Are Indian Universities Decolonizing Their Curricula? Investigating Reasons for the Slow(er) Development of Decolonizing the Curriculum (DTC) in India

Abstract

There is growing recognition that many university curricula are not necessarily fully fit for purpose in the twenty-first century, being elitist, narrow, and unrepresentative; lacking relevance to the students, lacking diversity, lacking inclusivity. However, ironically, given that Decolonizing the Curriculum (DTC) work is supposed to give prominence to othered knowledges, particularly that from the Global South, much DTC work is still being led from and by the West, by former empires/superpowers and former colonialists. In India, it appears universities have been slow to embrace DTC. This article therefore attempts to address this gap by turning our overdue attention to the situation in Indian academia, asking questions about universities’ and academics’ willingness to decolonize their curricula, and seeking to understand the current awareness and perceptions of and barriers to DTC in India.