham, H., Fourie, E., Graham, T., Segalo, P., & Bowman, B. (2017). Epistemological resistance towards diversality: Teaching community psychology as a decolonial project. South African Journal of Psychology, 47(4), 495-505. https://doi.org/10.1177/0081246317739203

Castell, E., Bullen, J., Garvey, D., & Jones, N. (2018). Critical reflexivity in Indigenous and cross‐cultural psychology: A decolonial approach to curriculum? American Journal of Community Psychology, 62(3-4), 261-271. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12291

Castro-Gómez, S. (2007). Decolonizar la universidad: La hybris del punto cero y el diálogo de saberes. In S. Castro-Gómez & R. Grosfoguel (Eds.) El giro decolonial: Reflexiones para una diversidad epistémica más allá del capitalismo global (pp. 79-91). Siglo del Hombre Editores.

Cobbing, S. (2021). Decoloniality in physiotherapy education, research and practice in South Africa. The South African Journal of Physiotherap y, 77(1). https://doi.org/10.4102/sajp.v77i1.1556

Contreras Castro, A. (2014). El pueblo Ixil: Después de prácticas epistemicidas y genocidas nace una universidad. Revista Casa de las Américas, 275(Abr-Jun), 3-14.

Cortina, R., & De la Garza, K. (2015). Educación, pueblos indígenas e interculturalidad en América Latina. Ediciones Abya-Yala.

Cubides Sánchez, L. M. (2020). El camino incesante de la educación superior intercultural, decolonial y verdaderamente democrática. Revista Nova Paideia-Revista Interdisciplinar em Educação e Pesquisa, 2(1), 3-18. https://doi.org/10.36732/riep.v2i1.50

Cupples, J., & Glynn, K. (2014). Indigenizing and decolonizing higher education on Nicaragua’s Atlantic Coast. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 35(1), 56-71. https://doi.org/10.1111/sjtg.12051

Dastile, N. P., & Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S. J. (2013). Power, knowledge and being: Decolonial combative discourse as a survival kit for Pan-Africanists in the 21st century. Alternation, 20(1), 105-134.

De Carvalho, J. J., & Flórez, J. (2018). Encuentro de saberes: Huellas de memoria pluriversa y descolonización de la Universidad contemporánea. Arxius, 39, 140-150. http://hdl.handle.net/10550/69979

Dei, G. (2016). Decolonizing the university: The challenges and possibilities of inclusive education. Socialist Studies/Études Socialistes, 11(1), 23-23. https://doi.org/10.18740/S4WW31

Dhillon, S. (2021). An immanent critique of decolonisation projects. Philosophical Inquiry in Education, 28(3), 251-258. https://doi.org/10.7202/1085079ar

Díaz, M. E. (2019). Universidad, producción hegemónica del conocimiento y descolonización. Reflexiones desde nuestra América. In M. Casarin (Coord), Universidad, producción del conocimiento e inclusión social: A 100 años de la Reforma (pp.127-148). Editorial del Centro de Estudios Avanzados.

Dietz, G., & Mateos Cortés, L. S. (2020). Entre comunidad y universidad: Una etnografía colaborativa con jóvenes egresadas/os de una universidad intercultural mexicana. AIBR: Revista de Antropología Iberoamericana, 15(2), 273-299. https://doi.org/ 10.11156/aibr.150205

Escobar, A. (2010). Latin America at a crossroads: Alternative modernizations, post-liberalism or post-development? Cultural studies, 24 (1), 1–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/09502380903424208

Fellner, K. D. (2018). Embodying decoloniality: Indigenizing curriculum and pedagogy. American Journal of Community Psychology, 62(3-4), 283-293. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12286

Ferreira de Souza, S., & de Oliveira, I. A. (2022). Universidade amazônica, colonialidade do saber e filosofia: Arranjos epistêmicos e concepções. Perspectiva, 40(3), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-795X.2022.e70108

Fomunyan, K. G., Matola, N., Moyo, S., & Govender, V. (2020). Decolonizing higher education in South Africa: A university of technology introspection. International Journal of Interdisciplinary Educational Studies, 15(1), 47-60. https://doi.org/10.18848/2327-011X/CGP/v15i01/47-60

García León, D. L., & García León, J. E. (2019). Decolonizando el currículo: Una experiencia con cursos de lectura y escritura académicas. Sinéctica, (52). 1-23. https://doi.org/10.31391/s2007-7033(2019)0052-004

Geldres-Garcia, D. A. (2020). Descolonizar la universidad pública desde las ciencias sociales: A propósito del Otro (a) en la academia. PUQUINA, 1(2), 117-125.

Gnecco-Lizcano, A. M. (2016). Mujeres indígenas: experiencias sobre género e inclusión en la educación superior. Revista Eleuthera, 14, 47-66. https://doi.org/10.17151/eleu.2016.14.4.

González Ponciano, J. R. (2017). ¿Estamos listos para descolonizar la Universidad en Guatemala? Revista del Instituto de Estudios Interétnicos, 28(23), 65-88.

