Enabling equitable cultures: decolonisation

This page contains a collection of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) resources with relevance to decolonisation in HE geography. These resources were collated as part of the project ‘Enabling equitable cultures of knowledge and practice in physical geography and environmental sciences’, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).  

This page is dynamic; if you know of other relevant resources or wish to submit your own case study, we’d like to hear from you at rhed@rgs.org 

The Society does not accept responsibility for the content of the external sites. Inclusion on this list does not equate to an endorsement of any content or organisation. Please contact the external site for questions regarding individual resources.  

Case studies 

Uncoupling binaries, unsettling narratives and enriching pedagogical practice: Lessons from a trial to indigenize geography curricula

University of Adelaide (Australia)

The development of culturally and social inclusive curricula is an important aspect of teaching geography. In countries such as Australia with a history of colonial oppression and dispossession the need to acknowledge Indigenous history and peoples in teaching is vital. This paper reports on the lessons learned from being part of the Indigenous Enrichment of Curricula Project (IECP) for geography curricula at the University of Adelaide, Australia.

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Decolonising the human geography curriculum

University of Bristol (UK)

The significant energies towards decolonising the curriculum in higher education are making themselves felt in ever more persistent and exciting ways at the University of Bristol. As part of changing the curriculum of higher education and human geography, the School of Geographical Sciences, MSc in Society and Space is pleased to offer two units in the 2017-18 year: Decolonising Environments: Movements Beyond Development and Postcolonial Matters.

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Exeter Decolonising Network (EDN)

University of Exeter (UK)

The Exeter Decolonising Network (EDN) is a collective of staff, students and community members affiliated to the University of Exeter. Network members collaborate across the Exeter and Southwest area to advance progressive knowledge and best practice around decolonial thoughts through dialogue, activities and events within and beyond university. Through this work, EDN aims to develop multiple forms of knowledge, teaching, learning and research grounded in emancipatory and liberatory practices.

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Decolonising Development Geography

A resource library collated by the Development Geographies Research Group with material on: decolonising research and research practice; decolonising teaching; decolonising Higher Education and academic institutions; wider readings on decolonial perspectives/theory; networks and information-sharing platforms; films and recorded events; and some suggested authors

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Toolkits

Decolonising SOAS: Learning and teaching toolkit for programme and module convenors

SOAS, University of London (UK)

This toolkit is intended to act as a briefing for programme and module convenors, on what ‘decolonising’ learning and teaching might entail. At its root it is about making what we teach and how we teach it more responsive to the problems of colonial and racialised privilege and discrimination within our teaching practice. This is not a set of prescriptions but a set of suggestions and ideas for colleagues and students to think through, individually and collectively. It is animated by a spirit of critical dialogue within education, and is also connected to wider institutional questions about the principles and practices of good teaching – in particular work on racialised attainment and inclusive pedagogy. Its aim is to stimulate reflection, dialogue and changes in teaching practice that reflect our values as an intellectual community and as an institution. 

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Decolonising the curriculum: a health check

Canterbury Christ Church University (UK)

The Decolonising the curriculum health check allows course teams to explore the diversity of their course/module(s) and to make regular, meaningful enhancements as part of a process of continuous improvement. Once you have completed the health check, use it to reflect and take action on how you can embed inclusivity, decolonise your course/module(s) and enrich the student experience. The health check can be completed by Course Directors and/or Module Leaders. Course teams may want to complete the health check with students to help gain an understanding of the student perception. 

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Selected readings  

Colonial legacies in physical geography

• Asher, K. (2013) Latin American decolonial thought, or making the subaltern speak. Geography Compass, 7, pp. 832–342

• Baldwin, A. (2017) Decolonising geographical knowledges: the incommensurable, the university and democracy. Area, 49, pp. 329-331

• Barnett, C. (1995) Awakening the dead: Who needs the history of geography? Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 20, pp. 417–419

• Bhakta, A. (2020) “Which door should I go through?”(In) visible intersections of race and disability in the academy. Area, 52, pp. 687–694

• Blunt, A. and McEwan, C. (Eds.) (2002) Postcolonial geographies. New York and London: Continuum. 

• Blunt, A. and Wills, J. (2000) Dissident geographies: An introduction to radical ideas and practice. Harlow: Prentice Hall. 

