Claudia Tomlinson | A knee on the neck: Black History Matters

In October 1968, Walter Rodney, the eminent historian of African history, was banned from his appointment teaching history at the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica. He was also a political activist on behalf of the working masses. His banning sent reverberations around the globe, sparked student uprisings, and a new dawn for Black Power in the West Indies.

He was doing work perceived to be dangerous to the post-colonial world order in Jamaica. His work and activism wanted to bring about change, so the old colonial elites did not continue to oppress the working people, mostly of African descent in Jamaica.

Now, 55 years later, another black professor of African history, the first black person to be appointed as professor of the history of Africa and the African diaspora in Britain, is facing a similar ignominy as Rodney.

Professor Hakim Adi is the world-leading authority on pan-Africanism, a leading researcher, and is the author of many books on Black British history. Both Rodney and Adi are alumni of the highly reputable university SOAS (The School of African and Oriental Studies) in London. They share a similar perspective on Black History and dedicated their lives to this work. They have both worked in academia and non-academic spheres to produce research that fills the silences about black people’s lives and correct the distortions and deliberate untruths.

Professor Adi established the master’s degree in the History of Africa and the African diaspora in 2017. It is offered on a fully online basis to attract students from around the globe. Six of the MRes graduates have gone on to take a PhD at his university (the University of Chichester, UK). One of these students recently completed their PhD. This first PhD graduate produced a biography of Jessica Huntley, the Guyanese publisher who established Bogle L’Ouverture Publications in Britain.

Huntley was Walter Rodney’s close friend, associate and publisher. Bogle L’Ouverture published Rodney’s The Groundings With My Brothers, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. It also provided personal and political support for him over decades until his assassination. The publisher, spearheaded by Jessica Huntley, was also responsible for publishing a generation of mostly Caribbean and British writers.

SEVERAL PUBLISHED WORKS

Jessica Huntley and Bogle L’Ouverture were also at the forefront of resisting the devastating racialised injustices in Britain and globally. This biography of Jessica Huntley will be published next year by Bloomsbury Academic. It will increase visibility and awareness of a period of British history that is little known.

This has stemmed from the initiative and vision of Professor Adi. He currently has ten PhD students, and several masters’ students who will all be cut adrift, along with their important, groundbreaking research.

Most of Professor Adi’s students are published authors due to this stewardship. A further PhD student, A.S. Francis, will have an important book published by Lawrence Wishart later this year. It is titled Gerlin Bean – the Mother of the Movement.

Professor Adi has founded History Matters to increase research and other scholarly activity in Black British history. The aim is to increase the number of scholars active in this field. It has produced two conferences and two edited books of new research. He founded the Young Historians Project to increase activity and involvement of young people of any background in the history of Africa and the African diaspora. Other exciting research emerging from Professor Adi’s students include biographical work on Duse Mohammed Ali, women resistance fighters in Kenya, the Movement for Reparatory Justice, the Tigray war, pan-African spirituality, and the Black British women’s movement in the twentieth century.

The doctoral researchers specifically selected Professor Adi for his subject knowledge expertise, and their research is at risk of never being completed. It cannot be assumed that alternative supervisors, without this knowledge and expertise, can substitute Professor Adi’s knowledge. There is also a failure to acknowledge the years of collaboration and working relationship developed between Professor Adi and his students.

COURSE PUT ON ICE

Professor Adi’s university has informed him that the MRes is not economically profitable, and as he introduced it, his entire post is no longer viable. Out of the blue, the course was put on ice, and he is being put through an HR redundancy process.

Questions must be asked about how it can possibly be that the sole responsibility for the recruitment to the course can be laid at the door of Professor Adi? He has very actively promoted it and it is a growing and popular course. This surely must be a university responsibility. Can it really be the case that a professor’s entire career and livelihood be placed at the vagaries of a single university course?

As with Rodney, there has been a backlash from the academic community. Students and eminent academics have argued against a plan to do away with such a figure as Hakim Adi, easily the most accomplished at his university. How can he be cast aside so callously, and his students be left to sink or swim?

Fellow world-class black historians have expressed shock at this move and demanded that the university reverse this ill-considered act. A petition calling on the university to halt these actions is fast approaching 10,000 signatures. British, US and South African media have reported on the outrage being expressed.

The University of Chichester, until weeks ago, was admired for this flagship course, and its esteemed scholar Hakim Adi. It has now applied a knee to its own advancements, threatening to snuff out initiatives that have greater significance than financial objectives. The university’s admirers viewed it as an institution that understands reparatory justice and the importance of this research.

Unless the university drops this senseless plan and works collaboratively with Professor Adi and his students, much will be lost, and must be actively resisted.

Claudia Tomlinson is a PhD graduate of the University of Chichester and is author of a forthcoming biography of Jessica Huntley. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com