O iginal Manusc ip
A s and Humani ies in Highe Educa ion
2022, Vol. 0(0) 1–17
© The Au ho (s) 2022
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DOI: 10.1177/14740222221100711
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Wi he he plu ali y o
decolonising he cu iculum?
Sa e spaces and iden i a ian
poli ics in he a s and
humani ies class oom
Ana C Mendes
Uni e sidade de Lisboa, Po ugal
Lisa Lau
Keele Uni e si y, UK
Abs ac
Con ibu ing o he deba e on decolonising he cu iculum, his eflec i e a icle
ques ions: Wha does a sa e space in a decolonised class oom mean? Fo whom is i sa e?
And a wha cos ? Mus we ed aw he pa ame e s o ‘sa e’? P omp ed by a eal-li e ‘n-
wo d inciden ’in he class oom, his a icle unpacks he collision o decolonising he
cu iculum o con inue making eaching and lea ning mo e plu i e sal and inclusi e, wi h
he enac men o he ‘wounded a achmen s’o iden i a ian poli ics and he playing o
‘P i ilege o Opp ession Olympics’. Using snippe s om B i ish pa ody and sa i e on
decolonising he uni e si y, we que y how a wokeness in a uni e si y se ing can
become poli ical co ec ness aken o ex emes ha h ea en decolonising e o s. In i s
concluding eflec ions, he a icle makes en a i e ecommenda ions o se ing up sa e
spaces, away om sel -silencing o censo ing, and backing away om con en ion and
p o oca ion in he class oom.
Keywo ds
Decolonising he cu iculum, whi eness, sa e spaces, cancel cul u e, gene ous hinking,
highe educa ion, social jus ice, c i ical heo y
Co esponding au ho :
Ana C Mendes, School o A s and Humani ies, Uni e sidade de Lisboa, Alameda da Uni e sidade, Lisboa,
1649-004, Po ugal.
Email: ana [email protected]
In oduc ion
he e is only one wo ld. We a e all pa o i , and we all ha e a igh o i . The wo ld belongs o
all o us, equally, as we a e all i s co-inhe i o s, e en i ou ways o li ing in i a e no he
same, hence he eal plu alism o cul u es and ways o being. (Mbembe, 2017: 182)
Decolonising he cu iculum is abou how we lea n and whom and whe e we lea n
om, as much as wha we lea n. I is abou mul i-epis emic li e acy, plu alising and
legi imising al e na i e knowledges, ep esen a ions, and li e-wo lds. Decolonising is o
mo e beyond bipola i y, lis en o he a ious oices wi hin he plu i e se (Mignolo,
1995), and hink gene ously (Fi zpa ick, 2019). The global deba es on decolonising he
cu iculum and disman ling he ins i u ional s uc u es ha sus ain sys emic inequali ies in
academia demons a e ha c i ical pedagogies need o emain cen i ugal o ces in he
con ex o he neolibe al uni e si y (Bhamb a, 2014;Bhamb a e al., 2018;Bhamb a
e al., 2020;Mbembe, 2016;Mignolo, 2009,2018). Con ibu ing o he decolonising
agenda, many educa o s and schola s ha e been, a leas since he 1990s, na iga ing he
eaching- esea ch in e ace and d awing on insigh s om c i ical ace heo y and in-
e sec ionali y o con ibu e o he enewal o syllabi and cu icula design. To decolonise
he cu iculum, we mus con inue o sel - eflexi ely unpack he shadow win o ‘whi e
p i ilege’(McIn osh, 1997), ‘Whi e F agili y’, and explo e he complex posi ionali ies o
whi e allies in he class oom h ough an in e sec ional lens.
Zinga and S y es poin ou ha he na u e o decolonising and an i-opp essi e ped-
agogies is o esis and challenge he s a us quo –in o he wo ds, o upend he assump ions
and s a ing poin s aken o g an ed, and ‘ he ne wo ks and ela ions o powe and
p i ilege ha a e sys emically embedded in academia’; howe e , hey also no e ha when
hese pedagogies a e in oduced in o he class oom, ‘ hey au oma ically gene a e dis-
com o and he eby igge coun e - esis ances among s uden s’(2013, 32). S uden s’
discom o may be caused by pe cei ing he pedagogical app oaches o cu iculum o be
colonising and excluding. Equally, o he s uden s a e uncom o able wi h a decolonised
cu iculum, ega ding i as a dilu ion o a ilifica ion o he (wes e n) canon. This la e
poin o iew p esen s a backlash o e o s o decolonise, gi en he ‘Whi e F agili y’
(DiAngelo, 2011) which can also be p esen in a class oom.
