The decolonization of curriculums is growing in popularity. Based on social justice ideology, this agenda stipulates that university curriculums reflect Western prejudices, entailing discrimination against non-Western students and the reinforcement of colonial hierarchies. Supporters argue that curriculums should feature non-Western topics and readings.
Whilst some efforts can be laudable – in certain fields (e.g. history), curriculums could be more diverse – other initiatives can seem bizarre (e.g. mathematics) and/or dangerous (e.g. medicine). Therefore, the agenda raises questions about coalitions within universities and the trajectory of liberal democracy.
Notwithstanding academic demand for such agendas – famously, social justice ideology originated within universities – decolonization programmes have exogenous impetus. Curriculums reflect consensuses within disciplines and, given the slow pace of disciplinary change, profound disruption is more likely to come from external sources. And decolonization takes place in fields in which internal demand seems limited, such as mathematics, suggesting an external provenance.