From Ethnic Minorities to Black Majorities: The Challenges and Dilemmas of Attempting to Decolonize the British Higher Education System

ABSTRACT

Using a decolonial and Black-feminist-inspired analytical lens, this paper explores the dilemmas and challenges that Black academics face in trying to bring about change in universities within the British higher education system. Higher education-focused campaigns such as “Why Isn’t My Professor Black?” “Why Is My Curriculum White?” and “Rhodes Must Fall” have positioned education as a site of struggle for the empowerment and liberation of Black communities. Yet there are still fewer than 100 full professors of African descent occupying academic positions. This article critically examines whether the British university can truly be a site for decolonization and liberation for African descendants and people of color. In reflecting on the 400th-year anniversary of African-descendant forced migration to the Americas, the article argues for a renewal of African-descendant collaboration along pan-African lines to decolonize the British-education system and foster systems of education that empower African-descendant communities across the globe.

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Notes on contributors

William Ackah

Dr. William Ackah is program director for Community Development and Public Policy Degree at Birkbeck. He is chair of the Transatlantic Roundtable on Religion and Race.