Decolonising Cardiff University? Analysing colonial and postcolonial institutional geographies, relations, practices and legacies
Decolonisation has grabbed national media attention but efforts in institutions like universities often fail to address the challenges it poses.
In this project, you’ll draw on ideas and scholarship from human geography and the social sciences to raise questions about the ideological, relational and material challenges of decolonial work. This will help you to develop techniques to move decolonisation practice at Cardiff University beyond its common reduction to culture, discourse and the classroom.
This doctoral project is located within the Arts Humanities and Social Sciences College at Cardiff University. You’ll trace the roots of the college and the wider university in relation to the city of Cardiff and its rise to global prominence through the export of coal and iron. Combining historical and contemporary knowledge, you’ll investigate the dynamic, contingent and ongoing relationships that have developed with local, regional and global spaces and communities. There is scope for the successful candidate to choose a focus commensurate with their lived experience, interest or expertise. This might entail, for example, a particular emphasis on social class, racial minoritisation, gender, sexuality and/or (dis)ability.
This is a timely project that aligns with many initiatives underway around Wales (Cadw, Royal Commission, Legall Report into commemoration in Wales).
Summary
Decolonisation – the de-centring of Western ideologies – has increasingly grabbed ‘sensationalist and sensationalising national media attention’ (Gopal, 2021: 874). Nevertheless, Gopal (2021) notes that it has also become an acceptable buzzword amongst university administrations. While acknowledging and engaging with this process of ‘learning, unlearning and relearning’ (Datta, 2017 in Held, 2020) is a relevant and, indeed, vital strategy, efforts at ‘decolonisation’ are often well-meaning ‘tinkerings’ that fail to address the difficult, demanding and material challenges decolonisation poses. Critics argue that the popularity of ‘decolonising’ narratives can help universities bolster their reputations without getting to the root of things. Some go further to argue that at their core, universities are irrevocably bound up with the hidden violence of sexism and racism, and cannot help but reproduce injustices (Meyerhoff, 2019).
This PhD aims to develop questions and identify and follow engagements and influences so as to move beyond common reductions to culture, discourse and the classroom. In so doing, it works to ‘excavate and recognise lines of influence that run from ‘non-Europe’ to ‘Europe’ and so relink pathways towards dialogue (Gopal, 2021:892). It will open up space for discussions around if and how current institutional relationships can be recuperated. This includes exploring ideas around alternative modes of study (Meyerhoff 2019), anti-racist scholar activism (Joseph-Salisbury and Connelly 2021) and decolonial creolisation (Rodriguez and Tate 2015).
The successful candidate will have opportunities to explore how their research connects to the aims and priorities of various third sector organisations, research centres and social enterprises via Cardiff University’s Social Sciences Research Park.
Aims and research questions
Taking inspiration from feminist, postcolonial and decolonial scholarship, this intersectional investigation focuses on the geographies of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) at Cardiff University, tracing historical and contemporary relationships with its social and built environment out into local, regional and globally situated spaces and communities. Drawing on Marcus (1995) to utilise a ‘following’ methodology, the PhD will investigate:
- How should AHSS engage with, reflect on and/or memorialise these connections?
- In what ways do these legacies shape contemporary relations with local and global research partners and communities?
- To what extent is AHSS seen as a ‘colonial’, ‘postcolonial’, ‘neocolonial’ or ‘decolonial’ institution?
Methods
This project will adopt a two-phase qualitative mixed-methods approach. Firstly, drawing on archival resources from Cardiff University’s special collections, Cathays Heritage Branch Library and Glamorgan Archives; participant observations of key institutional spaces, meetings and events; and semi-structured interviews with faculty and support staff will enable a critical understanding of key historic and contemporary links, engagements and influences. Analysing and reflecting on the multiple, dynamic and contingent individuals, discussions, ideologies and decisions that have, and continue to, perform the university today provides contextualisation to understand the latter’s contemporary linkages with the wider community.
Secondly, and following discussions between the PhD researcher and supervisory team, selected connections identified in the first phase will be ‘followed’ to understand their ongoing impacts and legacies in proximate and distant communities. Tracing these spatial relationships through the things, metaphors, people, narratives, biographies and/or conflicts that perform them enables a more holistic analysis of the connections Cardiff University has forged with communities from the local to global scale. This phase will draw on bibliographic and participatory approaches such as interviews, walk-alongs and interactive focus groups to develop insights into the social and power relations, agency and practices that established and reproduce Cardiff’s wider networks.