Guapacha, D. C., Palma, W. C., Calambás, M. T., Jacanamijoy, S. C., & de los Ríos, A. Y. (2018). Historias y memorias del Cabildo Indígena Universitario de Medellín (CIUM): Sembrando la palabra de resistencia y dulzura para una permanencia desde el buen vivir y la ancestralidad, 2009-2017. Polyphōnía. Revista de Educación Inclusiva/Polyphōnía. Journal of Inclusive Education, 2(2), 105-126.

Hargreaves, J. D. (1973). The idea of a colonial university. African Affairs, 72(286), 26-36. https://www.jstor.org/stable/720580

Hallberg Adu, K. (2021). The promise of digital humanities pedagogy: Decolonizing a diverse classroom in Ghana. Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, 36(Supplement 1), i37-i42. https://doi.org/10.1093/llc/fqaa023

Harms Smith, L., & Rasool, S. (2020). Deep transformation toward decoloniality in social work: Themes for change in a social work higher education program. Journal of progressive human services, 31(2), 144-164. https://doi.org/10.1080/10428232.2020.1762295

Hendrick, A., & Young, S. (2018). Teaching about decoloniality: The experience of non‐Indigenous social work educators. American Journal of Community Psychology, 62(3-4), 306-318. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12285

Ivanoff, S. L., & Loncón, D. L. (2016). Cátedra libre de pueblos originarios: Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco: experiencias, interpelaciones y desafíos. Revista del Instituto de Investigaciones en Educación, (8), 23-32. https://dx.doi.org/10.30972/riie.083660

Kessi, S. (2017). Community social psychologies for decoloniality: An African perspective on epistemic justice in higher education. South African Journal of Psychology, 47(4), 506-516. https://doi.org/10.1177/00812463177379

Knight, J. (2018). Decolonizing and transforming the Geography undergraduate curriculum in South Africa. South African Geographical Journal= Suid-Afrikaanse Geografiese Tydskrif, 100(3), 271-290. https://journals.co.za/doi/epdf/10.1080/03736245.2018.1449009

Krainer, A., Aguirre, D., Guerra, M., & Meiser, A. (2017). Educación superior intercultural y diálogo de saberes: el caso de la Amawtay Wasi en Ecuador. Revista de la educación superior, 46(184), 55-76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resu.2017.11.002

Lander, E. (2000). Ciencias sociales: Saberes coloniales y eurocéntricos. In E. Lander (Ed), La Colonialidad del Saber: Eurocentrismo y Ciencias Sociales. Perspectivas Latinoamericanas (pp. 11-40). CLACSO.

López, A. J. (2007). Introduction: The (post)global South. The Global South, 1(1) 1–11. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40339224

Law, L. P. (2015). Humanizing education: Teacher leaders influencing pedagogical Change [Doctoral dissertation, Iowa State University]. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/38937689.pdf

McNamara, R. A., & Naepi, S. (2018). Decolonizing community psychology by supporting indigenous knowledge, projects, and students: Lessons from Aotearoa New Zealand and Canada. American Journal of Community Psychology, 62(3-4), 340-34. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12296

Maldonado-Torres, N. (2007). On the coloniality of being: Contributions to the development of a concept. Cultural Studies, 21(2-3), 240-270, DOI: 10.1080/09502380601162548

Maldonado-Torres, N. (2016). Outline of ten theses on Coloniality and Decoloniality. Foundation Frantz Fanon. Retrieved from http://frantzfanonfoundation-fondationfrantzfanon.com/

Maldonado-Torres, N. (2017). Frantz Fanon and the decolonial turn in psychology: From modern/colonial methods to the decolonial attitude. South African Journal of Psychology, 47, 432–441. https://doi.org/10.1177/0081246317737918

Martínez Martínez, M. A. (2022). Descolonizar la escuela: Educación por la justicia en Comunidades Originarias del sureste de México. Revista Internacional de Educación para la Justicia Social, 11(1), 101-117. https://doi.org/10.15366/riejs2022.11.1.006

Mbembe, A. J. (2016). Decolonizing the university: New directions. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, 15(1), 29-45. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474022215618513

Mejía, J. (2018). El proceso de la educación superior en el Perú. La descolonialidad del saber universitario. Cinta de Moebio: Revista Electrónica de Epistemología de Ciencias Sociales, (61), 56-71. http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0717-554X2018000100056

Menezes de Souza, L. M. T., & Duboc, A. P. M. (2021). De-universalizing the decolonial: between parentheses and falling skies. Gragoatá, 26(56), 876-911. https://doi.org/10.22409/gragoata.v26i56.51599

Mignolo, W. D., & Walsh, C. E. (2018). On decoloniality: Concepts, analytics, praxis. Duke University Press.

Miraftab, F. & Kudva, N. (2015). Editor’s introduction to the volume. In F. Miraftab & N, Kudva (Eds.), Cities of the Global South reader (pp. 2–6). Routledge.

