Anti-Racist Scholar-Activism

Anti-racist scholar-activism raises urgent questions about the role of contemporary universities and the academics that work within them. As profound socio-racial crises collide with mass anti-racist mobilisations, this book focuses on the praxes of academics working within, and against, their institutions in pursuit of anti-racist social justice. Amidst a searing critique of the university's neoliberal and imperial character, Joseph-Salisbury and Connelly situate the university as a contested space, full of contradictions and tensions. Drawing upon original empirical data, the book considers how anti-racist scholar-activists navigate barriers and backlash in order to leverage the opportunities and resources of the university in service to communities of resistance. Showing praxes of anti-racist scholar-activism to be complex, diverse, and multi-faceted, and paying particular attention to how scholar-activists grapple with their own complicities in the harms perpetrated and perpetuated by Higher Education institutions, this book is a call to arms for academics who are, or want to be, committed to social justice. An electronic edition of this book is freely available under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND) licence.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Anti-racist scholar-activism and the neoliberal-imperial-institutionally-racist university 1 Problematising the ‘scholar-activist’ label: Uneasy identifications 2 Working in service: Accountability, usefulness, and accessibility 3 Reparative theft: Stealing from the university 4 Backlash: Opposition to anti-racist scholar-activism within the academy 5 Struggle where you are: Resistance within and against the university 6 Uncomfortable truths, reflexivity, and a constructive complicity A manifesto for anti-racist scholar-activism Index

About the Author :
Remi Joseph-Salisbury is a Presidential Fellow in Ethnicity and Inequalities at the University of Manchester. Laura Connelly is a Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Salford.

Review :
‘For the undercover guerrilla scholars, thieves for reparation, freedom-dreamers and those pretending professional compliance while living another secret life, this is your book. Treasure it as a record, guide and manifesto. Share it with your best-loved comrades and take heart. But don’t show your boss.’ Gargi Bhattacharyya, author of Rethinking Racial Capitalism: Questions of Reproduction and Survival ‘This is an excellent and welcome addition to literature on racism, activism, and higher education, and a unique resource for university students who are trying to navigate higher education institutions and think through the contradictions, tensions and possibilities of being “in” the university, but not necessarily becoming “of” it, while committed to a politics of anti-racism. A necessary and compelling book.’ Aziz Choudry, editor of The University and Social Justice, Activists and the Surveillance State ‘As a polemic on commitment and agency and an irreverent critique of the neoliberal university, Anti-racist scholar-activism is not just one book but many. A primer on the history of anti-racist thought, and a consideration of the epistemology and pedagogy of anti-racism. Expect to be provoked on this rollercoaster of a read.’ Liz Fekete, Director, Institute of Race Relations ‘Including compelling readers to understand more fully the theories, meanings, and significance of the foundational organising concepts of the book – anti-racism and scholar-activism – Joseph-Salisbury and Connelly engage scholar-activist readers to reflect critically about our own work through the experiences of their study participants. Who among us has not faced situations described in the volume, but how can we better understand those, do better work, and become more authentic as we face dilemmas and contradictions as scholar-activists? These are the interventions the book makes into the readers’ lives. Ending the book with “A manifesto for scholar-activism” challenges us to examine our praxes and is emblematic of the clarity of their own.’ Margo Okazawa-Rey, Professor Emerita, San Francisco State University