Decolonising computing ~ reflections & observations

On 25th May, I attended the “Decolonising Computing” exploratory workshop held by the University of Leicester School of Computing & Mathematical Sciences, in collaboration with The Open University, The Council of Professors and Heads of Computing and eSTEeM (The OU centre for STEM pedagogy).

I attended this event with the aim of observing attempts to decolonise; I provide in this blog:

• A summary of the workshop
• My observations
• What did I gain from the workshop?
• Will I do it again?
• What I think could be improved?

Summary of the workshop

The workshop was organised as part of an exploratory project to address and investigate the nation-wide initiative of Decolonising the Curriculum, and from within the context of Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in Computing.

The exploratory workshop was set to look at curriculum and programme design, informed by critical race theories and decolonial thoughts.

The workshop focused on the following:

• WHAT: Decolonising computing
• ACTIVITY 1: Examining examples of computing’s entanglements with colonialism
• Poster Session
• WHY: Decolonisation – panel discussion to explore its scope and limits
• HOW: Putting decolonisation into practice
• ACTIVITY 2: Decolonising the computing curriculum – pedagogies and innovations
• Building a decolonising computing educator network – future workshops/conferences, communications, funding proposals etc.

My observations

During the main sessions, presentations and panel, I had on purpose kept quiet and not asked questions, and only contributed to the small group discussions at my table. I was really keen to observe what was being said, how it was being said, who could identify issues and/or raise them. I will highlight in this blog three observations which may be useful for such workshops in the future.

A history lesson

During a presentation on a survey data, there was a statement that people who took time to identify their religious faith were more likely to talk of and be open to decolonisation. That should have been a big alert to the organisers or anyone else to chip in. It seems while attempting to decolonise computing, there is a higher need for some history lessons.

Let’s not forget that European colonisers used Christianity to eradicate part of the African and Asian culture, under the banner of “education”. British colonisers were able to exploit natural resources and cultural products of Africa and Asia by creating cultural disorientation which led to cultural alienation. We can see the impact of British colonisation on the current state of local culture e.g.local languages, arts and crafts.

• In Africa, the local culture was perceived as pegan and as per British coloniseres, it needed to be reformed. With slavery, many shattered communities adopted Christianity, and needless to say that the slaves in British colonies forcibly turned towards Christian faith. Christianity and the depiction of a White saviour was a double sword for Africa. Richard Gray tells of one missionary’s description of an ideal African convert: he “must ‘live in a permanent upright house, with a chimney in it’; he must no longer be befuddled by his hut’s smoky atmosphere or degraded by creeping into it; he must be ‘decently’ clothed, an individual ‘independent of everybody else.’ (Ref1,2).
• In India, yoga was banned in schools, it was believed to be a religious practice, which nowadays seems to still create confusion and is banned in a few countries. When I started to attend yoga classes in the UK, there was an incident where a religious institution refused to rent us their space after hearing that we will conduct yoga classes there. Yoga has somehow gained worldwide popularity with the increased focus on physical and mental health.
• Kalaripayattu a martial art from Kerala (closely related to Shaolin Kung Fu) was banned in response to the Kottayathu War where the locals used Kalaripayattu and won against East India Company until it was banned in 1804. The Kottayathu War was the longest war waged by the East India Company during their time in India. Today only a small group of people practise this art.

History has a long list of such atrocities and injustices imposed by religious people who perceive themselves as superior. Let’s also not forget that even to date, in parts of the world, people are given money to convert to Christianity.

Perhaps the most devastating impact of British colonisers spreading religion had been that while Christianity was taught to slaves in British West-India Islands, Christianity was not taught in its true and entire sense. The “Slaves Bible” was the version taught to slaves, which did not have key passages around freedom, for fear of any uprising of slaves. The section on the Exodus was completely omitted. Exodus 21:2: “If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything. If he comes alone, he is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him.” A passage like this would have tipped the balance right and was to be avoided at all costs.

