Abstract
More research and theorising is needed on the praxis of decolonising curriculum and pedagogy in business education (Jammulamadaka et al. 2021). Developing more reflexive guidance in terms of decolonising praxis is important as such value-centred teaching requires a degree of courage on the part of teachers as well as an ability to handle their own feeling and beliefs while guiding students on their journey of critical inquiry through difficult issues (Tallberg, Välikangas and Hamilton, 2021). This paper addresses this gap by discussing the development and implementation of an innovative and disruptive decolonial pedagogy using arts. Combining responsible management education and art education principles, this educational approach offers students creative ways to explore decolonisation in the form of workshops delivered in the Barber Institute, so outside of the typical classroom environment. Our findings suggest that liminality approached as a place, a position and a process as conceived by Soderlung and Borg (2018) is a useful analytical frame to conceptualise such pedagogical development.
Moving forward, building on our experience, we would recommend that as business studies scholars engage their students with decolonisation both in terms of content and pedagogy, they could consider these four elements:
- Learning and teaching in a liminal place: What liminal learning and teaching spaces can they use that will support an embodiment of coloniality and decoloniality and help students and staff connect with this topic at a personal and emotional levels?
- Learning and teaching using liminal positioning: What learning and teaching method(s) can they use that will help students to occupy a position of in-betweeners across various knowledges and understandings while allowing for an equal acceptance of such knowledges and understandings and be respectful of everybody’s subjectivity?
- Managing the learning and teaching liminal process: How can they put in place safeguarding for both themselves and students and practice a pedagogy based on care and trust to support the type of dialogue and the transformation necessary to support theirs and the students’ decolonial journeys in a positive and empowering way?
- Taking into account the learning contexts in regards to colonial legacies: What are the decolonial principles and objectives are they aspiring to, and how can these link to their learning and teaching context, and, how can they make sure that this is reflected in the learning material that they use?