If that is what you're saying, then I think it's supportable and also that "decolonization" is an unfortunate choice of terminology because it is loaded with connotation and non-neutrality. Language matters, and choosing non-alienating language makes it more inclusive to more participants (including western civ folks).
More rigor, better scholarship, incorporation of more diverse views are all things people can get behind. If the system is open to disputation, feedback, analysis, etc. while pursuing the widest possible range of views out there from under-represented voices, then great. I also want to add that this is also the default mode in academia especially at freer places like the University of Chicago.
If it means preventing disputation on the basis of a person's identity/affiliations, disavowing empiricism and heavily favoring narrative untethered to basic standards of evidence, inserting overt agenda into what ought to be neutral arms-length investigations, then I find myself opposing the approach in the strongest possible terms and will actively work to decenter and dismantle such efforts. This latter approach debases scholarship and amplifies poorly-defended ideas as the norm.
I've seen both approaches but in the academy right now, I see the latter approach being centered, to the detriment of the mission of academia.
I also want to add that this is also the default mode in academia especially at freer places like the University of Chicago.
My wife is a historian. Her PhD is from arguably the best program in the country. It is not the case that administrations have this as a default option. Look at how hiring works in history departments. Americanists out the wazoo. In both hiring and tenure review, even the best programs still struggle to include analysis beyond traditional western civ style work.
If it means preventing disputation on the basis of a person's identity/affiliations, disavowing empiricism and heavily favoring narrative untethered to basic standards of evidence, inserting overt agenda into what ought to be neutral arms-length investigations
It doesn't. And spending any amount of time around academics would make it really clear that these concerns are just BS peddled by people who make a living complaining about pinkos in the academy.
Hiring is a fair point. It is one of many factors that affect diversity of views in an institution, and the reasons behind a monoculture in a department are myriad. It is peripheral to the idea of "decolonization" as a methodology or technique though.
I don't think it's BS. I left academia 10 years ago (after a slightly more than a decade in it) but I still have enough connections to it to understand context. I've also studied history from a western civ perspective (academically, through courses at UChicago -- the "Great Books" approach is kind of its thing) and a non-western civ perspective (personally). So I bring those perspectives to the table when I say I support expansion of viewpoints.
At the same time, I have witnessed the sort of thing I mentioned in my 3rd paragraph above some 10 years ago, albeit in a more nascent state. To be fair, these actions are not prevalent among faculty (and it's not pinkos, but amorphous critical theorist types that defy easy categorization), but definitely increasing in prevalence among undergraduate and graduate students. It also depends on the department. This is why something like the Heterodox Academy [1], which is made up of mostly academics, even exists. Whatever misgivings one might have about it, that something like this exists and has a relatively robust membership speaks to a phenomenon that is not isolated.
I do accept your point that not all of academia is like that. I believe we can both be simultaneously correct, but about different facets of academia.
Comments
If that is what you're saying, then I think it's supportable and also that "decolonization" is an unfortunate choice of terminology because it is loaded with connotation and non-neutrality. Language matters, and choosing non-alienating language makes it more inclusive to more participants (including western civ folks).
More rigor, better scholarship, incorporation of more diverse views are all things people can get behind. If the system is open to disputation, feedback, analysis, etc. while pursuing the widest possible range of views out there from under-represented voices, then great. I also want to add that this is also the default mode in academia especially at freer places like the University of Chicago.
If it means preventing disputation on the basis of a person's identity/affiliations, disavowing empiricism and heavily favoring narrative untethered to basic standards of evidence, inserting overt agenda into what ought to be neutral arms-length investigations, then I find myself opposing the approach in the strongest possible terms and will actively work to decenter and dismantle such efforts. This latter approach debases scholarship and amplifies poorly-defended ideas as the norm.
I've seen both approaches but in the academy right now, I see the latter approach being centered, to the detriment of the mission of academia.
My wife is a historian. Her PhD is from arguably the best program in the country. It is not the case that administrations have this as a default option. Look at how hiring works in history departments. Americanists out the wazoo. In both hiring and tenure review, even the best programs still struggle to include analysis beyond traditional western civ style work.
It doesn't. And spending any amount of time around academics would make it really clear that these concerns are just BS peddled by people who make a living complaining about pinkos in the academy.
Hiring is a fair point. It is one of many factors that affect diversity of views in an institution, and the reasons behind a monoculture in a department are myriad. It is peripheral to the idea of "decolonization" as a methodology or technique though.
I don't think it's BS. I left academia 10 years ago (after a slightly more than a decade in it) but I still have enough connections to it to understand context. I've also studied history from a western civ perspective (academically, through courses at UChicago -- the "Great Books" approach is kind of its thing) and a non-western civ perspective (personally). So I bring those perspectives to the table when I say I support expansion of viewpoints.
At the same time, I have witnessed the sort of thing I mentioned in my 3rd paragraph above some 10 years ago, albeit in a more nascent state. To be fair, these actions are not prevalent among faculty (and it's not pinkos, but amorphous critical theorist types that defy easy categorization), but definitely increasing in prevalence among undergraduate and graduate students. It also depends on the department. This is why something like the Heterodox Academy [1], which is made up of mostly academics, even exists. Whatever misgivings one might have about it, that something like this exists and has a relatively robust membership speaks to a phenomenon that is not isolated.
I do accept your point that not all of academia is like that. I believe we can both be simultaneously correct, but about different facets of academia.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterodox_Academy