Call for Book Chapter Proposals: "Decolonizing the Curriculum: Teaching Race and Developing Knowledge about Indigenous Literature"

Decolonization begins with an acceptance of the fact that colonialism continues through various systems of oppression, which are interlinked. Liberating the Global South and the Global North from the colonial practices is an audacious goal, which is why long-time scholarly commitment to build worldwide networks for solidarity and meaningful action is the need of the hour. The present volume aims to probe and raise questions regarding the dynamics among power, identity, representation, and knowledge production as part of “Decolonizing the Curriculum” movement. The movement highlights the idea that the curriculum, in all its complexity, represents the prevalent culture, embedding our hopes for the future. This edited volume examines how different frameworks, traditions, and knowledge systems can inform each other, how multiple voices can be recognized, and how new perspectives emerge from collaborative learning.

The volume seeks to emphasize that empowered learning can arise out of the practice of centering marginalized experiences, while stressing the similarities and differences of structural racism and oppression in different cultures, and making sure not to relativize lived experiences of individuals. Therefore, we have to evaluate the structures of educational delivery to see how racism can be systemic, and reward resistance directed at the discursive and material effects of oppression. Anti-racist education must also challenge the search for Oneness. This means that racial literacy has to include tuning in to student reactions and opening up space for them to reflect on their own contexts. Chapter proposals should outline how to guide students toward developing their own lines of inquiry, while addressing the “difficult differences” included in the course content.

This edited collection also seeks to spotlight that knowledge erosion is a serious threat to our planet. Chapter proposals should demonstrate how the epistemology of the Indigenous peoples places a mirror to our dominant beliefs and ideas by being very different from Western knowledge systems, and offering possibilities for understanding life and organizing society in a way that is equitable, sustainable, and holistic. Contributions illustrating Indigenous methodologies and our imperfect translations of unfamiliar cultures are welcome. The edited collection also attempts to project that Indigenous intellectual traditions are firmly grounded in the land on which their ancestors lived, and honoring this is at the core of Indigenous well-being and learning. Arguments supporting the idea that “Decolonizing the Curriculum” movement ought to include yesterday, today and tomorrow of Indigenous peoples in respectful ways are particularly welcome.

The edited collection is keen to offer a way forward for Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences to address critical storytelling, diverse identities, and historical inquiry within the context of our ever-changing understanding of the human condition. We are aware that the twenty-first century has become the time when an increasing number of people are asking whether there is only one path to modernity. Therefore, the edited collection aims to be a space for effective dialogue about various concepts, models, and/or pedagogies concerned with bringing successful and required changes to the academic arena.

Topics include, but are not limited to the following:

• Practical, Professional and Intellectual challenges of Decolonizing the Curriculum
• Curriculum as Sites of Empowerment, Resistance, and Transformation
• Critical Anti-Racist Theory
• Anti-racism Praxes and Advocacy
• Race, Gender, and Pedagogy
• Challenges of Intersectionality
• Neocolonial Hegemony
• Anti-hegemonic Possibilities
• Multilingual Approaches and Biopolitics
• “Thinking with” Pedagogical Strategy
• Policy Making and Power Relations
• Indigenous Historical Consciousness
• Race, Indigeneity, and Colonialism  
• “Storywork in Action”
• Language Loss and Reclamation
• Silenced Indigenous Memory
• Reclaiming Identity
• Indigenous Knowledge and Environment
• Solidarity in Indigenous Communities
• Land as an Ontological Framework
• Undoing the Subversion of the Mind

Please submit an abstract no longer than 500 words along with a 200-word bio note, and up to 5 keywords to the editor, Dr Rehnuma Sazzad (rehnuma.sazzad@yahoo.co.uk)

Deadline for abstract submission: July 31, 2025
Papers acceptance: August 31, 2025
Deadline for full paper submission: January 31, 2026

Contributors whose proposals are selected will receive the Vernon Press submission guidelines to prepare a 6000-word chapter.