Avoiding the danger of the singular narrative: A case study examining how Year 8 students’ understanding of postcolonial India develops over a sequence of geography lessons
Liam Travers (PGCE Geography, 2023-2024) Email: lt567@cam.ac.uk
Abstract
Educators sit at an important juncture to help students interrogate the creation and mitigation of distance between the self and the ‘other’. This perspective, which emerges from Edward Said’s work on ‘imaginative geographies’ and the growing necessity to decolonize the curriculum, informs this paper’s exploration of how Year 8 students' understanding of postcolonial India evolves through a sequence of geography lessons. An interpretivist case study conducted in a Cambridgeshire secondary school, the study employs semi-structured interviews, student work analysis, and teacher observations. The scheme of work developed centred the ‘personal geographies’ (Sammar, 2024) of students from Indian backgrounds in an effort to foster a decolonial pedagogical approach. Initial findings revealed that students expressed stereotypical and simplistic narratives about India, which were dispelled as they came into friction with lessons on India's geographic diversity, technological advancements, economic disparities, and social development were taught. An observed phenomenon of overcorrection - where students, without critical thought, exaggerated some of the taught characteristics of India before achieving a more nuanced recognition of the subjectivities of place and how its experience can vary at the individual level - highlights the complexity of challenging and changing student perceptions. Above all, the positive changes observed in this study provide a hopeful indication that such efforts to deliver a sequence of lessons on distant place paying credence to multiplicities and nuance - key components of decolonial pedagogical approaches - can lead to meaningful educational outcomes and a more holistic understanding of the world among young learners.
Copyright: © Liam Travers, 2025
The full paper is available for download as a pdf file: 001-038_Travers