“We target this university not because it is some ‘global leader’ of progressive change, but because of its historical complicity in colonial domination.

Our work in this city of sculpted exclusion and erasure is meaningful only insofar as we remember that it is marginal.

Our role in this project is to shrink Cambridge and its sister colonial institutions – to make way for those who dream of deeper things than this place is able.”

Exerpt from Safieh’s speech at the Decolonisation Rally (31 Oct 2017).

What is decolonisation?

Student and activist Jun Pang reflects on what decolonising the university means, the origins of the movement in Cambridge, as well as directions for the future (7m46).

FEATURED

A short history of decolonial organising in Cambridge

Our short history captures of some of the key moments in efforts to decolonise the University of Cambridge since #RhodesMustFall in 2015.

Resources

This resource base is an effort to create a useful and inspiring collection of videos, articles and soundbites that describe and explore the different dimensions of what is entailed by decolonisation, in Cambridge and further afield.

MAGAZINES & ESSAYS

The first Disorientation Guide produced by 12 Pints Press details decolonisation work across Cambridge.

The first Decolonise! magazine compiles student contributions from seven different departments.
The Ivory Tower Must Fall introduces and explores the different dimensions of decolonisation work in Cambridge.

The full clip is available on YouTube.

VIDEOS

An historic debate between James Baldwin v. William F. Buckley Jr. at the Cambridge University Union: “Is the American Dream at the expense of the American Negro?” (1965).

A “Decolonisation Panel” at the Cambridge Union, with Dr Priyamvada Gopal, Dr Bethan Marshall, Jason & Lina (2018)

A pathbreaking conversation between Angela Y Davis and poet and scholar Jackie Kay at the Cambridge Corn Exchange (2018).

NEWS & COMMENTARY

What is decolonisation and why does it matter at Cambridge?

Howard Chae and Faria Tussenbaum explore where the decolonisation movement fits into the modern university (28 Sept 2018).

Decolonisation efforts branch out across faculties

Noella Chye & Nick Collin describe the early steps of decolonisation working groups in Classics, MML, Politics and Social Anthropology (9 March 2018)

Our curricula are white, and they shouldn’t be

When we study a white masculine mode of thinking, we forget those oppressed by it – writes Lola Olufemi (24 Oct 2015)