Decolonisation: a bad word? - March 2026

We live in a complex time in which conversations around decolonisation are growing. On the one hand, there is a deep suspicion for what is termed ‘woke’, seeing decolonial attention to the past as unnecessary and divisive. On the other, there is a sense in which the legacies of colonisation are so pervasive and deep that only a decolonial lens can address it. Carlton Turner suggests what a decolonial perspective might look like beyond attempts to politicise it, especially for our faith.
The Revd Canon Dr Carlton Turner is tutor in Contextual Theology and Mission Studies, as well as Deputy Director of Research, at the Queen's Foundation, Birmingham. He self-defines as a Caribbean Contextual and Practical Theologian and engages in further research into the intersections of Christian theology and decoloniality, particularly within the British imperial history and context. His first book, Overcoming Self-Negation explores the identity and church practices within the Anglophone African Caribbean, and his most recent book, Caribbean Contextual Theology: An Introduction, is the latest iteration of a Caribbean theological reflection.