The “End Everyday Racism” project is building a collective of stories from around campus to strengthen our understanding of racism at the University. Find out more and consider sharing your own experiences at racismatcambridge.org
The following open letter has been sent to Dominic Raab, First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, on 15 Oct 2019, and is co-signed by 83 academics from across the country. Dear the RT Hon Dominic Raab, We write in relation to President Trump’s decision to withdraw US troops... Continue Reading →
Join us on Thurs 17 Oct, 20:00 at the Old Library (Darwin College) for a screening of the powerful documentary film about the 2015 “refugee crisis”, Dog Years, featuring Noam Chomsky. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with the filmmakers, Rocky Rodriguez, Jr., and Helen Foster, moderated by Cambridge sociologist Dr. Jeff Miley. Continue Reading →
Join poet, playwright, prison activist and Emmy award winner Bryonn Bain and Cambridge Sociologist Dr Jeff Miley for a poetry workshop in Whitemoor Prison on 28 Nov 2019. Followed by a performance and discussion at the University of Cambridge on 30 Nov.
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Join us for the third session of the Decolonise Sociology Committee on Friday 22 November @ 1pm in Room E (17 Mill Lane) New members always welcome! Continue Reading →
While there are many established approaches to the urgent problems of climate crisis within the areas of science, technology and policy, sociologically oriented analyses of environmental change are still emerging. This initiative within the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge proposes to address and systematically incorporate attention to environmental change within the curriculum [read more]
"The higher education industry might seem like it’s booming, with over 200 million students in universities and colleges worldwide and funds flowing in like never before. But the truth is that these institutions have never been unhappier places to work. Corporate-style management, cost-cutting governments, mobilisations by angry students and strikes by a disgruntled workforce have taken their toll — in almost every country around the world. It’s no wonder that there is talk of ‘universities in crisis'."
You can watch this event on YouTube .
Join us this term to help plan events and strategise for Easter Term! We're always looking for new members to support decolonisation work in the Department and across the University.
A group of PhD students at the Department of Geography have started a reading group to discuss decolonising discourses and methodologies, and to reflect on how research at Cambridge can support decolonisation work. All welcome - not just PhD students and Geographers!
Decolonise Sociology and the Race, Empire & Education Collective invite you to our first joint reading group session, focusing on the life of Angela Davis. The session will be on Friday 5th April from 2-4pm in Meeting Room 1, Department of Sociology, 16 Mill Lane. You can find the readings for this session below. Required:... Continue Reading →
The co-chair of the Decolonise Sociology working group - Dr Mónica Moreno Figueroa - is giving a presentation at the University of Coimbra in Portugal, focussed in part on the work of this working group. The event description reads as follows: "The purpose of this Seminar is to provide a dialogue on the decolonisation of... Continue Reading →
This post is based on comments delivered at a panel discussion on Cambridge & Historical Legacies of Slavery on 28th February 2019 as part of the Centre for African Studies public lecture series on Race and African Studies. The event discussed recent research and reparative approaches at other UK universities and debated the significance of... Continue Reading →
On Tue 23rd April 2019, Decolonise Sociology hosted an historic meeting between novelist and poet Jackie Kay and civil rights activist Angela Davis at the Cambridge Corn Exchange. Read more and watch the event here.
At the "50 Years of Sociology at Cambridge" conference, this panel focused upon the question of what decolonising sociology means; attending to the historical ‘colonisation’ of sociology, as well as how thinkers, systems of thought, topics of study, and geographical areas have historically and presently been excluded from sociology’s canon and periphery. You can watch a video recording of the panel session here.
The Decolonise Sociology working group supports the Open Letter signed by 586 academics and 874 students, which calls for an investigation into the appointment of Noah Carl to a research fellowship at St Edmunds College, University of Cambridge.
The Open Letter can be read in full here.
Join us this term to get up-to-date on decolonising work conducted so far, and help us strategise for the future! We're always looking for new members to support the work of our subcommittees.
Dr Manali Desai discusses the 'post-colonial' turn in Sociology in the context of Indian nationalism, and emphasises the need to connect analyses to colonial histories and representative politics. You can read her blog article here.
