The destruction of culture

 

Chaucer to be scrapped as British university 'decolonises' curriculum

SMH,

21 January, 2021

London: The University of Leicester will stop teaching the great English medieval poet and author Geoffrey Chaucer in favour of modules on race and sexuality, according to new proposals.

Management told the English department that courses on canonical works would be dropped in favour of modules that "students expect" as part of plans now under consultation.

Foundational texts such asThe Canterbury Tales and the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf would no longer be taught, under proposals to scrap medieval literature. Instead, the English faculty will be refocused to drop centuries of the literary canon and deliver a "decolonised" curriculum devoted to diversity.

Academics now facing redundancy were told via email: "The aim of our proposals [is] to offer a suite of undergraduate degrees that provide modules which students expect of an English degree."

New modules described as "excitingly innovative" would cover: "A chronological literary history, a selection of modules on race, ethnicity, sexuality and diversity, a decolonised curriculum, and new employability modules."

Professors were told that, to facilitate change, management planned to stop all English language courses, cease medieval literature, and reduce early modern literature offerings.

Despite Chaucer's position as "the father of English literature", he will no longer be taught if plans currently under consultation go ahead.

They would end all teaching on texts central to the development of the English language, including the Dark Age epic poem Beowulf, as well as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur, the Viking sagas, and all works written earlier than 1500 would also be removed from the syllabus.

Cuts to early modern English modules could see texts such as John Milton's Paradise Lost omitted, according to concerned academics, with teaching on Christopher Marlowe and John Donne potentially reduced.

The University of Leicester has said it would continue teaching William Shakespeare's work.

Staff were alerted to the change and to redundancies on Monday, with 60 jobs under threat.

Plans for restructuring were announced in 2020, with management seeking to ensure courses were "sustainable" for the next decade of student intake.

President and vice-chancellor Professor Nishan Canagarajah said that changing modules was part of the long-term strategy to "compete on a global level", adding: "To facilitate this, we may need to cease activity in a limited number of areas."