Lec u e s ace many poli ical, philosophical, and e hical challenges and seemingly
una oidable pa adoxes in decolonising he cu iculum. Many ha e al eady iden ified
me hodological pi alls in he decolonising ‘p ojec ’–o no e he e a e Moosa i (2020) on
he dange s o ‘ he decolonial bandwagon’, and Tuck and Yang on ‘wha is unse ling
abou decoloniza ion’, how i has been u ned ‘in o an emp y signifie o be filled by any
ack owa ds libe a ion’(2012: 7), and how ‘decolonisa ion’should no be o e used as a
ading e m o any social jus ice endea ou s. Using eflec ion as i s s a ing poin , ou
in e en ion explo es some o hese pa adoxes o decolonising he cu iculum. Ou
unde s anding o decolonising –in ela ion o he cu iculum and pedagogy, and heo y
and p ac ice –is g ounded on an awa eness ha cons uc ions o wes e ness and
Whi eness ha e been cen ed o no malised as e e ence poin s in academia;
2A s and Humani ies in Highe Educa ion 0(0)
co espondingly, decolonising he cu iculum has less o do wi h an i acis pedagogies
and mo e wi h unco e ing and c i iquing Eu ocen ic epis emic iolence which sus ained
(as con inues o sus ain) on ological iolence in and beyond academia (Sundbe g, 2014:
34). Th ough a eal-li e class oom si ua ion and he lens o pa ody, we ease ou dilemmas
and double binds in b inging c i ical heo y in o p ac ice, namely c i ical ace heo y and
in e sec ionali y, in decolonising he cu iculum. The aim is o highligh how Whi eness
(unde s ood as he socially no ma i e and epis emic ideal sus ained by ‘na a i e
s uc u al posi ions, he o ical opes and habi s o pe cep ion’[Dye , 1997: 12]) and
‘whi e p i ilege’(McIn osh, 1997) emain con en ious issues and sou ces o anxie y in a
con ex when global uni e si y class ooms seem o be gea ed owa ds pola isa ion.
The concep o ‘whi e p i ilege’ad anced by McIn osh (1997) wi hin c i ical
Whi eness s udies, in a s udy o iginally published in 1988, called o he unpacking o ‘ he
in isible backpack’o whi e p i ilege. In he la e 1980s No h Ame ican con ex o acial
and e hnic poli ics, McIn osh commodified his p i ilege h ough a mone a y image,
s a ing ha i con e ed in o ‘asse s’which one ‘can coun on cashing in each day’(1997:
291). Whi e p i ilege e e s o he dominan expe ience o a wes e n, whi e, masculine,
middle-class, cis-gende , he e osexual, non-disabled, e c. subjec , and he use o he wo d
‘asse s’ ela es o he o ganisa ion o an economy o p i ilege, i.e. a social s uc u e in
which whi e p i ilege ci cula es and is aded as a cu ency. Th ee decades la e , Doha y,
Mad iaga, and Joseph-Salisbu y, in hei amusingly i led a icle, “The Uni e si y Wen o
‘Decolonise’and All They B ough Back Was Lousy Di e si y Double-speak!”(2021),
unde sco e how Whi eness is so pe asi e as o con inue o make i sel in isible, as
McIn osh had o ce ully no ed, wi h de as a ing consequences o non-whi e academics.
These consequences include ec ui ing decolonisa ion wo k o se e whi e pu poses, as
he au ho s ph ase i :
decoloniza ion is he ‘new’way in which ins i u ions can demons a e commi men o
acism –bo h in e pe sonally and s uc u ally. Ins i u ions ad ance a he han disman le
acism by adop ing he wo k o a ew acially mino i ised g oups, bu exploi a i ely d aining
he use ul pa s o hei schola ship o mee ins i u ional me ics and ma ke ise ashionable
buzz-wo ds ha appeal o social media hash ags. (2021: 240)
Thei esea ch wa ns ha , i onically, i is he non-whi e s a who a e wo ked ‘in o he
g ound’by ca ying a disp opo iona e sha e o he bu den o decolonising he cu ic-
ulum, which ul ima ely ein o ces he whi e supe s uc u e.
