Delivered by Intellect to: Rina Arya (33327732) IP: 81.132.4.154 On: Tue, 07 Feb 2023 22:59:57 APS 11 (1) pp. 55–60 Intellect Limited 2022 Art & the Public Sphere Volume 11 Number 1 www.intellectbooks.com 55 © 2022 Intellect Ltd Article. English language. https://doi.org/10.1386/aps_00068_1 Received 29 September 2021; Accepted 5 January 2022 RINA ARYA University of Huddersfield Decolonizing art and design: Rethinking critical and contextual studies ABSTRACT The history of art, more accurately described as the history of western art, has been premised on a history of cultural imperialism that privileges certain tradi- tions and ideologies over others. The decline of the discipline within the academy in recent decades and replacement in many cases with the more critically evalua- tive and broader area of critical and contextual studies (CCS) has filled a function in art and design education but needs to be critically interrogated for its rele- vance and its pedagogical usefulness in thinking about the politicized discourse of art. Attempts have been made within the academy to decolonize the curriculum. Within the context of CCS this entails ensuring standardizing the approach to the subject but not the content, which would be neither desirable nor possible given the decentralized way in which CCS is staffed. A standardization of approach means the inculcation of critical reflexivity when considering structures of knowl- edge, which helps identify gaps in the curricula and ways of addressing these. Decolonizing is a process that needs to be continuous and reflexive in order to embed significant change. There has been much talk since the first decade of the twentieth century about decolonizing the curriculum within higher education. Its impetus has been strengthened by the Rhodes Must Fall movement in 2015, at the University of Cape Town, and more recently by the murder of George Floyd KEYWORDS criticality institutional racism critical thinking in art and design education visual culture critical and contextual studies (CCS) Black Lives Matter Black and ethnic minority attainment gap