• Craggs, R. (2019) Decolonising the geographical tradition. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 44, pp. 444–446

• Crush, J. (1994) Post-colonialism, decolonization and geography. In A. Godlewska & N. Smith (Eds.), Geography and Empire, pp. 333–350. Blackwell Press

• Daigle, M., & Sundberg, J. (2017) From where we stand: Unsettling geographical knowledges in the classroom. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 42(3), 338-341

• de Leeuw, S., & Hunt, S. (2018) Unsettling decolonizing geographies. Geography Compass, 12(7), pp. 1–14

• Esson, J., Noxolo, P, Baxter, R., Daley, P. and Byron, M. (2017) The 2017 RGS-IBG chair’s theme: decolonising geographical knowledges, or reproducing coloniality? Area, 49, pp. 384-388

• Faria, C., Falola, B., Henderson, J. and Torres, R.M. (2019) ‘A long way to go: collective paths to racial justice in geography’. The Professional Geographer, 71, 2, pp. 364–76

• Ferretti, F. (2019) History and philosophy of geography I: Decolonising the discipline, diversifying archives and historicising radicalism. Progress in Human Geography

• Glassman, J. (2010) Critical geography II: articulating race and radical politics. Progress in Human Geography, 34, 4, pp. 506–12

• Griffiths, M. and Baker, K. (2020) Decolonising the spaces of geographical knowledge production: The RGS‐IBG at Kensington Gore. Area, 52, pp. 455-458. 

• Jazeel, T. (2014) Subaltern geographies: geographical knowledge and postcolonial strategy. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 35, 1, pp. 88–103

• Jazeel, T. (2017) Mainstreaming geography's decolonial imperative. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 42, 334–337

• Kalapula, E. S. (1984) Ideology and the decolonisation of development geography: Another view from the periphery. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 8, pp. 196–199

• Legg, S. (2017) Decolonialism. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 42, pp. 345–348

• Hawthorne, C., and Heitz, K. (2018) A seat at the table? Reflections on Black geographies and the limits of dialogue. Dialogues in Human Geography, 8, pp. 148–151. https://doi.org/10.1177/2043820618780578 

• King L, MacKenzie L, Tadaki M, Cannon S, McFarlane K, Reid D, Koppes M. (2018) Diversity in geoscience: participation, behavior, and the division of scientific labour at a Canadian geoscience conference. Facets, 3, pp. 415–440

• Kobayashi, A. (2014) The dialectic of race and the discipline of geography. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 104, pp. 1101–1115. https://doi.org/10.1080/00045608.2014.958388 

• Kobayashi, A., & Peake, L. (2000) Racism out of place: Thoughts on whiteness and an antiracist geography in the new millennium. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 90, pp. 392–403

• Mahtani, M. (2004) Mapping gender and race in the academy: the experiences of women of color faculty and graduate students in Britain, the US and Canada. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 28, pp. 91-99

• Mekonnen, A., Downs,C., Effiom, E.O., Kibaja, M., Lawes, M.J., Omeja, P., Ratsoavina, F.M., Razafindratsima, O., Sarkar, D., Stenseth, N.C., Chapman, C.A. (2021) Can I afford to publish? A dilemma for African scholars. Ecology Letters. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13949

• Nash, C. (2000) Decolonizing Geography: Postcolonial Perspectives. In A. Blunt & J. Wills (Eds.), Dissident Geographies: An introduction to radical ideas and practice (pp. 167–207). Prentice Hall. 

• Noxolo, P., Raghuram, P. and Madge, C. (2008) ‘Geography is pregnant’ and ‘Geography’s milk is flowing’: metaphors for a postcolonial discipline? Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 26, pp. 146–168

• Noxolo, P. (2009) “My Paper, My Paper”: Reflections on the embodied production of postcolonial geographical responsibility in academic writing. Geoforum, 40, pp. 55–65

• Noxolo, P. (2017) Introduction: Decolonising geographical knowledge in a colonised and re-colonising postcolonial world. Area, 49(3), pp. 317-319

• Noxolo, P. (2017) Decolonial theory in a time of the re-colonisation of UK research. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 42(7), pp. 342–344

• Pulido, L. (2002) Reflections on a white discipline. The Professional Geographer, 54, pp. 42–49

Indigenous and local knowledge

• Alderman, D., Narro Perez, R., Eaves, L.E., Klein, P. and Muñoz, S. (2019) Reflections on operationalizing an anti-racism pedagogy: teaching as regional storytelling. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, September, pp. 1–15

• Andrews, K. (2020) Blackness, empire and migration: How Black Studies transforms the curriculum. Area, 52, pp. 701–707

• Carter, J., and Hollinsworth, D. (2017) Teaching Indigenous geography in a neo-colonial world. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 41(2), pp. 182–197

• Castleden, H., Daley, K., Sloan Morgan, V., and Sylvestre, P. (2013) Settlers unsettled: Using field schools and digital stories to transform geographies of ignorance about Indigenous peoples in Canada. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 37(4), pp. 487–499

• Chatterton, P. (2008) Using geography to teach freedom and defiance: Lessons in social change from ‘autonomous geographies’. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 32(3), pp. 419–440

• Cupples, J. and Glynn, K. (2014) Indigenizing and decolonizing higher education on Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 35, pp. 56–71