Shahjahan and Edwa ds ponde he pene a i e and e ol ing powe o Whi eness,
which hey a gue no only shaped he pas bu also ashions u u es as i impac s p esen
endea ou s and ambi ions: “Whi eness’endu ing capaci y lies in i s malleabili y, i s
abili y o shape-shi in esponse o i s p esen en i onmen o ( e)cons uc i s pas and
u u e’(2021: 3). In hei iew, whe e Whi eness should be an u gen conce n o ou
p esen and u u e, i is seemingly impossible o shake o he shackles i holds he wo ld
in. We do no disag ee wi h Shahjahan and Edwa ds’s po ayal o he encompassing each
o Whi eness, bu wi hin he highe educa ion model seek o nuance he p oblem o how o
cons uc ‘sa e spaces’wi hin class ooms when hose class ooms a e he spaces o a
Mendes and Lau 3
decolonised cu iculum and spaces wi hin he la ge colonial supe s uc u e. The posi-
ionali y o Whi eness is augh wi h pi alls e en o commi ed whi e allies. Di e si and
Finley no e he need o whi e allies, e en hose wi h he bes in en ions, o ead e y
ca e ully because hey could all oo easily end up as ‘ he igh eous Pos colonial knigh ’,
‘pimps-o - he-su e ing’,o ‘po e y pimps o academy’(2010: 15). Howe e , he ole o
whi e allies is c i ical in he decolonising e o , jus as male allies ha e always been
c i ical in eminis s uggles. Such mo emen s, like eminism o decolonising cu icu-
lums, a e no in ended o imp o e condi ions o only one segmen o he popula ion; like
a ising ide ha li s all boa s, hey in end o make condi ions be e o all by add essing
issues o equi y ( a he han jus equali y). And likewise, he e is no in en ion o demonise
people who iden i y as whi e; i is Whi eness (i.e. Whi e Sup emacy, Whi e P i ilege, e c.)
which is unde c i ique. The basic p emise unde lying Decolonising he Cu iculum is ha
i should op imise mo e knowledges, en ich h ough inclusi i y, c ea e a be e wo ld o
e e yone, no only o he global majo i y.
This eflec i e a icle abou how o cons uc genuinely and inclusi ely eaching and
lea ning sa e spaces was gi en impe us by a Black s uden calling an lec u e ou o using
he n-wo d in he class oom. The Black s uden con ended ha he lec u e should ha e
sel -censo ed by e aining om eading he n-wo d because she is whi e (o so he
s uden assumed), so she does no ha e he s anding o do so. While he pa icula s o he
si ua ion ha fi s inspi ed w i ing his a icle we e unexpec ed, in he build-up o he
cu en ‘poli ical clima e,’ he e we e indica ions ha academics ough o inc easingly
sel -censo o ea o unwi ingly o ending s uden s. The pa adox lies in he ac ha , in
he cu en poli ical and social clima e, ca ego ies such as ‘woman’and ‘Black’ha e
become fluid o allow hei use o iden i a ian iden ifica ion and communi y-building.
Beyond on ology, o be a woman and/o Black in his amewo k hus means iden i ying
as a woman and/o Black. Indi iduals hemsel es do he iden i ying in e ms o hei
social iden i y, a he han ha ing socie y make he iden ifica ion. Howe e , his iden-
i a ian fluidi y seems no always accep ed in he decolonised class oom when i conce ns
he whi e-as-inhe en ly-p i ileged subjec . As Felsen hal (2018) asks, conside ing he
case o Rachel Dolezal and he a endan p oblems o ‘p i ilege, app op ia ion, colo ism,
ally-ship,’and ‘unde ep esen a ion’, can iden i y be fluid? ‘And i i can: Can we add ace
o i ? Why and why no ?’
