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Decoloniality refers to the logic, metaphysics, ontology and matrix of power created by the massive processes and aftermath of colonization and settler-colonialism. This matrix and its lasting effects and structures is called "coloniality." More plainly said, decoloniality is a way for us to re-learn the knowledge that has been pushed aside, forgotten, buried or discredited by the forces of modernity, settler-colonialism, and racial capitalism.

Decoloniality is not a means to reject the scientific, medical, social and ethical "advances" of the modern era tout court. It is, rather, a way to explore colonization, settler-colonialism, racial capitalism (particularly as it grew out, in full racializing force, with the enslavement of black Africans), modernity, and, most recently, neoliberalism and necrocapitalism and the ways in which they have displaced an array of modes of living, thinking and being in our natural world. Decoloniality reveals "the dark side of modernity" and how it is built "on the backs" of "others," others that modernity racializes, erases, and/or objectifies. Therefore, decoloniality is not a singular thing. It is a method and paradigm of restoration and reparation that depends on context, historical conditions, and geography. Therefore, as a method, it aspires to restore, elevate, renew, rediscover, and acknowledge and validate the the multiplicity of lives, live-experiences, culture and knowledge of indigenous people, people of color, and colonized people as well as to decenter hetero/cis-normativity, gender hierarchies and racial privilege.

Decolonial approaches, methods, and movements seek to disrupt colonial and settler-colonial logic and the seeming "naturalness" of racial capitalism. The methods and practices consider differences in ideas, social practices, histories, identities and beliefs as part of a myriad of means of "production of knowledge." But also, we understand that producing knowledge and living it are not separate. We seek to learn and make visible the connections between knowledge, social practices and social action.

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Decoloniality refers to the logic, metaphysics, ontology and matrix of power created by the massive processes and aftermath of colonization and settler-colonialism. This matrix and its lasting effects and structures is called "coloniality." More plainly said, decoloniality is a way for us to re-learn the knowledge that has been pushed aside, forgotten, buried or discredited by the forces of modernity, settler-colonialism, and racial capitalism.

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I think a lot about this-- what are the origins of a lot of our practices, our institutions? How can we set deconstruct the master's house? Decolonialism is related to and a step deeper, past cultural humility and anti-racism, to really looking at origins. I think this is a crucial conversation to have, AND I think it may be a thing we'll need to introduce and really spend time reflecting on.

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We are working from a critical lens, we are working toward liberation...

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This one is so important! And totally related to how I view Community as Co-Educator. As Karina mentioned, we're guests, our students are guests. Asking how we should be present, if we even belong in these spaces, and recognizing the need for sustainable partnerships so we can continue learning and growing together. The other piece of that is that we need to recognize how white supremacy reinforces the need to "fix," to have a sense of urgency, to be perfect in our interactions. Cultural humility reminds me to check myself, to humble myself in front of my students and community partners when I'm wrong, or even wondering if what I'm doing is acceptable.

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I see community partners almost as lead educators. One of the things that Fonna said in the first year really hit home for me. Higher Ed can be very extractive. Even before we think about co-education, I think we need to think about ultimate impact. I think that within the context of my identity, I have to constantly check in to make sure that my excitement to 'help" doesn't overcome the need to keep the community not only centered, but recognize they are our guides in learning.

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To me, community as co-educator means thinking deeply about the ways we engage with our community partners -- both in the sense of the organizations/contacts we coordinate with and the broader community. It means valuing the knowledge and strengths our community partners bring and mindfully building relationship, being mindful of power structures and the tendency to be extractive and/or

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this is probably the most robust tenet of them all. i would love to see this tenet infused throughout the program more, and challenge ourselves to think about the structures/ paradigms we have in place overall. this tenet takes anti-racism to a whole new level and in my opinion, really gets to the core of many of our problems in society.  it's a tough one to dive deep with because essentially it deconstructs all that we have been taught and think we know.. similar to what i wrote under trauma informed- we must ask ourselves - is this way of life, and approach to life serving colonized people, as well as those not colonized well?

