Decolonisation begins on your own bookshelf

Dr Deirdre Osborne is known for challenging conventional narratives. The focus of her career has been questioning the norm, with a dedication to decolonial thinking. The co-founder of the ground-breaking MA in Black British Literature has taken this passion one step further with the recent publishing of the collaborative book “This is the Canon: Decolonize Your Bookshelves in 50 Books”.

In this celebration of great novels from around the world, Dr Osborne along with poet and literary activist Kadija Sesay, and colleague Emerita Professor Joan Anim-Addo, challenge readers to question their bookshelves and push themselves beyond traditional colonial writings on race and identity.

Disrupting the norm

Written from the British perspective, this book seeks to disrupt the white-dominated required reading collections that have become the norm (referred to as the canon). This has historically shown a one-sided narrative of colonialism that is not truly representative of all perspectives. Dr Osborne says:

“Our aim with this book is to put together a really broad range of reading that exists outside what might be known as the traditional canon. It is also very much the first step – and a springboard into reading about the lives and experiences of many people and authors who are writing from all over the world.

 “We need to think about how we can make a lasting legacy of works that are outside of the so-called traditional canon. Decolonising curriculum and decolonising reading are very important because they make everyone think about what the after effect really is of the British Empire.”

The importance of decolonisation

At Goldsmiths, we have made a resounding commitment to decolonise the way that we teach. As part of our wider work on anti-racist action, our curriculum review process regularly assesses ways in which we can decolonise our curriculum and embed racial justice into our programmes.

Co-author Kadija Sesay notes the importance of decolonisation:

“Because the book is about decolonisation it really is an opportunity to think about what decolonisation of literature really means. It’s important for people to realise when they’re reading these books just how much the writers put into their work. Not only the writing itself but their beliefs were quite often challenged, and they quite often suffered for it.” 

It starts with you

Dr Osborne describes this book as the first step of an ongoing project. This starts with readers questioning their own collections, expanding their horizons, and introducing more diverse voices.

“To start, go to your bookshelf and audit it. See how many women writers are on there, where they’re writing from, which period, are there writers of a certain ethnicity or cultural background? You might suddenly get a shock that actually, the decolonisation needs to begin on your own bookshelf.”

Broadening your reading list can help you experience life from a different perspective. It helps to shine a light on lesser-known voices and give them a platform to be heard. This is the essence of decolonisation in action.

Watch the below video of Kadija and Deirdre discussing their work to learn more.