When i comes o he ca ego y o ace, social iden i y becomes isible iden i y (e en
when he iden i y in ques ion is no isible). The lec u e ’s isible iden i y as whi e c ea ed
ension in he class oom when she u e ed he n-wo d. How can his o ies o opp ession be
e isi ed i some educa ional agen s –especially hose pe cei ed as ca ying he knapsack
o ‘whi e p i ilege’–a e gi en s ic sc ip s o ac ion in he class oom? How do (whi e)
lec u e s ead he fine line be ween ‘cancel’cul u e and wokeness and awa eness o he
possibili y o causing o ence by using ce ain ma e ials and add essing specific opics in
he class oom? Be ween whi e app op ia ion and ally-ship? Be ween censo ship and
speaking u h o powe ? These ques ions call o sc u inising he g owing cu ency o he
idea and he possible o ma ions o ‘sa e spaces’in uni e si y se ings, pa icula ly in
oday’s A s and Humani ies class ooms. Global n-wo d con o e sies, o example, o ce
all academics o econside whe he he class oom is a sa e space, o whom hey a e sa e,
4A s and Humani ies in Highe Educa ion 0(0)
and wha e en cons i u es ‘sa e’. Such con o e sies should se e as ca alys s o e-
ga ding he ‘sa eness’o ou class ooms – e hinking whe e we a e going and wha spaces
we a e c ea ing (i we a e, in ac , ‘swadd[ling]’ou s uden s ‘in co on wool’, as Jona han
Coe’s cha ac e Ian pu s i in he 2018 no el Middle England). While commi ed o
championing he cons uc ion o a ‘sa e’class oom (bo h physically and me apho ically),
his a icle a emp s o ed aw he pa ame e s o ‘sa eness’o class oom spaces, which
mus conside how he Whi e body is seen na iga ing his space. This sc u inising is
especially ele an when we wi ness he c ea ion o acially seg ega ed spaces in US
campuses and ‘Days o Absence’(days on which whi e s uden s a e asked o lea e he
campus), pe haps aking o he ex eme he concep ion o spaces as ‘co ela ed wi h
ep esen a ions o he subjec ’(G osz, 1995: 99), i.e. associa ing he spa io- empo al
loca ion o he uni e si y class oom wi h subjec i i y.
This eflec ion on sa e spaces ex ends o challenging in he class oom space wha
B own (1993) calls he ‘wounded a achmen s’o iden i a ian poli ics. These ‘wounded
a achmen s’a e o en conduci e o he cons i u ion o iden i ies buil on sha ed social
expe iences o pain and inju y, which hen become an iden i y ma ke and di e en ia o ,
ou side o which he subjec , and hei esponses and expe iences, un he isk o be-
coming socially in isible, and inside o which hey can be limi ed in sel -unde s anding
hei own si ua ion. As B own w i es:
In i s eme gence as a p o es agains ma ginaliza ion o subo dina ion, poli icized iden i y
hus becomes a ached o i s own exclusion bo h because i is p emised on his exclusion o
i s e y exis ence as iden i y and because he o ma ion o iden i y a he si e o exclusion, as
exclusion, augmen s o ‘al e s he di ec ion o he su e ing’en ailed in subo dina ion o
ma ginaliza ion by finding a si e o blame o i . (1993: 406)
In he nex sec ion, we p esen he con ex and unpack he ‘n-wo d inciden ’men ioned
abo e in a class oom in Po ugal. Following ha , and elying on pa ody and sa i e as
cen u ies-old o ms o speaking u h o powe , we d aw insigh s om snippe s ex ac ed
om B i ish pa odies on decolonising he uni e si y ha ha e ques ioned he socially
ans o ma i e and empowe ing implica ions o wokeness and denounced i s excesses in
he UK. How can lec u e s p e en calls o decolonising he cu iculum om lapsing in o
pola isa ion and ‘cancel’cul u e? How can a mo e gene ous, expanded unde s anding o
decolonising he cu iculum be ad anced and, b oadly, how can we cul i a e ‘gene ous
hinking’in he uni e si y (Fi zpa ick, 2019)? Wha a e he a ious concep ual and
p ac ical adjus men s ha he ask would demand? Because his no ion o ‘gene osi y’is
essen ial, and o en o e looked in decolonising e o s –which can some imes esemble a
ba leg ound –we will e u n o i in ou concluding ema ks. In his final sec ion, he
a icle makes en a i e ecommenda ions o se ing up sa e spaces o all, away om sel -
silencing o censo ing, no backing away om con en ion and p o oca ion in he
class oom.