Morreira, S. (2017). Steps towards decolonial higher education in Southern Africa? Epistemic disobedience in the humanities. Journal of Asian and African studies, 52(3), 287-301. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021909615577499

Muelas Calambas, A. X. (2020). Tejido de vida: experiencias autobiográficas de mujeres indígenas en el marco del conflicto armado y la educación superior. [Undergraduate Thesis, Universidad de Antioquia.] https://bibliotecadigital.udea.edu.co/dspace/bitstream/10495/17761/1/MuelasCalambasAstrid_2020_ExperienciasAutobioraficasMujeres.pdf

Nakata, M., Nakata, V., Keech, S., & Bolt, R. (2012). Decolonial goals and pedagogies for Indigenous studies. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education and Society, 1, 120–140. https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des/article/view/18628

Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S. J. (2013). The entrapment of Africa within the global colonial matrices of power: Eurocentrism, coloniality, and deimperialization in the twenty-first century. Journal of Developing Societies, 29(4), 331-353. https://doi.org/10.1177/0169796X13503195

Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S. J. (2021). Internationalisation of higher education for pluriversity: A decolonial reflection. Journal of the British Academy, 9(1), 77-98. https://doi.org/10.5871/jba/009s1.077

Ortiz-Salgado, R., & García-Carmona, A. (2018). Enfoque decolonial y producción de conocimientos en dos universidades estatales chilenas. Opción: Revista de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales, 34(86), 481-516. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=7338183

Padilla, N. L. (2021). Decolonizing indigenous education: An indigenous pluriversity within a university in Cauca, Colombia. Social & Cultural Geography, 22(4), 523-544. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2019.1601244

Pimentel, S. K., & Rocha de Menezes, P. D. (2022). The Peoples’ Web and the university: Agroecology, insurgent traditional knowledge and epistemic decolonization. Ambiente & Sociedade, 25, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1590/1809-4422asoc20200094r1vu2022L1AO

Portillo García, M. I. (2019). Naturaleza, historia y actualidad de la universidad venezolana: Un aporte desde el proyecto decolonial. Quórum Académico, 16(1), 77-98. https://www.redalyc.org/journal/1990/199060185005/html/

Quijano, A. (2000). Coloniality of power and Eurocentrism in Latin America. International Sociology, 15, 215–232. https://doi.org/10.1177/02685809000150020

Rasool, S., & Harms-Smith, L. (2021). Towards decoloniality in a social work programme: A process of dialogue, reflexivity, action and change. Critical African Studies, 13(1), 56-72. https://doi.org/10.1080/21681392.2021.1886136

Restrepo, E. (2018). Decolonizar la universidad. In J. L. Barbosa, & L. Pereira, (Eds.) Investigación cualitativa emergente: Reflexiones y casos (pp. 11-25). Cecar.

Restrepo, P. (2014). Legitimation of knowledge, epistemic justice and the intercultural university: towards an epistemology of ‘living well’. Postcolonial Studies, 17(2), 140-154. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13688790.2014.966416

Restrepo E., & Rojas, A. (2010) Inflexión decolonial, fuentes, conceptos y cuestionamientos. Colección Políticas de la Alteridad Colombia. Editorial Universidad del Cauca

Rodríguez, M. N., Aguilar, J., & Apolo, D. (2018). El Buen vivir como desafío en la formación de maestros: aproximaciones desde la Universidad Nacional de Educación del Ecuador. Revista Mexicana de Investigación Educativa, 23(77), 577-596.

Snaza, N., & Singh, J. (2021). Introduction: Dehumanist education and the colonial university. Social Text, 39(1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1215/01642472-8750064

Stein, S. (2021). What can decolonial and abolitionist critiques teach the field of higher education?. The Review of Higher Education, 44(3), 387-414. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2021.0000

Tuck, E., & Yang, K. W. (2012). Decolonization is not a metaphor. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, 1 (1), 1-40. https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des/article/view/18630

Valenzuela-Baeza, C. (2021). La universidad como espacio de colonialidad: El desafío de repensar la educación. Revista de Filosofía, 38(99). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5700267

Vergès, F. (2021). A decolonial feminism. (A. J. Bohrer, Trans.). Pluto Press. (Original work published in 2019).

Vilarinho Pereira Borelli, J. D., Viana Silvestre, V. P., & Rocha Pessoa, R. (2020). Towards a decolonial language teacher education. Revista Brasileira de Lingüística Aplicada, 20(2), 301-324. https://doi.org/10.1590/1984-6398202015468

Zárate-Moedano, R. (2018). Alfabetización mediática decolonial para la formación de miradas antirracistas en la Universidad. Ra Ximhai, 14(2), 201-224. https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=46158063012

Published

2023-12-01

Issue

Section

Winter 2023 Special Issue

How to Cite

Decolonial Practices in Higher Education from the Global South: A Systematic Literature Review. (2023). Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education, 15(5), 12-26. https://doi.org/10.32674/jcihe.v15i5.5299