Redefining the higher education curriculum: gender equality, redistribution and recognition for the silenced lumpenproletariat

There is an urgent need to diversify our understanding and discourse within the current Eurocentric and neoliberal Higher Education curriculum. One critical area which requires attention is the marginalisation of the 'lumpenproletariat' women through taught content.

By integrating Clyde W. Barrow’s analysis of the 'lumpenproletariat' and Nancy Fraser's principles of redistribution and recognition, this conceptual research paper critically examines the current curriculum theory which dominates Western universities and the impact curriculum choices have on gender and class intersectionality. It argues that the current curriculum is not equipped to address inequalities and that a radical new approach is needed to dismantle its inherent patriarchal and class-biased roots, echoing Audre Lorde's (2018) assertion that 'the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house' The existing curriculum continues to perpetuate and reinforce patriarchal biases and social hierarchies which do not reflect the epistemologies of the diverse student population and is long overdue change.

Keywords: curriculum, neoliberalism, lumpenproletariat, women