Mendes and Lau 5

A class oom ‘inciden ’
One o he au ho s o his a icle eaches a isual cul u e MA semina in he English and
Ame ican s udies p og amme a he School o A s and Humani ies, Uni e si y o Lisbon.
The semina g oup is usually di e se, na ionali y-wise. One o he fi s sessions in ol ed a
discussion o Blackness and Whi eness in he field o ision, based on exce p s om
ounda ional ex s by Fanon (2008:82–108) and Dye (1997: 1–40). F om ha , we
deba ed how iolence is inex icable om p ac ices o looking (building on a gumen s by
Ba hes [1981: 91] and Ha away [1998: 585]). We hen conside ed he possibili ies o
e e sing he iolence encoded in he impe ial echnology o he pho og aphic came a
ad anced by Azoulay’s (2019) idea o ‘unlea ning impe ialism’. Mi zoe ’s heo ies o
‘coun e isuali y,’o ‘ he igh o look’agains iolence, ecognising iolence as ‘ he
s anda d ope a ing p ocedu e o isuali y’(2011: 292), we e b ough o bea on his
‘unlea ning impe ialism’deba e in he semina oom. A ocus on ep esen ing ‘ he pain o
o he s’ isually (Ha man, 1997;Son ag, 2003) ollowed, using as case s udies o iolen
public images (Mi chell, 1990) lynching pho og aphs and films ha , o di e ing deg ees,
isually quo ed lynching, including exce p s om D. W. G i fi h’sThe Bi h o a Na ion
(1915), Spike Lee’sBlacKkKlansman (2018), and Raoul Peck’sI Am No You Neg o
(2016). We adop ed Mi chell’s desc ip ion o cinema as ‘a medium o public a in an
ex ended o “imp ope ”sense’, i.e. d awing on a Habe masian unde s anding o a classic
public sphe e, as ‘a medium ha is nei he “public”no “a ”in his p ope (u opian)
sense’(1990: 889). As o he lynching pho og aphs shown, we likewise amed hem as
public images in Mi chell’s in e p e a ion, i.e. inhe en ly iolen , conside ing he aci-
alising pu poses o which hese pic u es we e aken and hei specific ole in ‘ he o de o
hings’.
The pedagogical decision o show lynching pho og aphs in he class oom con ex
ela ed o a esounding acknowledgemen ha hese, as public images, una oidably exe
iolence on hei iewe s while no unde es ima ing he di ficul y o ‘ igh ly’engaging
aes he ically and e hically wi h ‘ he pain o o he s’. In ad ance o deba ing he issues o
spec a o ship, spec acle, display, cu iosi y/ ascina ion/ oyeu ism/ epulsion, wi nessing,
and empa hy p omp ed by hese isual ex s, we conside ed Son ag’s ques ions mo i a ed
by a galle y exhibi in New Yo k in 2000 o pho og aphs o Black ic ims o lynching in
he 1890s and 1930s:
Wha is he poin o exhibi ing hese pic u es? To awaken indigna ion? To make us eel ‘bad’;
ha is, o appall and sadden? To help us mou n? Is looking a such pic u es eally necessa y,
gi en ha hese ho o s lie in a pas emo e enough o be beyond punishmen ? A e we he
be e o seeing hese images? Do hey ac ually each us any hing? Don’ hey a he jus
confi m wha we al eady know (o wan o know)? (2003: 91–2)
These ho ny ques ions we e supplemen ed by a esponse o o he s posed by Saidiya
Ha man (1997: 3–4) and Wendy Wol e s, be o e we looked ‘a ins ead o wi h he
spec a o s’(2004: 400) in F ed Gilde slee e’s pho og aph, ‘La ge C owd Looking a he
Bu ned Body o Jesse Washing on, 18-yea -old A ican Ame ican, Lynched in Waco,
6A s and Humani ies in Highe Educa ion 0(0)
Texas, 15 May 1916’. Gilde slee e’s pho og aph was selec ed o analysis because Spike
Lee isually quo es i in BlacKkKlansman.Afinal ques ion posed o he s uden s was:
does looking a lynching pic u es, emedia ed in films such as BlacKkKlansman and IAm
No You Neg o, cons i u e a supplemen al iola ion o he Black body, a epe i ion o
iolence?
