We are alarmed and disappointed at Chichester University’s proposal to discard Professor Hakim Adi and the Masters course in the History of Africa and the African Diaspora. Leaving us with no alternative but to categorically disagree to such plans. FHALMA wholeheartedly supports the grassroots campaign to retain the teaching post and courses as led by Professor Hakim Adi at the University of Chichester.
We are in solidarity with Professor Adi, a renowned pioneering educator, and academic, who we feel privileged to be a close friend, ally and long-time supporter of Black publishers and heritage. We reach out to our community globally to our colleagues and networks to stand against the University of Chichester and to stop them in their short-sighted actions.
As Professor of the History of Africa and the African Diaspora, Prof. Adi was the first historian of African heritage to become a professor of history in Britain in 2012. That in itself is no mean feat – and also let’s remind ourselves, this post coming five years after a time of national reflection in 2007 on the 200thanniversary of the Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Additionally, the potential shutting down of this course comes eye wateringly soon on the heels of UK academic institutions claiming to make changes to embed equity, diversity and inclusivity as their strategic and visible commitment to Black Lives Matter. We believe that tens of decades of inequality, race discrimination and under representation at the highest academic levels requires a financial commitment and longterm investment that cannot be realised in a short turnaround period as five years.
The University’s decision is having a direct impact on our charity’s work: FHALMA was in the midst of plans to support a Masters student with an annual educational bursary from the Jessica Huntley Memorial Fund (launching in October 2023). Should the course not go ahead, students will miss out on essential financial support that they need to continue their studies. Furthermore, this action has implications on other future donors
FHALMA is founded on the lifeworks of the founders of Bogle-L’Ouverture publishers and booksellers Jessica and Eric Huntley, whose pioneering radical Black publications, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, and The Roots of Black History provided essential insights and lessons into the hidden histories for Black people and inspiring artists, academics, writers and activists like Professor Hakim Adi to change the face of teaching history in the UK.
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