Decolonization and the paradox of grading: The necessity and violence of academic validation for minoritized students in Ecuador

• In Event: Navigating New Horizons in Teaching and Learning: Decolonization, Presence, and Equity in Global Contexts

Proposal

Higher education systems worldwide bear the deep imprints of their colonial legacies, a heritage that has shaped their structures, curricula, and ideological underpinnings. Originating during the era of imperial expansion, higher education in colonized regions was established by colonial powers to educate a select few in administrative skills and entrench Western epistemologies and cultural values among indigenous populations (Grosfoguel, 2011). This educational imperialism not only marginalized local knowledge systems but also reinforced the racial and cultural hierarchies essential to maintaining colonial control. Although higher education has evolved in numerous ways, adapting to new cultural, technological, and pedagogical developments, these colonial logics have endured, constantly shapeshifting into new formations in response to changing contexts (Stein, 2023). Today, they persist through mechanisms of systemic marginalization and epistemic violence, subtly perpetuating the same hierarchies and exclusions that were foundational to the colonial education system (Fredericks, 2009; Tlostanova & Mignolo, 2009).

Numerous studies have highlighted how these enduring colonial legacies impose persistent difficulties and adverse effects on minoritized students who manage to access these institutions (see Durmush et. al, 2024; Pérez-Castro, 2024). This legacy endures in structures and curricula that exclude and marginalize the knowledge and cultural perspectives of these students, reinforcing a racial hierarchy where “whiteness” is often aspired to as a normative standard (Shahjahan & Edwards, 2021). Such exclusion is manifested not only in the content of what is taught but also in the systemic undervaluation of non-Western epistemologies, forcing minoritized students to navigate an educational environment that demands conformity to White cultural and academic norms (Suspitsyna, 2021). This entrenched marginalization within educational spaces highlights the ongoing challenge of creating truly inclusive and equitable academic environments.

Amidst these challenges, the colonial legacy of higher education is increasingly being acknowledged in academic discourse, prompting statements of public commitment and demands for action. From this growing recognition, there has emerged a range of responses, from calls for the decolonization of educational institutions to the development of strategies among and for minoritized students of survivance and refusal (Tachine, 2022; Vizenor, 2008). The path towards these diverse set of goals, however, encounters numerous and deeply embedded barriers, including institutional resistance to changing entrenched Western curricula, the pervasive undervaluation of non-Western knowledge systems, and the logistical challenges of reshaping academic structures to better serve diverse epistemologies. If these and other barriers are not seriously considered and directly addressed, these efforts risk becoming merely metaphorical, as Tuck and Yang (2012) critique, rendering the calls for decolonization ineffective and superficial. Or worse, these efforts may ultimately serve to reinforce colonial logics by absorbing and neutralizing critiques while preserving existing knowledge hierarchies (Moosavi, 2020; Sumida Huaman & Mataira, 2019).

Addressing these barriers, as Andreotti (2016) argues, must therefore extend beyond good intentions and institutional will. Rather, it requires a profound cognitive transformation that strives to overcome the existing epistemic dominance in higher education which not only delegitimizes, but often fails to recognize modes of thinking and being that exist outside colonial parameters of intelligibility. To disrupt existing forms of epistemic dominance, Santos (2007) advocates for the need of an "ecology of knowledges," which recognizes the plurality of heterogeneous knowledges and promotes sustained, dynamic interconnections between them without compromising their respective autonomies. However, as Santos underscores, there are no ready-made templates or simplistic solutions for how this can be achieved, as it involves a complex, paradoxical and tentative process of learning and unlearning that navigates the interstitial spaces between the modern promises of security and control and the unknown possibilities that come from creating alternatives without clear, predetermined outcomes (Krainer, 2023; Stein & Andreotti, 2017) . This lack of simplistic solutions, as Andreotti (2016) highlights, can engender feelings of hopelessness and paralysis, raising the daunting question: where to even begin?

This paper does not seek to provide an answer or a concrete starting point, as any acontextual suggestion would likely result in a circular exercise that ultimately "reproduces more of the same" (Stein & Andreotti, 2017, p. 6). Rather, it aims to critically examine the normative practice of grading—standardizing student performance and reducing complex educational experiences to quantifiable metrics—within a particular context, and reflect on its relationship to the persistence of colonial structures within educational institutions. To explore this interest, I draw on a longitudinal qualitative study that explored the experiences of minoritized students of predominantly Kichwa and Afro-Ecuadorian backgrounds, and their sense of belonging within Highland, a private university in Ecuador widely acclaimed for its commitment to diversity.

The central argument of this paper is that grading at Highland serves a dual function for minoritized students, being both essential and oppressive. Grades are essential because they are often the only way minoritized students can protect their dignity and affirm their presence in a system that consistently discriminates and scrutinizes their legitimacy. However, this necessity is also a form of violence, as it implies that their inherent worth and voices are inadequate without the constant reinforcement of academic success. This dynamic creates a contradiction where the very tool used for affirmation within the university simultaneously reinforces the oppressive structures that necessitate such validation – a phenomenon I refer to as the paradox of grading. I conclude by discussing how addressing this paradox is key to decolonization, highlighting the need to dismantle practices of epistemic violence while ensuring minoritized students retain the means to affirm their presence within institutions dominated by racialized ideologies.

Author

• Tiago Bittencourt, Universidad San Francisco de Quito