In he subsequen session, And ea A nold’s 2011 film adap a ion o Emily B on ¨
e’s
Wu he ing Heigh s was in oduced as a li e a u e- o-sc een adap a ion case s udy. The
sugges ed angle o analysis was o ocus on he isual and au al ansla ion o nine een h-
cen u y acialising opes unde pinning ‘ acial capi alism’(Robinson, 2000)and‘ aci-
alizing assemblages’(Weheliye, 2014). A nold’s use o he n-wo d in he sc ip ( ia
Hindley’s ca ego isa ion o Hea hcli ) is in eg al o wha he adap a ion o B on ¨
e’s no el
is doing (Mendes, 2022). To expand on he pe locu iona y e ec s o he slu (Bu le , 1997:
44), he lec u e ead aloud a quo e by James Baldwin om an in e iew o he PBS
special i led “The Neg o and he Ame ican P omise,”b oadcas in 1963:
Wha whi e people ha e o do is y and find ou in hei own hea s why i was necessa y o
ha e a ‘nigge ’in he fi s place, because I’m no a nigge , I’m a man. Bu i you hink I’ma
nigge , i means you need him …I I’m no he nigge he e and you in en ed him, you he
whi e people in en ed him, hen you’ e go o find ou why. And he u u e o he coun y
depends on ha , whe he o no i is able o ask ha ques ion.
A e he class, a Black s uden communica ed o he lec u e ia email ha he u -
e ance o he n-wo d in eading he quo e abo e aloud ( h ee imes in he space o a
minu e) was so o ensi e o he as a Black s uden (and ansg essi e owa ds Blacks) ha
she had o lea e he class, and was ha ing o de e mine whe he she could e u n o ha
semina ’s sessions in he u u e. Two semina sessions be o e, she had been ocal in he
epudia ion o he lec u e asking he s uden s o analyse lynching pic u es. She called he
showing o hese images in an academic con ex unnecessa y, e en inapp op ia e, on he
g ounds ha we all ( hose in he class oom) knew o he iolence commi ed in he pas on
Black bodies. A ew sessions la e , he use o he n-wo d was ega ded as a epea o ence.
Wha was included in he syllabus wi h he aim o memo ialising was unde s ood as
spec acle and a o m o an i-Black isual and e bal iolence. Fo he s uden , he lec u e
had o e s epped; because she was igge ed by expe iences wi hin he cou se, he op ion
was o cancel he in e ac ion wi h i , so she in o med he lec u e she was conside ing
d opping ou in he middle o he semes e as a o m o p o es . The es o he s uden s
we e unawa e o his, as he exchanges be ween he s uden and lec u e happened ou side
he class oom.
This episode o ces a e hinking abou whe he some wo ds can be banned o all excep
a pa icula g oup. Such calling ou as cancelling ou –unde he guise o holding some
accoun able, o a leas complici o he o ences o he colonial supe s uc u e –
ques ions he igh s o eedom o speech, e en wi hin an academic con ex o decon-
s uc ing weaponised slu s. The con o e sy o e non-Blacks using he n-wo d has been
happening in uni e si ies ac oss he US and he UK (see, o example, he epo s in Inside
Highe Ed on his ongoing con o e sy [Flahe y, 2019,2020;S a kman, 2020;Zwie ,
Mendes and Lau 7
2018]), including he ecen ‘n-wo d ow’a he School o O ien al and A ican S udies
(SOAS), Uni e si y o London. In Ma ch 2021, Adam Habib, he di ec o o SOAS, used
he n-wo d in an online mee ing when he was confi ming ha he ins i u ion does no
pe mi acialised slu s in class ooms. Habib de ended himsel in he subsequen calls o
his esigna ion by explaining ha he did no speak he n-wo d callously o un hinkingly.