Decoloniality  asks us to challenge the systems and structures we are situated within, and in many ways, start over. This of course is easier said than done, and we run into many risks and nuances ex: thinking about the powerful institution of higher education and the good as well as the harm it has caused.
i would like for us to incorporate more learnings from diverse, especially indigenous scholars,  into this program to challenge our approach to service learning and reframe our ways of thinking and being in the world. (tg)

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i agree with whats been said below. I think this one hits home the most in respect to my personal experiences and social identities and in many ways it is reinforced by the other tenets.
While trauma is not unique to any particular community or group, it happens to be very much concentrated in certain ones- and cultural humility is required to adequately address and/or recognize trauma from cultures and communities outside of our own.
I am concerned with how trauma can be perpetuated through conventional service learning models. i would like to discuss ways we can support fellows to equip their own students to be trauma informed and learn how to actively resist default problematic ways of being/ interacting and adopt more healing justice approaches. (have a more political/critical approach to this).
Additionally, it has become clear that  our fellows are really burnt out trying to do this work on top of everything else:  be good citizens, parents, research, publish, etc. Many of our discussions this year were around them not-feeling supported by the university and feeling overwhelmed in doing this work. i truly feel this is trauma in the works - as a result of a culture / society that is focused on over-work, mass production/ consuming/ capitalist-corporatism which really isnt harmonious to life and is unsustainable. how can we model harmonious and sustainable ways of being? How can we center this in our work? How can we better serve as advocates for our fellows? (tg)

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As a non-white, trans-border crossing person this tenet is especially important to me. while i feel it is important to be inclusive towards all social identities, race and confronting white supremacy  are aspects that our country is still learning how to grapple with.  As educators and professionals in higher education, centering this in our work has the potential to have a large positive impact on our students and  community.
i would like to explore ways we can really frame our work around this tenet. As others have said before me, it wouldn't be enough to dedicate a session or two around this, but rather have it infused throughout all of the work we do.
i really like the ideas below - specifically around having conversations our ucsd history, la jolla, and redlining and why our students  have to commute so far to support surrounding communities. (tg)

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I see this is as so crucial heading into 2021 and beyond. We have not dealt with the trauma our students or our communities have faced from covid AND the murder of george floyd. So I see this as recognizing the whole person and the interconnectedness of communities.
I can see incorporating this in the share outs and reflection from fellows. (dc)

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I like what's been said below, I agree it has not been focused on enough. It would be great to apply anti-racism as a conception generally, then specifically in this type of work.
Maybe we can have a discussion on the racist history of this type of work, discuss why we don't use "service-learning" anymore, and talk about how students of color feel when they are in these course with white peers. I also think we can focus locally, and have a discussion of the racist history of the san diego community, redlining, and our location in la jolla. Students should understand why they are traveling 30 minutes, without direct public transportation, to areas in the city they are working in. (dc)

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I've struggled with this one. When applied as a self-reflective tool, I think I can make sense of it. It's about understanding your own cultural identity - values, thoughts, biases, whatever- and having the humility to not apply that to all cultures.
Where I struggle is on a larger scale. Who needs cultural humility, and why? It needs a power analysis. On a structural level, it requires calling out the traditionally white view of the world (and the way the university uses that view) and constantly working against that. In this way, I see it connected to community as co-educator; if you have the humility to question the ways you've advanced a white favoring view of knowledge, then you can start to dismantle that.
This can definitely be integrated more thoroughly in the program. Reflection activities were not as robust this year, but I see a great opportunity there to incorporate this as an individual reflection component. And hopefully we can think of ways to include the university's power in these systems. (dc)

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Valuing the knowledge of the people who make up the community. I see this as important for our faculty, so they relay it to our students. Because of the historical ways that higher ed works, it means challenging those typical structures of by looking at sources of knowledge that are personal, lived, and applied. It's an understanding of who the university grants knowledge and authority to, and it's purposefully expanding the voices of wisdom. For me, it's been where I have sought knowledge, where I have learned the most, and where I have felt most at home.
I think this has been incorporated well. Maybe there are practices that can make it more intentionally scaffolded and recalled throughout, but it has always been a core tenet. (dc)

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This tenet is very much aligned with  community as co-educator as well as some of the other tenets (anti-racism & decoloniality) as i don't think you can effectively and equitably partner with another community without also being culturally humble and competent. Similar to what I wrote previously, public and community health is effective when this is practiced in all areas of program design and implementation.
To me this tenet means that I let go of thinking i have authority or expertise in how to approach or work with diverse community members and colleagues. It means that i respect and value the differences of others, as well as try to learn as much as i can about others cultures and communities. It also means i continuously reflect and interrogate upon my own privileges and pre-conceived notions. I would like for us to incorporate more ways for the fellows to reflect upon  their social positionality and perhaps dive deeper into discussions around this tenet (tg)

