What does decolonisation really mean, and how can it enhance research culture?
by Tarini Bhamburkar
Postgraduate researcher, Department of English
The past few years have seen serious, guided efforts within the University of Bristol to decolonise its curricula, its library shelves and its teaching patterns. This has brought an increasing acknowledgement of the implications of slavery and empire as regards socio-political history and its repercussions in the contemporary world. But “decolonisation” is a weighty term, and often an overwhelming one when pondering on how to bring it “into operation” across the different teaching and research functions of the University.
So, how do you bring it into research culture?
Primarily, decolonisation, and the understanding of the transnational nature of history and literature, begin with acknowledging and addressing the legacies of colonialism and imperialism in literature and culture. It requires a critical examination of the narratives, systems and practices that have perpetuated colonial discourse and hierarchical relations throughout history. And it sounds like an intimidating task for someone to initiate on an individual basis.
This is where funding from the Research England Enhancing Research Culture (ERC) allocation at Bristol was able to provide support. It helped develop a project uniting researchers at Bristol (and beyond) who worked on the literature of the British empire, postcolonial studies, settler colonial studies, transnational relations, histories structured by racial difference, etc, to form a network. With the help of symposia, reading events and awaydays, connections were fostered and formalised between scholars who have worked on different aspects of “decolonial” studies – to acknowledge empire and colonial history.
One example is an interdepartmental symposium that brought together scholars across the Schools of Humanities, Modern Languages and Law (see images below). It was a day dedicated to discussing the transnational aspects of colonial and postcolonial studies. Another is the Victorian Diversities Research Network event, which brought together scholars engaged in seeking new methodologies, to “widen” and “undiscipline” historical, colonial literary fields in the nineteenth century.
Events such as these, and the wider project in general, have helped to re-emphasise the importance of diversifying and decolonising our syllabi, brought together researchers who work in colonial studies, and enhanced the transnational aspect of how we conduct research at Bristol. I personally hope to sustain the communities and networks that were formed with the support of the ERC funding, and even to broaden them if possible.
As postgraduate researchers, we do not often get access to such funding opportunities, so the ERC support came as a blessing – especially after a harrowing two years with very limited networking and communication. Scholars – especially postgraduate researchers and early-career researchers – enjoyed coming together on a formal platform and sharing their research, thereby facilitating a community of decolonial researchers at Bristol.