English Lit after empire: “decolonizing” the curriculum at decolonization
What would a “decolonized” literature curriculum look like, and has one ever existed? This talk locates the contemporary drive to “decolonize” curricula in the historical era of decolonization itself by sketching a conceptual framework for literary “decolonization” rooted in historical campaigns to reform English Literature examinations for 14–18-year-olds in Kenya, Jamaica and Britain. It concludes that calls to “decolonize” curricula have long been contentious – now, and in the past – because they involve writers, teachers and students challenging the political authority of governments as guardians of culture.

Asha Rogers is Associate Professor of Contemporary Postcolonial Literature at the University of Birmingham and the author of State Sponsored Literature: Britain and Cultural Diversity after 1945 (OUP, 2020).
Date: 5 November 2024, 16:00 (Tuesday, 4th week, Michaelmas 2024)
Venue: 15 Norham Gardens, 15 Norham Gardens OX2 6PY
Venue Details: Seminar Room A
Speaker: Dr Asha Rogers (Associate Professor of Contemporary Postcolonial Literature at the University of Birmingham)
Organising department: Department of Education
Organiser: Dr Velda Elliott (University of Oxford)
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Public
Editor: Hannah Freeman