Interview with Alice Feldman, School of Sociology at University College Dublin on the first Masters program in Race, Migration and Decolonial Studies in Ireland.<\/p>\n
DIN: \u201cWhat does the program consist of?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Alice: \u201cGiven the dynamism of decolonial scholarship that has evolved in Europe these past years, I was surprised not to find other masters in decolonial\u00a0 studies when I was searching around while developing this one.<\/p>\n The pedagogy of the programme is itself shaped by the ever-expanding landscapes of decolonial projects, complemented by advanced training in critical sociology.\u00a0 Talking with some students the other day, and thinking about how to distil a description of it, we came up with three key elements or anchors: materiality<\/em>, methodology<\/em> and re-invention<\/em>, or even re-in(ter)vention<\/em>. So the programme is centred, first, on the exploration of trans-disciplinary and pluri-versal knowledges that are grounded in the histories and circumstances of lived experience — \u00a0particularly in relation to the materialities of survival and resistance to the subjugating legacies of colonialism, imperialism and modernity. Second is experimentation with and cultivation of creative, embodied practices of engagement and critique through which such knowledges evolve. And third, is the element of praxis \u2013 the critically reflexive mobilisation of knowledges towards \u2018re-existence\u2019 as Achinte has called it, or \u2018worlds otherwise\u2019 as Escobar has articulated.<\/p>\n So, it\u2019s inspired by efforts to reach beyond some of the legacies or limitations that have come to undermine knowledge politics as shaped by identity politics, and the disciplinary and paradigmatic divisions that they can generate. For example, unlike programmes which begin their epistemic journeys from a Western perspective to reach<\/em> intersectionality, this course proceeds<\/em> from a normative base of intersectionality and sort of explodes<\/em> it \u2013 in a constructive way \u2013 through the lenses of knowledges that have always existed on the \u2018Other-side\u2019 to begin with. Perhaps it\u2019s a matter of where you begin the conversations and how you get there —\u00a0 so it\u2019s about more than including scholars of colour on reading lists or replacing readings by White, western, colonialist writers, or trying to avoid what a student in a recent discussion on identity and the curriculum referred to as \u2018Week 11\u2019 syndrome (which is the situation whereby this is the only session out of 12 in the semester that addresses feminist\/postcolonialist\/decolonial scholarship or writers — all the \u2018Others\u2019 — and sometimes all in the same lecture! So not only is it \u2018lip service\u2019 but it comes too late for students to even really engage or develop such work for assignments and so on their own).<\/p>\n But this isn\u2019t an idea that can be achieved in one course alone, so we\u2019ve tried to thread a decolonial or decolonising pedagogy throughout the delivery of the programme as a whole, from course content and assignments, to dissertation projects and supervision.<\/p>\n Students take courses in Critical Race and Decolonial Theories; Global Migration; Art, Knowledge and the Politics of Social Change; and research methods, and these are complemented by electives available in other disciplines and schools at UCD. There is a lot of space to support students according to their own interests and senses of inquiry, where they\u2019re coming from and where they want to go after the programme, whether they\u2019ve got specific plans about what they want to study or just want to try things out and experiment.<\/p>\n The programme is also very practice-focused, encouraging critical explorations of innovations in creative, activist methods of social\/political engagement in art and research practices. Central to this is embodied, or, to use the term, \u2018aesthesic\u2019, which\u00a0 is about centring multi-sensory, sensual engagement and expression, as well as collaborative approaches to teaching, learning and knowledge creation. These, too, are also fundamental anchors of race critical and decolonial practice. And I\u2019m referring here to the distinctions made, for example, in critical race theory between simply critiquing<\/em> and the work of \u2018reconstructing\u2019<\/em>, and the use of the term, \u2018re-existence\u2019<\/em> as \u2018more-than\u2019 \u2018resistance\u2019<\/em> in\u00a0 the contexts of decolonial scholarship. And this dimension of the programme comes from my own experience of using arts-based research methods and moving those practices into the classroom, along with my collaborations with artists associated with Parity Art Studios at UCD and the Artist in Residency programme they run. We\u2019ve been doing a lot of interesting projects around the confluences of art and research practices, particularly in relation to the politics of reflexivity, representation and appropriation, exploring alternative sites of learning and so on, that cross-cut the different sectors and contexts of mobilisation\/change work.\u201d<\/p>\n DIN: \u00a0\u201cHow\u2019s the first year going?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Alice: \u201cReally well! The courses and activities have attracted an extremely enthusiastic and engaged group of students \u2013 both within the programme itself and across other related programmes and disciplines.