• Daigle, M., and Sundberg, J. (2017) From where we stand: Unsettling geographical knowledges in the classroom. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 42, pp. 338–341

• Domosh, M. (2015) Why is our curriculum so white? Association of American Geographers Newsletter

• Eaves, L. (2020) Fear of an other geography. Dialogues in Human Geography,10, 34–36

• Faria, C., & Mollett, S. (2020) We didn’t have time to sit still and be scared’: A postcolonial feminist geographic reading of ‘An other geography’. Dialogues in Human Geography, 10, pp. 23–29

• Herman, R. (2008) Reflections on Importance of Indigenous Geography. American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 32(3), pp. 73–88

• Moorman, L., Evanovitch, J. and Muliaina, T. (2021) Envisioning indigenized geography: a two-eyed seeing approach. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 45:2, pp. 201-220, DOI: 10.1080/03098265.2021.1872060

• Myers, G.A. (2001) Introductory human geography textbook representations of Africa. Professional Geographer, 53, 4, pp. 522–32

• Shaw, W., Herman, R. D. K., and Dobbs, R. (2006) Encountering Indigeneity: Re-imagining and decolonizing geography. Geografiska Annaler. Series B, Human Geography, 88(3), pp. 267–276

• Seawright, G. (2014) Settler traditions of place: Making explicit the epistemological legacy of white supremacy and settler colonialism for place-based education. Educational Studies, 50(6), pp. 554–572

• Thaman, K. H. (2003) Decolonizing Pacific Studies: Indigenous perspectives, knowledge and wisdom in higher education. The Contemporary Pacific, 15(1), pp. 1–17

• Thaman, K. H. (2009) Towards Cultural Democracy in Teaching and Learning with specific References to Pacific Island Nations (PINs). International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 3(2), pp. 1–9

• Tuck, E., McKenzie, M. and McCoy, K. (2014) Land education: Indigenous, post-colonial, and decolonizing perspectives on place and environmental education research. Environmental Education Research, 20:1, pp. 1-23, DOI: 10.1080/13504622.2013.877708

• Wilson, K. (2018) Pulling Together: Foundations Guide. A Guide for Indigenization of Post-Secondary Institutions. BCcampus.

Methods and their legacies

• Baldwin, A. (2012) Whiteness and Futurity: Towards a Research Agenda. Progress in Human Geography, 36(2), pp. 172–187

• Barncroft, S.F. (2018) Toward a critical theory of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics doctoral persistence: Critical capital theory. Science Education, 102(6), pp. 1319-1335

• Cassiani, S. (2021). Counter-hegemonic science education: understanding the effects of coloniality and proposing a decolonial pedagogy. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 16(4), 1353-1360

• Fritzsche, L. (2021). Integrating contemplative pedagogy and anti-oppressive pedagogy in geography higher education classrooms. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 1-18

• Hawthorne, C. and Meche, B. (2016) Making room for Black feminist praxis in geography: a dialogue between Camilla Hawthorne and Brittany Meche, Society and Space, 13 September

• Heyman, R. (2000) Research, pedagogy, and instrumental geography. Antipode, 32(3), 292–307

• Liboiron, M. (2019) Decolonizing geoscience requires more than equity and inclusion. Nature Geoscience, 14, pp. 876–877. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-021-00861-7.

• Liboiron, M. (2021) Pollution Is Colonialism. Durham: Duke University Press.

• Mahtani, M. (2006) Challenging the ivory tower: Proposing anti‐racist geographies within the academy. Gender, Place & Culture, 13, pp. 21–25

• Mahtani, M. (2014) Toxic geographies: Absences in critical race thought and practice in social and cultural geography. Social & Cultural Geography, 15, pp. 359–367. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2014.888297 

• Malone, M. (2021) Teaching critical physical geography. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 45(3), 465-478

• Peake, L. and Kobayashi, A. (2002) Policies and practices for an antiracist geography at the millennium. The Professional Geographer, 54, 1, pp. 50–61

• Pulido, L. (2015) Geographies of race and ethnicity: White supremacy vs white privilege in environmental racism research. Progress in Human Geography, 39, pp. 809–817

• Radcliffe, S.A. (2005) Development and geography: Towards a postcolonial development geography? Progress in Human Geography, 29(3), 291–298

• Radcliffe, S.A. (2017) Decolonising geographical knowledges. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 42, pp. 329–333

• Radcliffe, S.A. (2017) Geography and indigeneity I: Indigeneity, coloniality and knowledge. Progress in Human Geography, 41(2), 220–229

• Radcliffe, S.A. (2018) Geography and indigeneity II: Critical geographies of indigenous bodily politics. Progress in Human Geography, 42(3), 436–445

• Raghuram, P. and Madge, C. (2008) Towards a method for postcolonial development geography?  Possibilities and challenges. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 27, pp. 270–288

• Shaw, W. S. (2006) Decolonizing geographies of whiteness. Antipode, 38, pp. 851–869

• Stanek, M.B. (2019) Decolonial education and geography: Beyond the 2017 Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers annual conference. Geography Compass, 13, pp. 1-13.

