NEW BEGINNINGS

Welcome to the Race, Roots & Resistance Collective website!

We are a democratic collective of staff, students and community members based in-and-around the University of Manchester with a shared commitment to the critical study of race and its impact on the lived experience of people across temporal and spatial boundaries.

Last semester (Spring 2018), we held a "soft launch" at the Action on Race Equality in Higher Education event in April in which co-founders Danielle Chavrimootoo (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, University of Manchester) and  Kerry Pimblott (Lecturer in History, University of Manchester) presented the Collective's mission statement and invited participation.

This was quickly followed by the Collective's first two public events aimed at spotlighting important new research in the history of African diaspora politics.

In May, we were joined by Professor Hakim Adi (Chichester) who delivered the keynote address at our first half-day symposium - 'Black Visions': African Diaspora Politics. Adi is a leading scholar of the African diaspora experience in Britain with a particular emphasis on Black radical and pan-African politics. He has authored several books on these themes, including West Africans in Britain 1900-60: Nationalism, Pan-Africanism, and Communism (Lawrence and Wishart, 1998); Pan-African History: Political Figures from Africa and the Diaspora since 1787 (Routledge, 2003); and Pan-Africanism and Communism: The Communist International, Africa and the Diaspora, 1919-1939 (Africa World Press, 2013).

Professor Adi's keynote was entitled 'Pan-Africanism or Black Internationalism? A History' and focused on insights gained from writing his forthcoming book Pan-Africanism: A History (London: Bloomsbury, 2018). [Note: The Black Cultural Archives will be hosting a book launch event at Lambeth Town Hall on August 31. Click here for more information.]

Adi's keynote was followed by a panel showcasing related scholarship by University of Manchester staff and students including Dr. Andrew Fearnley (American Studies), Dr Jack Webb (History), and Sheban Saunders (History and Political Science).

Over the summer the Collective also had the privilege of hosting Dr. Richard D. Benson II (Spelman College), a historian specialising in education, the Black Freedom Movement and transnational social movements.

Benson is the author of Fighting for our Place in the Sun: Malcolm X and the Radicalization of the Black Student Movement 1960-73 (Peter Lang Publishing, 2015), which examines the linkages and inter-generational continuity of the Black Freedom Movement that evolved from the social pedagogy and political influences of Malcolm X.

Benson's talk - 'Resistance Under the Crown: Black Education & Radical Activism in Britain, 1965-1988' - focused on findings related to his latest research project on the Black British struggles for educational justice and empowerment.

We are looking forward to the Collective's official launch this autumn when we will begin dialogue about potential collaborative projects and initiatives.

If you would like to learn more about the Collective or to sign up for our listserv please email Kerry Pimblott (kerry.pimblott@manchester.ac.uk).