top of page

Follow Us:
Latest news from the campaign to save the MRes in the History of Africa and the African Diaspora, and Professor Hak
im Adi's post at the University of Chichester:














 

Thank you to all the following UCU Branches that have supported us!

 

Durham UCU

Manchester UCU

Newcastle UCU

Scotland UCU

Dundee UCU

Manchester UCU 

Birmingham UCU

Warwick UCU 

Royal College of Art UCU

Queen Mary UCU 

 

We appreciate all of your support! And Encourage all branches to Support Our Struggle for Our History!

 

Thank you

 

From Professor Hakim Adi and Students

 

Leeds UCU supports Professor Hakim Adi and Students


Durham UCU supports Professor Hakim Adi and Students

Dundee UCU supports Professor Hakim Adi and Students

Scotland UCU supports Professor Hakim Adi and Students


PRESS STATEMENT: Professor Hakim Adi joins panel for Labour Conference discussion
       
MRes Graduates Letter: Re: Correction to Article Published 5th September 2023 by Evening Standard which contains a harmful lie


 ANNOUNCEMENT: Professor Hakim Adi, the first person of African heritage to become a Professor of History in the U.K., has been shortlisted for the Wolfson History prize!

PRESS STATEMENT: Professor Hakim Adi has been made redundant by the University of Chichester


 

  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
African and Caribbean People in Britain shorltisted for the Wolfson History Prize
BOOK LAUNCH Professor Hakim Adi African and Caribbean People in Britain 19th October (1920

About the campaign:

Translations: French

 

History Matters, alongside students and friends of Professor Hakim Adi, have launched a campaign following the news that Professor Hakim Adi’s post is at risk of termination and that all recruitment to the unique Masters by Research (MRes), History of Africa and the African Diaspora has been suspended. We hope you will consider offering your support and opposing the University of Chichester’s actions by signing this petition. 

Alarmingly, overnight the University of Chichester has shut down an entire course. Notably, a comparable course is not offered by this or any other university in the UK.  With this imposition, the University is threatening Professor Adi (the first and only Professor of the History of Africa and the African Diaspora in Britain, and also Britain's first African descended Professor of History) with redundancy.

The idea for the MRes emerged as a recommendation from the History Matters conference in 2015, as did the Young Historians Project. At that time, the conference and broader History Matters initiative were supported by the university. The MRes was initially mainly intended to train mature students of African and Caribbean heritage as historians. Since then, it has:

  • attracted students from Africa, the Caribbean, North America, and Hong Kong as well as many from Britain;

  • produced seven MRes students who have gone on to undertake studies at PhD level, six of them at the University of Chichester. Only recently Claudia Tomlinson successfully became the first MRes graduate to receive her PhD at the University of Chichester, a great achievement for her and for the MRes;

  • trained students to undertake research focusing on the underrepresented history of African and Caribbean people in Britain;

  • facilitated through its alumni the founding of the Open Access, History Matters Journal with contributions from dozens of historians, many from African and Caribbean backgrounds.

The rationale of the University of Chichester appears to be based on the premise that the MRes in the History of Africa and the African Diaspora does not recruit enough students to financially justify the continued existence of Professor Adi’s post. No account appears to have been taken of the fact that the university has not adequately marketed the MRes. Furthermore, Professor Adi’s employment preceded the development of the MRes and therefore should not be associated with one course. In addition, no account appears to have been taken of the recruitment of PhD students Professor Adi supervises, nor the fact that many have been recruited directly from the MRes. Finally, the university has never before expressed dissatisfaction with recruitment.

We demand answers about the lack of transparency in this process. We want to know why students, staff, and chiefly Professor Adi, were not consulted and the decision was taken out of their hands.  It needs to be explained why the University has not deployed its full resources to market the course. Had this been addressed, it would have contributed to increased recruitment levels to the MRes. 

 

We come together as members of the Black community, research community and community of students, academics, teachers and practitioners to condemn this action and demand the reversal of such a momentous and unjustifiable decision.

Please donate to the Save the MRes Defence Fund. This will be used to:
- Support Our Students and their legal fight against Chichester University, who have failed to comply with the Equality Act 2010
- Support Professor Adi who has been made redundant and requires legal representation
- Support our course transfer process
- And provide mental health support to students