Strand A | Curricular Representation

Research question

How much choice should be given for students / supervisors to discuss and explore non-white-centric material and ideas, and how much should be designed-in as core to the curriculum for all?

Project team

• Kayinsola Amoo-Peters, undergraduate student reading Human, Social and Political Sciences
• Mojola Akinyemi, undergraduate student reading English
• Tyra Amofah-Akardom, undergraduate student reading Education

Project report

Report: Curricular Representation Project (PDF)

Abstract

Our research objective was to open up more discussions about Black scholarship within different Cambridge undergraduate degrees, and highlight the level of choice given to students and supervisors to study material and scholars that are non-white-centric. We conducted research to find out more about what students and staff thought about representation within their curricula, and about their own experiences with the level and types of representation.

Contrary to what has often been assumed, previous efforts to "decolonise the curriculum" and increase the representation of Black thought and scholarship - while there has been some some positive change - have not been enough to drastrically improve Cambridge curricula.

Our findings indicate that there needs to be a particular focus on eliminating disingenuity and tokenism within representation, and that courses are in general need of a top-down restructuring.