DECOLONISING THE ENGLISH FACULTY: AN OPEN LETTER

The following letter is the result of a meeting that took place amongst students about the need for the faculty to decolonize its reading lists and incorporate postcolonial thought alongside its existing curriculum.

Solidarity Statement with MWASI Collective | Solidarité avec MWASI Collectif

Safe spaces for women of colour are seen as dangerous and a threat to the unity (or whiteness) of the French Republic, but for FLY and MWASI, they are the central site of our feminist activism and solidarity.

5 things I wish I was told as a Cambridge offer holder | Faria Tabassum

I spent a lot of Year 13 crying. Particularly when I thought about achieving my Cambridge offer. Here are 5 pieces of advice I wish I’d been given.

Chinese people: we can do better (II) | Jun Pang & Siyang Wei

CN: Anti-Asian violence, anti-SE sentiment, anti-black violence, erasure

The hashtag #ChineseLivesMatter is only the latest instance of co-option and stealing of Black people’s labour for other minorities’ social justice mobilizing.

Chinese people: we can do better (I) | Jun Pang & Siyang Wei

CN: Anti-Asian violence, anti-SE sentiment, anti-black violence, erasure

#ChineseLivesMatter does a disservice to the very cause of the racial solidarity that this hashtag seems to suggest should be a priority for political mobilization.

5 Questions for Zadie Smith | Lola Olufemi

For young black English students at Cambridge, Zadie Smith has become the template for a particular model of “success”. She let me ask her 5 questions.

Decolonising French Reading Lists | Shanti du Rocher

The constant desire to keep points of view within Europe exhibits what I believe is the underpinning factor behind the resistance to decolonising the reading lists: people see decolonisation as a potential threat to their white privilege.

On feminist organizing | Lola Olufemi

Students carry on organizing because they care, because the cause is important, because they understand that feminist and decolonial work is justice work and is therefore a necessity.

Pakistani girls are doing it for themselves: Establishing the worth of a daughter | Mishal Bandukda

It was inconceivable to many members of my extended family that I was going to Cambridge. To them, Pakistanis don’t go to Cambridge, and Pakistani girls will go to Cambridge when pork is halal – when hell freezes over.

Reframing the Discussion of Child Refugees | Tiara Sahar Ataii

To claim that refugees are ‘queue-jumpers’ is to close one’s eyes to the hell that they live in. Being a refugee is dangerous, regardless of age.

Fly.

FLY is Cambridge University's network and forum for women and non-binary people of colour. This blog is a platform for WoC and NBPoC to describe their experiences at the university and beyond.