Antiracist scholar-activism in the contemporary university

Against a backdrop of multiple crises, this talk is concerned with the responsibilities of academics. 

It explores key themes from a research project exploring 'antiracist scholar-activism' in British universities in order to offer some broad guiding principles that might help define antiracist scholar-activist praxis. In doing so, it considers the challenges and contradictions that arise from working in neoliberal-imperial-institutionally-racist universities, whilst also tentatively suggesting that there remain pockets of possibility to subvert the institution and work in service to communities of resistance.

About the speaker

Remi Joseph-Salisbury is Reader in Sociology at the University of Manchester and a member of the Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity. His research focuses on racism and antiracism in the contexts of education and policing, and particularly where policing and education meet. 

In 2021, he co-authored (with Laura Connelly) Anti-Racist Scholar-Activism, and in 2023 he was the lead author of Whose campus, whose security? a report exploring student views on, and experiences of, the securitisation of university campuses. 

Image by Markus Spiske via Unsplash