Decolonial Underground Pedagogy: Decolonizing Education Through Subcultural Teaching and Learning

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Three
  In Roundtable Session: Culturally Sustaining and Decolonial Pedagogical Praxis (Table 2)

Abstract

This thesis seeks to deepen understanding of decolonizing education, an approach to teaching and learning which holds that social justice requires the dismantling of Eurocentric imperialism and its evolving forms. Specifically, it brings literature on decolonizing education, informal learning, and subculture studies into conversation to propose a theory of decolonial underground pedagogy, a conceptual framing that enables observations of how minority-led subcultures foster critical consciousness and decolonial action by emphasizing ‘informal learning’, ‘community engagement’, and ‘nonhierarchical relationships’. Through a constellation of methodological considerations including decolonizing methodologies, autoethnography, close reading, and the suppositionless Philippine methodology of pakapa-kapa, I examine decolonizing experiences found in three minority-led subcultures: punk rock, skateboarding, and unschooling.

Author

• Noah Romero, Hampshire College
  Presenting Author