As he ph ased i , he u e ed he wo d ‘because con ex ma e s and I was a guing o aking
puni i e ac ion. You canno impu e maligned in en ion wi hou unde s anding con ex ’
(Thomas, 2021). Habib hen wen on o add ess he issue head-on, unde sco ing how, in
his iew, economic s a ifica ion is he main d i ing o ce o inequali y:
Do I belie e ha only blacks can e balise he wo d? No, I don’ . I am awa e ha his is a
common iew among ac i is s commi ed o an iden i a ian poli ics. I don’ iden i y wi h his
poli ical adi ion. I g ew up in a poli ical adi ion ha is mo e cosmopoli an o ien ed and
mo e ocused on he class dimensions o s uc u al p oblems.
Habib’s de ence aises an impo an poin abou di e en posi ionali ies leading o
di e en iden i a ian poli ics, and how he igh s o some may he e o e espass on he
igh s o o he s. Icaza and V´
azquez a gue ha ‘no all o ms o disc imina ion a he
uni e si y ha e o do wi h he in isibilisa ion o di e ence’(2018: 120), poin ing ou ha
he e y exhibi ion o di e si y in he class oom can esul in ano he o m o exclusion.
S ill, i he pe o mance o di e en iden i a ian poli ics and hei co esponding ‘cancel’
cul u es can be pe cei ed as comp omising he sa eness o he class oom space, s uden s
may and, in ac , some imes ha e o educa e he lec u e s as o wha a sa e space is and
how one ough o inhabi i .
Poli ical co ec ness o wokeness in excess?
This sec ion looks specifically a he playing ou o he ‘wounded a achmen s’(B own,
1993) o iden i a ian poli ics in a uni e si y se ing, as pa odied, fi s , in he w i ings o
fic ional ac i is , cul u al heo is , and ‘ adical in e sec ionalis poe commi ed o
eminism, social jus ice and a med peace ul p o es ’Ti ania McG a h (2019: 6), and hen
in Be na dine E a is o’sGi l, Woman, O he (2019) and Jona han Coe’sMiddle England
(2018). McG a h, a pa ody c ea ed by B i ish comedian And ew Doyle (who holds a
doc o a e in ea ly Renaissance poe y om Wadham College, Ox o d), iden ifies he sel
in he Twi e accoun as ‘nonwhi e’and ‘ecosexual’(McG a h’s p e e ed p onouns a e
a iable). The o he wo ex s –E a is o’s no el hinging on he di e si y o Black emale
expe ience in he UK h ough he pe spec i e o wel e p ima y cha ac e s and Coe’s
B exi no el highligh ing, om a sa i ical pe spec i e, ‘ he le behind’by economic
globalisa ion whi e wo king class, o ‘ he Middle Englande s’–unde sco e he com-
plexi y o na iga ing any pa icula ‘ism,’e en acism, gi en so many ongoing, com-
pe ing in e sec ionali ies.
Wokeness, cha ac e ised by a hype awa eness and ex eme calling ou o s uc u al
inequali ies, such as whi e p i ilege and he pa ia chy, unde sco ing issues o social
jus ice and acial and gende equi y, has ickled down o li e a y sa i e. Excesses and
8A s and Humani ies in Highe Educa ion 0(0)
con adic ions behind he hype -sc u inising o sys emic acism and complici y/
unconscious bias o whi e lec u e s a e e e enced. In Coe’sMiddle England, he
cha ac e Ian men ions how pe nicious i is o uni e si y lec u e s o ‘swaddle’ hei
s uden s ‘in co on wool’. Doyle, as Ti ania McG a h, b ings up he issue o sa e spaces in
Woke: A Guide o Social Jus ice, McG a h’sfi s book, a pa odic c i ique o he excesses
o wokeness:
S uden unions a uni e si ies a e cu en ly spea heading he ba le agains ee speech
h ough he c ea ion o ‘sa e spaces’whe e deba e is ou lawed i he opics a e po en ially
igge ing …Deba es a e all e y well in p inciple, bu he e’s no need o ep esen all sides o
an a gumen . One p o es o , Niamh McIn y e, said, ‘The idea ha in a ee socie y absolu ely
e e y hing should be open o deba e has a de imen al e ec on ma ginalised g oups’.A
