Project Woke and Resistance
- Start: August 2022
- Duration: 2 years
- Status: finished
Description
In the project Woke en Weerstand (Woke and Resistance), students and staff come together to discover how to work together as agonists (critical cooperatives), rather than as distrustful antagonists.
Worldwide, more and more students are asking critical questions about the knowledge-theoretic basis of their education. They criticize the curriculum for being too one-sidedly based on what they consider to be superior Western knowledge. This selective knowledge, they believe, does not adequately prepare them for living and working in a dynamic, pluralistic society and does not teach them enough about the possibilities of being able to contribute to a more just society. For example, students ask: Why is my Curriculum White? And state: No Democratization without Decolonization! Their criticisms are often laboriously received. Teachers, for example, speak of "infringement on academic freedom" and reject what they call "cancel-culture. Internationally, the debate has risen so high that politicians are getting involved and discussing it in the (social) media.
This is also playing out at the University of Humanistic Studies. In the Woke and Resistance project, students and staff come together to discover how to work together as agonists (critical cooperatives), rather than as distrustful antagonists. In seminars, dialogue afternoons and workshops, they will try to translate difficult and abrasive issues into curriculum revision in fruitful and concrete ways, taking into account diverse views.
The project also has an international component: UvH graduates will engage in conversation with experience students and staff from South African universities. Although the contexts in the Netherlands (global North) and South Africa (global South) differ, there are also similar ideas, concerns and ambitions. Dialogue compares similarities and differences to gain a better understanding of why and how to position decolonization and anti-racism within universities. The final phase will include a national closing conference with poster and panel sessions, columns and lectures open to other universities and colleges.
Researchers
- Dr. Caroline Suransky, project leader
- with the help of junior lecturer Noortje Bot, student Farach Winter and study association Pluralistics
- student assistant: Rosanne van Bruggen
- student-assistant: Leen Kruithof
- student assistant: Rebecca Lensink
- Assistant student: Marishelle Lieberwerth
- student-assistant: Brechje Meijers
Funding
UvH with assistance from Comenius Senior Fellowship grant from the National Educational Research Organization (NRO). The NRO is a division of NWO that focuses on improving and renewing education with knowledge from research. The idea for the Woke and Resistance project came about in consultation with the study association Pluralistiek.
Toolkit
On 5 July 2024, the online toolkit was delivered. The toolkit provides insight into working methods, experiences and lessons learned from the project. The project followed four phases for educational change that also form the roadmap for the toolkit: (1) setting the agenda; (2) exploring and designing; (3) practising and (4) evaluating and sharing. In the toolkit, you will find an overview of the activities for each phase, a reflection of experiences and results, a short substantive deepening and an example of a concrete working form (tool).
Also see
Report Final Conference Woke and Resistance
In the 'Woke en Weerstand' project, students and staff come together to discover how to work together as agonists (critical cooperatives), rather than as distrustful antagonists.