The West once saw itself as the driver of global progress. We were confident Enlightenment values would guarantee success, uncover knowledge and create progressive social change. Now many are beset with doubt. Critical of our past we have little faith in the future and the power of our core beliefs to bring a better world.
Is this self-criticism a welcome and less arrogant outlook - a consequence perhaps of Western imperial guilt and relative economic decline? Or should we overcome our doubts and reignite faith in our values and their power to improve lives? Alternatively, can we escape our history to fashion a new set of ideals that we are proud to endorse and which drives success?
Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University Kehinde Andrews, philosopher Raymond Tallis and journalist and host of the podcast We Need To Talk About Whiteness Myriam Francois (PhD Oriental Studies, Oxford University), who is also research associate at the Centre for Islamic Studies at SOAS, face the colonial legacy head on.