Why does a decolonized curriculum matter?

by Tracia Banuelos, Program Manager

“What good is education without love?” 

(Catherine Adams, Kwakiutl, born 1903 Smith’s Inlet, B.C)

In the United States, formal education has served first and foremost as a political tool. From the forced assimilation of American indigenous children in the 19th century to the current debate over critical race theory in schools, it is impossible to divorce American-based education today from its intention of colonizing the world into Western thinking and values. And yet, at Broadway for Arts Education we unabashedly strive to decolonize the classrooms and spaces we occupy to the best of our ability while sitting on unceded Lenape land. 

Curriculum made with love is just that - love is infused in every aspect of what we do, why we do it, and most importantly, who we do it for. When serving students who have been pushed to the margins of society, it is imperative that our curriculum doesn’t work against them but instead, centers their needs, goals, values, and skills. Whereas a colonized curriculum teaches students that are bystanders in society with little power to change anything on a macro level, a decolonized curriculum expands their worldview and gives them the confidence and skills to create a better tomorrow. Most importantly, it is fun, engaging, and focused on collaboratively learning.

In our curriculum, we speak of racism, ableism, classism, homophobia, transphobia, and xenophobia not as ideas of the past but as active structures in society today. We strive to give youth the opportunity to see themselves reflected more accurately in past, present, and future narratives. This begins with using branding, examples, and language that reflect positive and relevant depictions of the communities our young people are a part of for the sake of connection while ensuring that none of our participants are tokenized. 

Building a decolonized curriculum is a balancing act that takes much work. In efforts to create unified messages and themes across BAE's local & international programs, we too have to be careful that we do not replicate the systems we are moving away from. While the workload will be high, it is the bare minimum of what our students deserve and what we can do to honor the land we occupy.