Blackness in Britain: Beyond the Black Atlantic

There is a crisis in British higher education, in terms of the lack of representation of Black (African and African Caribbean) scholars and knowledges. Only 1.1% of British born academics are Black and the academy has largely marginalised the experiences and contributions of Black communities. This gap in academic knowledge is important because it means that society has not fully accounted for the impacts of its diversity. The marginalisation of Black experiences has consequences not just for the equality agenda but, more importantly, for knowledge production. If a significant section on the population is locked out of academia then the knowledge produced is itself exclusionary. It is no surprise, then, that the policy agenda and discourse is so discriminatory when the knowledge upon which it is based is so exclusionary.

The Blackness in Britain: Beyond the Black Atlantic research network will seek to redress this marginalisation by bringing together an interdisciplinary range of academics, activists and artists who will engage in conferences, workshops and symposiums exploring Black life in Britain, and making links across the African Diaspora. A specific aim for of the network will be to explore aspects of the history of Black populations in the UK and also the contribution of the Black Arts movement to both activism and knowledge. We also intend to explore beyond the concept of the Black Atlantic, which has focused discussion on English speaking African Diasporas. The aim of the network is to produce fully establish a Black Studies professional association and peer reviewed journal, which can continue to develop work in the area of Black Studies after the completion of the project. The topics covered during the two year project will include:

October 2016: Symposium: Black Studies and British Higher Education. This first symposium will begin framing the interdisciplinary area of discipline of Black Studies and developments moving forward.

March 2017: Symposium: The Black Mediterranean and the Migrant Crisis. In this session will try to connect Black Studies in Britain to the migrant crisis, by using the concept of the Black Mediterranean in conversation with scholars and activists.

June 2017: Conference: Connecting Blackness in Britain to Latin America. A key focus of the research network is to connect Black experiences in Britain with parts of the African Diaspora with weaker connections to British scholarship. Latin America is a particular area of focus for this reason, especially because it has the largest African Diaspora.

November 2017: Symposium: Black Arts Movement. Black artists and writers have played a key role in Black communities in Britain, connecting to activism and filling the gap created by academic marginalisation. Making connections to Black artists and academic are essential for Black Studies.

March 2018: Reconnecting to the Francophone Caribbean. The work of scholars such as Franz Fanon and Aime Cesaire has been influential on Black Studies in Britain. We therefore aim to rebuild connections to the Francophone Caribbean.

June 2018: Book writing workshop: The Challenge for Black Studies. This workshop will produce the framework for a book that explores the themes of the series by bringing together key participants from the network.

The aim is for the journal that will be established during the project to publish special issues on the first 3 events. The journal will be academically rigorous but also written in non-technical language and fully open access to gain the widest possible readership. The final event will be a workshop that brings together contributors for a book 'The Challenge for Black Studies', which will be published as part of the 'Blackness in Britain' book series edited by the principal investigator. We also intend that by bringing scholars together through the series a number of research collaborations will be fostered through the network.

The Black Studies that we are developing in the UK is rooted in the idea of embedding academic research within wider publics and therefore the research network will have a number of tangible impacts beyond academia. Some of those who will directly benefit from the research include:

Collectives of Black artists. The project will directly engage with collectives of Black artists throughout. This will involve providing platforms for the dissemination of their work during the series. The aim for the specific event on the Black Arts Movement is to develop collaborations between artists and academics, which will also positively impact on the work of the artists.

The founding of the journal will also offer space for artists to publish and publicise their work, which will be ongoing. This dedicated space will also positively impact the artists by broadening out the reach of their work.

Community Organisations. Activists from community organisations will be invited to participate in all of the events of the series, with the aim for the knowledge gained from the project being directly impactful in the work of organisations. A key aim of the interactions will also be to create collaborations between academics and community organisations that directly benefit the activism. This can be through knowledge exchange, resource support or from putting in bids for research projects that engage with the organisations. One of the outcomes we plan for the series is to produce concrete mechanisms for connecting these collaborations to emerge.

Publics outside academia. One of the premises upon which this application is built is the marginalisation of Black experiences and contributions in British academia. This absence has an impact on knowledge, which the project is attempting to address and will have impact on wider publics.

One of the major impacts will be on Black communities who will have spaces to engage with their history and experiences. This will be true of the events within the series and also through engaging with the open access journal that will be created in the course of the project. This recognition from academia cannot be understated as it is an opportunity for Black communities to engage in critical discussions that are few venues for elsewhere. The potential for creating work and projects that can have a direct impact on Black communities is a key feature of why we are building Black Studies.

As critical as we may be of the elitist nature of knowledge production that places academic knowledge at the pinnacle; this remains the reality in society. Therefore the marginalisation of Black life has a negative impact on understandings, discourse and ultimately policy towards Black communities. We intend to begin to redress this deficit by locating Black Studies within academia, supported by a professional organisation and peer reviewed journal that offers a rigorous and respected recognition of Black experiences. We intend for the impact of this to be felt across the academic disciplines and eventually on policy agendas as we build the basis for Black Studies going forward. This specific project is a key building block in establishing Black Studies, which will allow the discipline to have these more far reaching impacts going forward.

International publics. By engaging with work from Latin America, continental Europe and the Francophone Caribbean we also hope to have influence on international publics by creating collaborations with scholars and artists in these regions. The Black Mediterranean event is a good example of potential influences as one of the aims is to use a cultural studies concept to bring together activists who have previously not engaged with the migrant crisis. The aim is to build connections and collaborations that can lead to work that supports migrants and migrant issues in a broader context. By building these kinds of alliances the research network can have an international influence.