Photo credit (C) Duncan Brown 2017 On UN Anti-Racism day during the 2018 strike action, co-chair of the Decolonise Sociology working group, Dr Manali Desai, shared her thoughts on institutional racism at the University of Cambridge. “I don’t need to tell you that Cambridge has a race problem. Let me start by saying that just... Continue Reading →
On 30th Jan 2018, Professor Gurminder Bhambra delivered a lecture titled "A Postcolonial Rethinking of the State and Nation: From Comparative to Connected Sociologies", which was hosted by the Department of Sociology.
In the face of racialised misinformation about the Decolonise the Curriculum campaigns at Cambridge, and the racist-misogynist backlash against Lola Olufemi, the CUSU Women's Officer who co-wrote the 'Decolonise the English Faculty' open letter, we call on students and faculty to show up in public declaration of their support for the goal of decolonising the university.
The Student Newspaper Varsity has over eighty articles on the different decolonisation initiatives at Cambridge University. You can browse them here.
Something is very wrong when a simple request from a large number of students, that their reading lists be broadened slightly to include some black and minority ethnic writers, becomes the basis of a manufactured racial “row”, writes Priyamvada Gopal in The Guardian.
Our six areas of focus are:
We’d love to hear from you about any ideas you might have to help advance the decolonisation agenda.
Send the team an email at decolonise@sociology.cam.ac.uk
Dr Ali Meghji joins the Surviving Society podcast to discuss how sociology was formally institutionalised in the West during the height of imperialism. The following conversation also approaches concerns about the current decolonising moment in British universities. Continue Reading →
Global Social Theory is a free online resource for students, teachers, academics, and others interested in social theory and wishing to understand it in global perspective. The site was established by Gurminder K Bhambra in response to the campaign organised by students in the UK asking ‘Why is my curriculum white?' This question, alongside many... Continue Reading →
Dr Manali Desai is a Reader in Comparative and Historical Sociology at the University of Cambridge. Her work focuses on the areas of state formation, political parties, social movements, development, ethnic violence, gender and post-colonial studies. In this conversation, Dr Desai describes the underlying factors behind gendered violence in India, which is a key focus... Continue Reading →
Around a third of the manpower drawn upon by Great Britain to fight in the first world war came from the colonies in India, Asia and Africa. Featuring testimony from Black British WW1 veterans, Mutiny tells the story of a dramatic shift from loyal volunteers for King and Empire in 1914 to a new Black... Continue Reading →
In this event, organinsed by the Personal Histories Project and Trinity College BME Officer Richelle George, panellists reflected on their histories and experiences to investigate what it means to be a person of colour at the University of Cambridge.
You can watch a video of the event here.
In this short clip, Jackie Kay describes growing up in Scotland, her poetry and her parents, against stunning Scottish scenery. Watch on Youtube.
Watch Jackie Kay tell an emotive story about her 12-year-old self writing her first ever novel, 'One Person, Two Names' on Youtube.
On February 19, 2019, Angela Davis spoke with Imani Perry in her hometown of Birmingham Alabama about the roots of her activism. You can watch and read a transcript of the conversation here.
On August 18, 1970, the Federal Bureau of Investigation placed 25-year-old Angela Yvonne Davis on its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. You can browse an interactive storyboard of the events surrounding Angela Davis' imprisonment and calls for her release here.
Jackie Kay is the Scottish Poet Laureate and an award-winning writer of fiction, poetry and plays. You can hear her poem "35" on the Poetry Archive.
On February 2, 2016, Angela Davis and Toni Morrison came together to discuss Frederick Douglas, Libraries, Literacy and Liberation. You can listen to the podcast here.
On 21st July 2017, Angela Davis addressed the Women's March in the US with a powerful message: "this country's history cannot be deleted". You can read the speech in full here.
You can watch Jackie Kay's reading at the Lannan Center for Poetics and Social Practice on Vimeo here.
View a playlist of videos of Angela Davis on Youtube here.
At the Oxford Union, Angela Davis speaks in favour the same motion addressed by Malcolm X on Dec 3, 1964. Watch on Youtube here.
Decolonise Sociology @ Cambridge 