Decolonisation, knowledge production, and interests in liberal higher education

Abstract This essay explores how calls for decolonisation in universities have engaged with ideas about liberalism and liberal education. It maps the historical context of liberal education as embodied in the development of modern European universities and colonial interests in their respective nation‐states. It offers comparative perspectives on how ideas of decolonisation in higher education have confronted liberal and nation‐state interests at different historical conjunctures in three postcolonial settings: in the establishment of a national university in India during the 1960s; in protests by university students in postapartheid South Africa between 2015 and 2017; and in growing commitments to Indigenous recognition and knowledges in Australian universities from the 2000s. The essay highlights the need for those active in contemporary decolonisation movements in universities in the global North and South to confront the paradoxical interests of liberal education and nationalisms in knowledge production, epistemic and socio‐economic justice, and sociality in higher education. Key insights Despite enthusiasm about decolonisation in/of academic debates, few have sought to critically analyse its relationship to ideas of liberalism and liberal education in universities. This essay considers how ideas of decolonisation in higher education have confronted liberal and nation‐state interests at different historical moments in India, South Africa, and Australia. The essay highlights the need to confront the paradoxical interests of liberal education and nationalisms in knowledge production, epistemic and socio‐economic justice, and sociality in higher education.