Higher Education, Decolonization and the Pursuit of Ecojustice - place for two PhD Candidates

Field of Research: Decolonization of higher education

Worldwide, including in the Netherlands, students are asking critical questions about the epistemological foundations of higher education. They criticize the curriculum for being too one-sidedly based on Western knowledge which doesn’t prepare them adequately for living and working in a dynamic plural society. Students ask: ‘why is my curriculum white’ and may argue in favor of decolonizing the university as institution. Their criticism often meets with objections from academic staff, but also from fellow students, who argue that academic freedom is under threat by what they call "cancel-culture”. Contentiously ‘being woke’ can be interpreted as either a ‘badge of honor’ or as swear word. The University of Humanistic Studies is currently engaged in a two year project called Woke en Weerstand (Wokeness and Resistance), which aims to promote and facilitate constructive university-wide dialogue as a basis to rethink what, why and how universities should teach in a changing world and in plural-cultural societies. Depending on the expertise and interest of the PhD candidate, the research could be conceptual/theoretical or empirical with possibly a comparative dimension. 

- How do (students at) universities in the Netherlands frame/ address the call for decolonization of higher education? 

- How do (students at) universities in the global North (possibly a specific country) and the global South (possibly a specific country) address the call for decolonization of higher education? 

- How do the ‘politics of wokeness’ and the ‘politics of cancel culture’ frame the decolonization of higher education?

- How and why do universities create openness to dialogue among different epistemic traditions? 

1 external PhD candidate

Contact and information

Field of Research: Higher education and the pursuit of ecojustice in the Anthropocene

The climate crisis reveals that people are not 'individuals' in the modern sense of the word. They are beings who are interwoven with every fiber of the earth's network. The French philosopher Bruno Latour therefor calls on people to 'Modernize or ecologize!'. He sketches perspectives of change and hope while also paying much attention to confusing emotions in the context of the climate crisis. Inventing new interactions between humans and the earth is of great importance in a socio-ecological transition. This transition requires not only scientific knowledge, but also attention to existential and philosophical questions. We know that “our house is on fire”, yet most humans appear unable to change. In the fast-growing field of eco-psychology much attention is paid to psychological consequences of the climate crisis (also referred to as climate anxiety or climate depression), but dimensions of meaning are often ignored. While questions of what people believe in, what inspires them, gives them hope and motivates them to change their actions, are also of crucial importance. Based on these insights, we question: what does living in the Anthropocene mean for teaching and learning in higher education? How do universities conceive of their educational role in the Anthropocene? And possibly more specifically in this project: what do students think that needs to change in terms of the university’s role in addressing climate change and the pursuit of eco-justice? 

Depending on the expertise and interest of the PhD candidate, the research could be conceptual/theoretical or empirical with possibly a comparative dimension.

- How do universities conceive of their educational role in the Anthropocene?

- Does the Anthropocene change university staff and – student perceptions of their role in academia versus activism? 

- What does living in the Anthropocene mean for teaching and learning in higher education according to university academic staff?

- How do students think of (and engage with) change in terms of the university’s role in addressing climate change and the pursuit of eco-justice?

1 external PhD candidate

Contact and information