Vol. 17 No. 2 (2026)
Special Issue: SI_TGEO

Challenging Euro-Centric and Colonial Geography via Decolonial and Indigenised Curriculum: An Australia Case Study

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Alanna Kamp
Western Sydney University, Australia
DOI: https://doi.org/10.48088/ejg.a.kam.17.2.085.097
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Published 2026-04-04

Keywords

  • curriculum,
  • decolonising,
  • postcolonial,
  • geography teaching,
  • fieldwork

How to Cite

Kamp, Alanna. 2026. “Challenging Euro-Centric and Colonial Geography via Decolonial and Indigenised Curriculum: An Australia Case Study”. European Journal of Geography 17 (2):S.85-S.97. https://doi.org/10.48088/ejg.a.kam.17.2.085.097.

Copyright (c) 2026 Alanna Kamp

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Received 2025-12-04
Accepted 2026-03-22
Published 2026-04-04

Abstract

People, Place, and Social Difference (PPSD) is a first-year subject at Western Sydney University enrolling up to 1,200 students annually from across the social sciences. Most students are first in their family to attend university, and many are of refugee or migrant background. The subject introduces geographical learning through an examination of the interrelations   between society, economy, culture, and place with an emphasis on diversity and social justice. Since 2020, the subject has undergone a curriculum transformation grounded in postcolonial critique and an acknowledgement of geography’s entanglements with colonial knowledge production and practice. Through a decolonising and Indigenising approach, the curriculum embeds Indigenous perspectives, intersectional analysis and structured self-reflexivity. Using PPSD as a case study, this paper critically interrogates how teaching, fieldwork, and curriculum design can reproduce or disrupt colonial logics. It demonstrates how critical and decolonial pedagogies can equip multidisciplinary cohorts to engage with contemporary societal complexity and uncertainty. It outlines practical strategies for embedding Indigenous and postcolonial approaches in curriculum and fieldwork and highlights the transformative potential of such learning. In doing so, the paper offers practice-based insights into how geography education can respond meaningfully to global challenges and foster ethically engaged, future-oriented university graduates.

Highlights:

  • Geography is a discipline embedded in colonialism and geographers often perpetuate the discipline’s colonial roots.
  • Indigenising geography curriculum is paramount and urgent in the decolonial project.
  • Decolonised and Indigenised curriculum has transformative potential for multidisciplinary undergraduate students.

 

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