Presentation at ICED 2016, 24th of November 2016

1. Decolonising Learning Spaces
Implications for Ethical Practice
Pam Sykes, University of the Western Cape
Daniela Gachago, Cape Peninsula University of Technology

2. Act 1
Exploding the myth of
safety

3. Snapshot 1: A group of academics is sitting
around a conference table in a seminar room.
They talk about “desire” and “affect”; “the
body” comes up again and again. But the
bodies of the people in the room are never
acknowledged. Which bodies are comfortable
in this space (which contains this table, these
chairs, that air conditioner) and which are
not? Whose body is awash with anxiety, who
is flushed or sweating, who is full of energy,
whose back is hurting, who is tired, who is
desperate for a toilet break, who is sick, who
feels awkward and out of place? These
questions are not askable in this space.

4. Call for a decolonised pedogagy?
“Critical pedagogies of liberation… necessarily embrace experience, confessions and
testimony as relevant ways of knowing, as important, vital dimensions of any learning
process” – bell hooks 1994: 89

5. Institutional grooves and habits are worn deep |

6. Assumptionsa“The fact that no one was safe made us all involved in the course
appreciate the importance of what we came to call ‘safe houses’..in
with high degrees of trust, shared understanding, temporary
protection from the legacies of oppression (Minnie Bruce Pratt
1991: 40))
Part of color-blindness is to demand that race dialogue takes place in a
‘safe’ environment.’ (Leonardo & Porter 2010: 139)

7. Our gendered,
raced, classed
subjectivities
may will work
against our aims as
educators

8. Two challenges:
There is no ideal space that is equally, absolutely safe for all.
Safety is not something educators can bestow.

9. Act 2
Embracing uncertainty

10. “Is there a way for all of us to
survive together while none of
our contradictory claims,
interests and passions can be
eliminated?”–––—Bruno Latour 2005: 30

11. Safe-enough spaces
Perhaps an element of the work of
facilitating South African
conversations resides inside the
creative contradiction of making
spaces that are safe-enough and
uncomfortable-enough. Such
conversations have the potential to
be full of healing, full of life and full
of possibility.” –– Rebecca Freeth

12. Comfort | Discomfort
Safety | Danger

13. Defining the risks of harm
Vulnerability to harassment
Abusive interactions
Post traumatic flashbacks
Isolation, marginalisation, exclusion
Stunted intellectual growth
And ______________?

14. On surrendering control |
“I have learned that I cannot offer my less privileged students… safety, nor
should I try. In fact, it is a function of my own privilege that I ever thought I
could. It is only from privileged perspectives that neutral or safe environments
are viable and from empowered positions that protecting others is possible.” —
Ludlow 2004:45

15. Co-creating safe-
enough spaces
Terms of engagement
Focus on practical actions
Handling disagreement
PROCESS matters as much as content |

16. “One must think with the body
and the soul
or not think at all”
-- Hannah Arendt

17. References
hooks, b., 1994. Teaching to transgress - Education as the Practice of Freedom. New York and London:
Routledge.
Freeth, R., 2012. On creating uncomfortable, safe spaces for South African conversations. Workshop handout,
(August), pp.1–3.
Latour, Bruno, 2005. ‘From Realpolitik to Dingpolitik or How to Make Things Public’, in Making Things
Public-Atmospheres of Democracy (Cambridge, Massachussetts: The MIT Press), pp. 4–31
Leonardo, Z. & Porter, R.K., 2010. Pedagogy of Fear: toward a Fanonian theory of “safety” in Race dialogue. Race
Ethnicity and Education, 13(2), pp.139–157.
Pratt, M.L., 1991. Arts of the Contact Zone. Profession, (1991), pp.33–40. Available at:
http://www.jstor.org.gate2.library.lse.ac.uk/stable/25595469.