Navigating Decolonial Teaching in a Colonial Institution: How Faculty Manage and Facilitate Decolonial and Critical Learning within American Colleges and Universities

Faculty navigate extremely complex hegemonic systems of oppression while working to undermine those very same systems. The role of critical and decolonial faculty then is not to separate themselves from the problems within higher education, but rather use their positions to plant doubt within their students, teach them alternative methods and knowledges, and examine their own complacency and resistance to the very institutions they work within. This article explores the ways faculty mitigate their disenchantment with the system to maintain their joy of teaching, the impact of structural exhaustion, administrative support or hostility, and the strength of community in sustaining challenging work.