Perspectives: a round-table discussion on decolonial pedagogies

Abstract

Three practitioners – a film-maker, a photographer and a film curator, all working in higher education, teaching film production, photography and film studies – discuss their reflections on co-convening a decolonising pedagogy workshop–conference hosted in May 2019 at HDK-Valand, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. They draw from their unique geographical positions – South Africa, Sweden and the UK respectively – to reflect on the nuances and differences of how race and subjectivity shape classroom interactions with the curriculum, and the institutional challenges in developing transformational pedagogy practices. The conversation uses as its impetus this shared experience of co-convening and facilitating the ‘Decolonising pedagogy: Exploring processes in image-making’ workshop–conference, and leads to discussion of broader issues of historical conditions and the geopolitical contexts that have determined the subsequent impact and outcomes in their different universities.