<\/p>\n The pedagogy of the programme — ultimately it doesn\u2019t constitute a huge leap for critically oriented students, but it is very demanding. The nature of decolonial work, and the vast intellectual and activist genealogies that underpin it \u2013 and the fact that so much of this work has been excluded from conventional university curricula \u2013 requires students traverse vast landscapes of ideas, histories, materialities and practices. While there\u2019s lots of support for these journeys, students must ultimately give up a lot of the \u2018certainties\u2019 or senses of \u2018security\u2019 that they have come to construct or rely on in conventional curricula or teaching practices \u2013 false though they may be! –\u00a0 or that they\u2019ve been taught to seek, like in terms of the western paradigms of research \u2013 things around \u2018validity\u2019, \u2018evidence\u2019, \u2018knowing\u2019 and so\u00a0 on.<\/p>\n And as I was saying earlier, the embodied, expressive, reflexive nature of this work turns on the cultivation of skills and perspectives that, for many, can be well out of their comfort zones or even familiarity. They not only have to try out new ways of doing things, but often literally have to \u2018feel\u2019 their ways through projects so as to develop (or further develop) their own styles or practices of critique and methodologies, by sifting through exposure to a multitude of different ways of working. But the students have totally stepped up to this and immersed themselves in these challenges — It\u2019s not like I\u2019m surprised by this, but I\u2019m just so impressed and edified by what they\u2019re accomplishing!<\/p>\n They might not have been exposed to the specific ideas and methods of these paradigms, but I think students, now more than in the recent past \u2013 at least in my experience in Ireland, or at UCD \u2013 they intuitively know that they need new skills\u2013 beyond those that constitute many of the \u2018staples\u2019 of the Western university or curriculum. They know that skills that more effectively rise to the complex and multiplicitous challenges they face and the social conditions they are contending with or seek to transform \u2013 the ways of thinking, doing, mobilising \u2018otherwise\u2019 which are at the heart of race critical and decolonial paradigms \u2013 are crucial, regardless of where they\u2019re headed after the programme.<\/p>\n All of this seems to have come together to create a \u2018vibe\u2019 or a sense of a learning environment, where the big \u2018knowledge\/power\u2019 issues like \u2018unknowability\u2019, \u2018incommensurability\u2019,\u00a0 \u2018positionality\u2019 arise in ways that are natural and inspiring \u2013 \u2018aha moments\u2019 that \u2018make sense\u2019. And students\u2019 own journeys through all this become part of the process as well as the outcomes. These sorts of dynamics have generated a real sense of a collective, a collective experience or \u2018project\u2019 that all of us have become part of \u2013 including guest speakers, other staff and students \u2013 any event or happening can become an opportunity for a decolonial moment of learning, questioning or intervention!<\/p>\n And there\u2019s a lot that is really catching on \u2013 we\u2019ve started a Decolonising the Curriculum Platform that is attracting academic and administrative staff as well as students. The lexicons of decoloniality and decolonising the curriculum are starting to enter conversations in relation to equality\/diversity initiatives in the institution, so hopefully all of these different dynamics, their synergies with other similar groups and efforts will continue to grow and evolve. So even though it\u2019s taken a while to get things rolling, we\u2019re really excited about linking in to such a vibrant network of scholars, activists and artists \u2013 in Europe and internationally. We\u2019re very keen to build alliances with other programmes, groups and people, so anyone who\u2019s interested in collaborations \u2013 even simple things like shared talks through skype or such, anything that can be mutually reinforcing across our different projects, please contact us!\u201d<\/p>\n NOTE<\/strong><\/p>\n For further information see: alice.feldman@ucd.ie<\/a>, www.racemigrationdecolonialstudies.com<\/a>; and for the Decolonising the Curriculum Platform UCD see: www.facebook.com\/DecolonisingUCD<\/a> ;\u00a0 jimmy.billings@ucdconnect.ie<\/a>, \u00a0dyuti.chakravarty@ucdconnect.ie<\/a><\/p>\n Alice Feldman<\/strong> (School\u00a0 of\u00a0 Sociology, University College Dublin) uses arts, collaborative and decolonial methods to intervene in the intersecting global colonial legacies and amnesias underpinning the current necropolitical moment. This research has, in turn, informed her techniques of \u2018pedagogical bricolage\u2019 for methodology training around creative research practices, the reflexive imagination and research justice. Over the past fifteen years, she has worked in research, advisory and volunteer capacities with many civic, community and other organisations in Ireland involved in anti-racism, migration and interculturalism work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Interview with Alice Feldman, School of Sociology at University College Dublin on the first Masters program in Race, Migration and Decolonial Studies in Ireland. DIN: \u201cWhat does the program consist of?\u201d Alice: \u201cGiven the dynamism of decolonial scholarship that has evolved in Europe these past years, I was surprised not to find other masters in … Continue reading Alice Feldman: \u201cA pretty comprehensive program!\u201d First master in decolonial studies in Ireland<\/span>