Having the right crowd

I was perplexed to see the spread of the panellists, 3 White people, and 1 White Black person. I think they were not looking into representation there but rather a panel of people with varied roles, and the Black person made it because they were a librarian. Here are some other observations that I made:

• Only POC people volunteered to run next year’s sessions, this was expected. By the way, the two people who were in touch before the event regarding organisation and logistics were POC and somehow I guess they got so exhausted that they were sick on the actual event and the show was run by the White people on the team, very typical from my observations on similar events.
• While identifying funding, suggestions were coming only from White people. It is not uncommon for POC to not be promoted or not be invited to take on senior roles or large projects which would expose them to funding networks. I recall a project in a previous institution picked on the brain of every POC who was passionate to help POC students, however only White people were on the grant proposal.
• During the small group discussion at my table, I found myself giving real-life examples to explain why certain aspects need to be considered. At some point, attendees at my table asked if I had seen the deck of info cards beforehand. I assure you nothing such, my own experience as a student and staff in the UK academic sector is largely sufficient to provide evidence on issues in the sector.

What did I gain from the workshop

This part was rather hard to think about. I had forged some new connections, but I am struggling to identify if I have learnt anything new. The workshop was what I was expecting it to be, made up of a crowd of largely White people divided into two categories: the decolonisation virgins v/s the hardened self-righteous know-it-all. It is easy to differentiate these two, the former remains in perpetual silence and the latter have their hands up and an opinion to share for everything.

Nonetheless, I participated actively in the small group discussions and here are snapshots of what the group generated.

Will I do it again?

No. As an independent researcher, spending my time and money on similar activities makes no sense. I have given some ideas to two of the organisers on how to proceed with a Phase 2, in particular, 1) to have the same crowd to pursue the conversation rather than start with the same conversation with a different crowd (although parallel starter and intermediate workshops could be run); and 2) to differentiate among those who advocate for decolonisation who truly understand what decolonisation means v/s the obstinate know-it-all.

What I think could be improved?

There is a lot to be improved to truly decolonise computing, in addition to what I wrote earlier and the 4 points here, I am sure there is sufficiently enough for a more inclusive and focused-oriented Part 2 to this workshop.

• Request for panellists to apply to be on the panel with a clear overview of how their past works and how they can contribute to decolonisation. And PAY THEM. This will avoid some embarrassing moments where panellists make arguments which are not about decolonising.
• The venue was great, and offered opportunities for some serious brainstorming, but the crowd was not necessarily the right one. It felt like some people were there because they were forced to be there. I had the opportunity to speak with almost all the POC attendees, the White attendees were rather more difficult to talk to, some were not interested in networking, and some simply did not contribute much at all even during discussion groups. But the main reason why I managed to meet all the POC attendees, well there were few of them, and at lunch, I was joined by other POCs, and we discussed the mishaps of the morning session and the inappropriate arguments made by a few White attendees.
• There was an opportunity to apply for financial support towards travelling. As an independent researcher with intermittent assignments (and lots of free work towards diversity & inclusion), I had applied for travelling sponsorship. I was contacted that I could receive financial assistance and after not hearing back, I enquired only to be told that it was rejected because they “thought” I live too close to Leicester. I honestly did not know if that meant, if I had to grow wings or walk to Leicester. A one-way journey included: a bus trip + ~1 hour train journey + a second bus trip. With a 10am start and a 4pm (ish) end, it meant travelling during peak hours, missing on the 9.30am networking. A White male at my table on the day, had arrived the day before and was put in a hotel, with almost nil contribution during the group sessions and little networking with the participants (he was on the phone in the main room even during coffee break). This is a perfect example of what decolonisation means in the UK: people in precarious conditions with lived experiences carry additional financial burden to fix the problems of White people.
• The day following the event, participants were sent an email requesting for feedback:
  • What did go well?
  • What did not go well?
  • What can be improved?

Any POC who knows adequately about decolonisation knows that it is not safe to give feedback openly in an email, a safe space is necessary.

Further reading

I do not usually provide further readings on such blogs, but thought here a few people might find this handy.

1. Roberts A. “The Colonial Moment in Africa: Essays on the movement of minds and materials”, 19001940 (Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 1990) 143.
2. Schmidt B. “Christianity as a Double-Edged Sword in Colonial Africa.” ( 2015) https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1047&context=africana_studies_conf