Hakim Adi

Hakim Adi is a British historian and scholar who specialises in African affairs. He was the first African-British historian to become a professor of history in the UK when in 2015 he was appointed Professor of the History of Africa and the African Diaspora at the University of Chichester, launching in 2018 the world's first online MRes in the History of Africa and the African Diaspora.

He has written widely on Pan-Africanism and the modern political history of Africa and the African diaspora, including the 2018 book Pan-Africanism: A History. Adi is an advocate of the education curriculum including the history of Africa and its diaspora. In 2024, he was awarded the ASAUK Outstanding African Studies Award, in recognition of his "commitment to amplifying marginalised voices within historical narratives, thereby empowering contemporary African communities."

Career

Adi has spoken of his motivation for becoming a historian of Africa and the African diaspora being that he wanted to research and teach a subject that had been denied to him. In 1976, he began studying at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London University, where he obtained a BA and eventually in 1994 his PhD in African history. He has described himself as "a late developer into higher education.... I've taught history at every level you can imagine: schools, prison, adult education, further education, university. I've taught in Broadmoor, Strangeways — you name it, I've done it...". He was Reader in the History of Africa and the African Diaspora at Middlesex University for many years until the department of history was closed down. In 2012, he took up an appointment at the University of Chichester, West Sussex, lecturing in African History and is one of the few African British academics to become recognised as a professor. He supervised the master of research thesis of the Nigerian human rights activist Ibrahim B. Anoba at the University of Chichester in 2020.

Adi was a founder member in 1991 of the Black and Asian Studies Association (BASA), which he chaired for several years.

He also leads the History Matters group, a collection of academics and teachers concerned with the under-representation of students and teachers of African and Caribbean heritage within the History discipline. In 2015, the group convened the conference entitled "History Matters" that was held at the Institute of Historical Research.

He is a founder of the Young Historians Project, a non-profit organisation working encourage young historians of African and Caribbean heritage in Britain, which developed out of the History Matters initiative.

Adi was in conversation with David Olusoga at the British Library on 4 November 2022.

In August 2023, Adi delivered the annual Dorothy Kuya Slavery Remembrance Memorial Lecture for National Museums Liverpool, addressing the theme of combatting racism through transformative education.

In 2024, Adi was awarded the ASAUK Outstanding African Studies Award, with the citation stating: "Professor Adi's scholarship has significantly advanced our understanding of African and African Diaspora history, elucidating the intricate dynamics of anti-colonial movements, Pan-Africanist initiatives, and the experiences of individuals of African descent worldwide. His work is characterised by rigorous research, interdisciplinary analysis, and a commitment to amplifying marginalised voices within historical narratives, thereby empowering contemporary African communities."

Chichester University's closure of Master's by Research (MRes) course

In May 2023, the Master's by Research (MRes) course in the history of Africa and the African diaspora, which Adi founded in 2017, came under threat of closure by Chichester University, with the proposed redundancy of Adi on the grounds that the course had recruited only "a relatively small number of students". Noting that the course is the only one of its kind in Europe "and was one of the recommendations of the History Matters conference in 2015 supported by the University of Chichester", Adi was reported in The Voice as saying: "All the evidence we have is that the course is badly needed. It has produced 6 current PhD students for the university and could produce even more if adequately advertised. It has recruited and has support in Britain, North America, Africa and the Caribbean and even Asia." The threatened cut was described by the University and College Union as an "attack on black academia".

A public petition against Adi's redundancy and suspension of recruitment for the course was started in July 2023, quickly winning support from more than 10,000 signatories. Adi further commented: "At Chichester we have 16 black postgraduate history students....Now those students have lost their supervisor. The university has no suitable person, no specialist in the history of Africa and the African diaspora, to supervise those students."

The Royal Historical Society, which in 2018 published the report Race, Ethnicity & Equality in UK History that highlighted racial and ethnic inequalities in the teaching and practice of History in the UK, said in a statement dated 12 September 2023: "The President and Council of the Royal Historical Society are extremely disappointed and concerned by the University of Chichester's recent decision to terminate its MRes in the History of Africa and the African Diaspora. This action also sees the redundancy of Professor Hakim Adi, the course leader and a prominent UK contributor to the understanding and communication of Black British history. News of Professor Adi's redundancy came a week before inclusion of his latest book, African and Caribbean People in Britain: A History, on the 2023 Wolfson Prize shortlist....With its decision, the University of Chichester goes against initiatives that seek to build an infrastructure for teaching and researching Black British History—one that's accessible to students of diverse backgrounds across the UK."