Abstract
This fascinating book draws on Campbell-Stephens’s experience with the Investing in Diversity programme in London schools as a decolonising process in leadership preparation for school leaders. As the title suggests, at the centre of this is the concept of the Global Majority, which recognises that the Black, African and African Caribbean people together constitute the Global Majority and that ‘the experience of whiteness is not the norm for the majority of people on this planet’ (p. 57).
Having acknowledged this concept, the book sets out to describe a process which began with ‘disrupting the narratives about Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) leadership and under-representation in London schools’ (p. 50). Campbell-Stevens revisits familiar territory in her summation of the power that colonialism still holds today. Her examination of the roots and methods of white domination and the construction of a narrative of othering Africa and African peoples, however, serves to scrutinise this narrative more closely, and thus lay the groundwork for an alternative narrative. This process is well-articulated, though sometimes expressed in terms more akin to political activism than academic prose.
In discussing narratives, a strength of this book can be found in its attention to the power of language, which is worthy of another volume, and is central to creating alternative, decolonialised, narratives. Campbell-Stephens explains that ‘[a]part from the ideas, the values and the vocabulary, the very process of thinking, the tone, the attitude and the parameters of thought are dictated by the language’ (p. 50). In addition to the language exploited to create the ‘narratives’ of the main thesis, the author includes the language erasure that has taken place from the times of empire to the present day. In this rich discussion, the author refers to the works of other scholars, including Paulo Freire, and studies that go beyond the United Kingdom, such as the linguistic oppression in the present day of the Tibetans and Uyghur in the People’s Republic of China.
The other main theme of this book involves the notions of cultural competence and culture literacy. Here cultural competence is defined as ‘The ability to read, understand and interact across cultures is critical in a globally diverse world’ (p.79). This ability is the first step towards cultural literacy as a practice that is ‘more deeply embedded and organic than acquisition through training of a set of skills, or the ability to perform certain tasks, as can be inferred using the word ‘competence’ (p. 90).
Bridging the concepts of disrupting and changing narratives and cultural competence and literacy is a case study. The methodology is grounded in lived experiences of seven Black women and addresses first-hand accounts of racism, sexism and classism. The women had been brought together to revive a school from London’s Black community that had been deemed as ‘failing’ by school inspectors. The goal of this team was to ensure that the school not only stayed open, but that it also thrived. The job titles in this team included: Headteacher, Deputy Headteacher and the chair of governors from the Local Education Authority. The model of leadership employed was based on the African Ubuntu Philosophy, which revolves around ‘personhood, morality, social and political activism’ (p. 74).
‘Ubuntu’ means ‘humanity’ in Nguni Bantu and this yielded what the author describes as the ‘unapologetic racial and cultural awareness and affinity within the seven-woman team’ which ‘saved time, provided consensus and established a foundation on which to build trust and bring genuine challenge’ (p. 73). The results of this approach are impressive. The school is no longer considered to be a failing school, with the leadership and management deemed as ‘good’ by school inspectors. Moreover, this school is now an exemplar in London for the work it has done towards decolonising its curriculum content.
While this case study illustrated a practical application of the ideology of this book, the presentation of the study needed examples from the data that were collected for discussion. For example, discussing the teamwork process included insights such as ‘The women began by coming to terms with who they were as people, leveraging their identity, their values, identifying their purpose, and embracing simultaneously their ways of being and seeing’ (p. 75). This would be stronger with direct quotes from these participants.
This critical point aside, Campbell-Stephens’s book contributes to leadership and policy making in the field of education by engaging with the concepts of decolonising narratives along with cultural competence and literacy. The development of these concepts makes this a worthwhile read both for its dominant target audience of peoples belonging to the Global Majority and also for others in educational leadership and policy making in our diverse world.
Footnotes
Author biography