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For me (a white person), decoloniality looks like reflecting on WHY - why do I have the values I have? Why do I like what I like? Why are certain types of knowledge considered superior to others? Why are our norms around teaching and learning what they are? Understanding that my default settings are not neutral/apolitical, and that the default settings & norms of US higher education do not represent the pinnacle of what humanity has to offer. Something I have thought about a lot over the course of this year working with CFF has been the colonization of knowledge and learning - what counts as "knowledge", how is knowledge created, and what forms of knowing & learning are excluded, devalued, ignored. In stepping away from normative models of education (for instance, through CEL) we can help students broaden their ideas about knowledge and learning, and create spaces in which we can all step into fuller, more humane, and more connecting models of teaching and learning. (JRD)

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Trauma-informed educators recognize that their students are whole people, and that cognition/learning doesn't happen in a vacuum - both are impacted deeply by students' emotional landscapes and lived experiences. Humanizing education by prioritizing wellness, allowing vulnerability, and embracing imperfection. Being aware of what's happening in the world, how these events may be impacting students, and making space for shared processing. This is another theme that I think we could center more intentionally in our learning community (especially in Fall 2021, as folks are returning to in-person classes but very likely still dealing with psychological/emotional/medical/financial/etc. impacts from this last year). This would be a great space to hear reflections from previous fellows. (JRD)

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Anti-Racism requires recognizing that teaching is never apolitical or "neutral". In our work with students, if we are not actively acknowledging/challenging/attempting to dismantle structures of oppression, then we are reinforcing and perpetuating the white supremacist notions that US institutions have been built to preserve. I agree with the statement below, that anti-racism should be a guiding principle of all our programming in this learning community, with a specific focus on how CEL specifically can contribute to anti-racist efforts. (JRD)

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To me this means recognizing that I do not know everything about the world, and always staying open to (and even better, actively seeking out) perspectives and ideas from folks who are different from me (and specifically in our context, from folks who have been historically excluded from fully participating/leading in higher education). Making sure not to react with defensiveness or "correcting" when someone says something that is different than what I've experienced. I think we could do a better job of centering this in our programming - for instance, I'd love to chat with fellows about ways that they've helped developed cultural humility in their students, and how they assess the impact of CEL experiences on this aspect of their students' learning. (JRD)

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This means rethinking authority when it comes to teaching and learning - rather than the instructor being the source of knowledge, community members (and students) are included in knowledge generation and sharing expertise. Multiple perspectives and ways of thinking are considered and valued. I think we've done a good job centering this as a tenet of CEL; we should continue in emphasizing this right off the bat (for instance, with community panel & readings). We could also make a more conscious effort to explicitly return to this core tenet throughout the program. (JRD)

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I think a frame of Anti-racism should be present in all of our work with this program, not confined to one or two sessions. We should not be shy about an anti-racist approach that actively works against racism and racist structures being part of the CESL agenda.

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Reflection is an important tenet both in terms of CESL pedagogy - the cycle of doing and reflecting as critical to student learning - and in our own learning community, asking our Fellows to reflect upon their work, their identities, their teaching, their relationships with community partners.
For me personally, reflecting upon my own identities, assumptions, and privilege, as well as the strengths I and others bring, is essential to authentically engaging the other tenets of this program -- cultural humility, anti-racism, etc.

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To me this tenet is critical as it has really been the cornerstone of our program since the programs inception three years ago.
In my experience having worked in various community based clinics and various roles, and having conducted community-based participatory research in my graduate studies, i have personally seen why this tenet is so critical. For example, from an evidence and research based perspective, making sure community members and partners are seen as collaborators and in the decision making process actually leads to better health outcomes for the community that is being served.

In respect to my own social identities, I have witnessed the damaging and negative impacts of not valuing community in this way, within my own family- particularly in how my immigrant and Spanish speaking grandmother receives medical care.
I think we have been lucky with our fellows in that most of them have come into this program already valuing this tenet and having implemented in their own projects and teaching. I think we have been successful in centering this tenet in the program early on but i would like for us to challenge ourselves and deepen these conversations with our fellows throughout the learning community sessions and learn more about how they are practicing this tenet.  (tg)