• Tooth, S., & Viles, H. A. (2021). Equality, diversity, inclusion: ensuring a resilient future for geomorphology. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 46(1), pp. 5-11. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.5026.

• Trisos, C.H., Auerbach, J. and Katti, M. (2021) Decoloniality and anti-oppressive practices for a more ethical ecology. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 5, pp. 1205–1212. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01460-w.

Curriculum design and reform

• Akinbosede, D. (2020) Science curricula must be decolonised too. Times Higher Education

• Andrews, K. (2020) Blackness, empire and migration: How Black Studies transforms the curriculum. Area, 52, pp. 701–707

• Desai, K. and Sanya, B.N. (2016) Towards decolonial praxis: Reconfiguring the human and the curriculum. Gender and Education, 28, pp. 710–724

• Domosh, M. (2015) Why is our curriculum so white? Association of American Geographers Newsletter

• Dwyer, O. J. (1999) Teaching about race and racism in geography: Classroom and curriculum perspectives. Journal of Geography, 98, pp. 176–179

• Elliott-Cooper, A. (2017) ‘Free, decolonized education’: a lesson from the South African student struggle. Area, 49, pp. 332-334

• Esson, J. (2020) “The why and the white”: Racism and curriculum reform in British geography. Area, 52, pp. 708-715

• Esson, J. and Last, A. (2020) Anti‐racist learning and teaching in British geography. Area, 52, pp. 668-677

• Hinton, M., and Ono‐George, M. (2020) Teaching a history of “race” and anti‐racist action in an academic classroom. Area, 52, pp. 716–721

• Jackson, P. (1989) Challenging racism through geography teaching. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 13, pp. 5–14

• Jazeel, T., Mackay, A., Evans, S.L. & Souch, C. (2022) Decolonising spaces of geographical knowledge production: ‘Thinking geographically’ with undergraduate geographers in the RGS-IBG at Kensington Gore. Area, 54, pp. 516– 520

• Kobayashi, A. (1999) “Race” and racism in the classroom: Some thoughts on unexpected moments. Journal of Geography, 98, pp. 179–182

• Laing, A.F. (2021) Decolonising pedagogies in undergraduate geography: student perspectives on a Decolonial Movements module. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 45:1, 1-19, DOI: 10.1080/03098265.2020.1815180

• Long, D., Dalu, M.S., Lambani, R.L. and Gunter, A. (2019) Shifting sands: The decoloniality of geography and its curriculum in South Africa. South African Journal of Science, 115(9), pp. 1-3

• Monk, J., Fortuijn, J.D. and Raleigh, C. (2004) The representation of women in academic geography:  contexts, climate and curricula. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 28, pp. 83-90

• Nguyen, N., Cohen, D. and Huff, A. (2017) Catching the bus: a call for critical geographies of education. Geography Compass, 11, 8, pp. 1–13

• Puttick, S. and Murrey, A. (2020) Confronting the deafening silence on race in geography education in England: learning from anti-racist, decolonial and Black geographies. Geography, 105:3, pp. 126-134, DOI: 10.1080/00167487.2020.12106474

• Rogers, Sl, Lau, L, Dowey, Natasha, Sheikh, H And Williams, R (2022). Geology Uprooted! Decolonising The Curriculum For Geologists. Geoscience Communication, 5 (3), pp.189-204.

Field issues

• Baker, K., Eichhorn, M., & Griffiths, M. (2019) Decolonising field ecology. Biotropica, 51, pp. 288–292

• Faria, C. and Mollett, S. (2016) ‘Critical feminist reflexivity and the politics of whiteness in the field’. Gender, Place & Culture, 23, 1, pp. 79–93

Blogs​​​

• Akinbosede, D. (2020) Science curricula must be decolonised too. Times Higher Education.

• Last, A. (2019) “Decolonise STEM” symposium notes (also: please don’t deport my colleague!). Mutable Matter.​

• Zemmel, C. and Aris, E. (2020) Taking steps in the right direction: ‘Decolonising the Sciences’ in the HPS department. Varsity.​

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Other resources

New to teaching geography

A practical guide for higher education teaching assistants, teaching fellows and demonstrators.

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Enabling equitable cultures: Curriculum

A collection of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) resources with relevance to the curriculum in HE geography.

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Critical histories of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)

A reading list exploring aspects of the Society's past.

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Research conduct and ethics in the field

Resources to support safe, responsible and ethical research in the field.

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Relevant organisations

Geological Society of London

RGS-IBG Race, Culture and Equality Working Group