Decolonial educational practice: Reimagining a business school in Dubai

Abstract

Leadership within global business education remains engulfed in Eurocentric epistemologies that prioritize Western economic paradigms, often at the expense of indigenous and alternative knowledge systems and epistemologies. This paper interrogates the coloniality of knowledge within business education, where leadership on campuses manage pressures from international and accreditation bodies that prescribe Western pedagogy, while trying to instill a decolonial view. This pedagogy extends to preparation, delivery, assessment and evaluation of assessments within institutions.

The need for business education’s acknowledgement from these Western accreditation bodies stems from hierarchical geopolitics of location. The dominance of these ways denies the legitimacy of other (traditionally non-Western) practices of knowledge by exclusion and in turn leaves leadership in a liminal space—between questioning approved pedagogy and creating actionable change. The need to contest the status quo tends to get overridden by pressures to be viewed as relevant, which, given the geopolitical contexts, steers conversation to recognized Western ways.

Drawing on decolonial theory and critical pedagogy, this study examines the possibilities of decolonizing the business school through a qualitative method of community conversations with faculty conducted in a business school in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The paper advocates for an ontological shift beyond traditional Western pedagogies adopted in business schools globally. The shift acknowledges both how practices stem from European origins of modernity and the potential benefit of other knowledge traditions. We present our findings in a non-traditional script format, based on our analysis of community conversations with faculty, in a reflective and conversational style that is both accessible and designed for potential re-enactment.

Ultimately, the paper argues that leadership should engage in introspective practice and continuous cycles of action and reflection to decolonize higher education systems. This requires not just an inclusionary approach but a fundamental disruption of epistemic communities of knowledge.