uni e si y is ha dly he app op ia e place o explo ing al e na i e ideas. (2019: 86)
In e sec ionali y is also a a ge o Doyle as McG a h. A e Woke, McG a h’s second
book, is he pa ody My Fi s Li le Book o In e sec ional Ac i ism (2020). The idea o
in e sec ionali y, in oduced by C enshaw in 1989, was in ended o add ess disc imina ion
agains Black women wi hin an idisc imina ion law and eminis heo y and an i acis
poli ics. Wi h a iew o de-essen ialising and de-homogenising g oups o indi iduals and
communi ies, in e sec ionali y as an examina ion o complexes o social p ac ices en-
compasses ‘ he concu en analyses o mul iple, in e sec ing sou ces o subo dina ion/
opp ession’; his c i ical ool d aws on ‘ he p emise ha he impac o a pa icula sou ce
o subo dina ion may a y, depending on i s combina ion wi h o he po en ial sou ces o
subo dina ion (o o ela i e p i ilege)’(Bilge and Denis, 2010: 4). Mo eo e , as
C enshaw unde sco es, ‘In e sec ional subo dina ion need no be in en ionally p oduced;
in ac , i is equen ly he consequence o he imposi ion o one bu den ha in e ac s wi h
p eexis ing ulne abili ies o c ea e ye ano he dimension o disempowe men ’(1991:
1249). Deploying he c i ical ool o in e sec ionali y is pa o he cen al aim o making
wha is being augh ( he cu iculum) and how i is being augh ( he pedagogy) mo e
esponsi e o he immense and o e lapping sys ems o powe and s uc u ally defined
axes o opp ession –in sho , o o ms o social injus ice which a e ep oduced un-
consciously h ough he cu iculum and pedagogy.
Bucknell desc ibes E a is o’sGi l, Woman, O he in he e iew o he London Re iew
o Books as ‘a no el shaped by in e sec ionali y –12 na a i es, each b inging oge he
mul iple s ands o iden i y, each in o med by mul iple social con ingencies –bu his
o m is wha keeps i in pieces, a complex collec ion o agmen s ha a en’ mean o
speak as one’. The younges emale cha ac e in E a is o’s no el, he nine een-yea -old
Yazz, was b ough up by he mo he , Amma Bonsu, o be a eminis , hough she now
ejec s he label:
eminism is so he d-like, Yazz old he [Amma], o be hones , e en being a woman is pass´
e
hese days, we had a non-bina y ac i is a uni called Mo gan Malenga who opened my eyes,
I eckon we’ e all going o be non-bina y in he u u e, nei he male no emale, which a e
gende ed pe o mances anyway, which means you women’spoli ics, Mumsy, will become
Mendes and Lau 9
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Au ho biog aphies
Ana C is ina Mendes is Associa e P o esso o English S udies a he School o A s and
Humani ies, Uni e si y o Lisbon, Po ugal. She uses cul u al and pos colonial heo y o
examine li e a y and sc een ex s (in pa icula , in e media adap a ions) as enues o
esis an knowledge o ma ions o expand upon heo ies o epis emic injus ice. Besides an
in e es on he poli ics and aes he ics o con empo a y sc een media, she has published on
Indian w i ing in English, Shakespea ean adap a ion in India, and Vic o ian cul u al
a e li es, wi h a ocus on he B i ish empi e. Mendes was ecen ly elec ed as chai o he
Associa ion o Cul u al S udies (ACS).
Lisa Lau is a Senio Lec u e and Keele Uni e si y's Academic Lead in Decolonising he
Cu iculum, and co-chai o Keele's Race Equali y Cha e Sel Assessmen Team (REC
SAT). She is a pos colonialis wi h an in e na ional epu a ion o pionee ing e-o ien-
alism heo y and discou se. An expe on Sou h Asian Li e a u e, Lisa has wo ked on
gende s udies, li e a y geog aphies, diaspo a and mig a ion, u ban s udies. She has
published on issues o ep esen a ion, na a i e, iden i y cons uc ion, class, powe ,
p eca i y, comme cial su ogacy, and hospi ali y.
Mendes and Lau 17