Hakim Adi is a British historian and scholar who specializes in African affairs. He is the first
African-British historian to become a professor of history in the UK. He has written widely on
Pan-Africanism and the modern political history of
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
and the
African diaspora
The African diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities descended from native Africans or people from Africa, predominantly in the Americas. The term most commonly refers to the descendants of the West and Central Africans who were e ...
, including the 2018 book ''Pan-Africanism: A History''. Currently a professor at the
University of Chichester, Adi is an advocate of the education curriculum in the UK, both at secondary school and higher education level, being changed to reflect the history of Africa and the African diaspora, including the contribution of African people to world history.
Career
Adi obtained a BA and his PhD in African history from the
School of Oriental and African Studies
SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ar ...
(SOAS),
London University
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree- ...
,
["Professor Hakim Adi"]
hakimadi.org. and 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
HM Prison Manchester is a Category A and B men's prison in Manchester, England, operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. It is still commonly referred to as Strangeways, which was its former official name derived from the area in which it is ...
— you name it, I've done it...".
["Appointments: University of Chichester – Hakim Adi"]
''Times Higher Education
''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The Thes''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education.
Ownership
TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...
'', 26 April 2012. He was Reader in the History of Africa and the African Diaspora at
Middlesex University
Middlesex University London (legally Middlesex University and abbreviated MDX) is a public research university in Hendon, northwest London, England. The name of the university is taken from its location within the historic county boundaries ...
for many years until the department of history was closed down. He currently lectures in African History at the
University of Chichester, West Sussex,
and is one of the few
African British
Black British people are a multi-ethnic group of British citizens of either African or Afro-Caribbean descent.Gadsby, Meredith (2006), ''Sucking Salt: Caribbean Women Writers, Migration, and Survival'', University of Missouri Press, pp. 76–77 ...
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.
He 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 History Matters conference of the same name held at the
Institute of Historical Research.
Writings
Adi has written widely on
Pan-Africanism and on the history of the
African diaspora
The African diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities descended from native Africans or people from Africa, predominantly in the Americas. The term most commonly refers to the descendants of the West and Central Africans who were e ...
, particularly Africans in Britain. He is the author of the books ''West Africans in Britain 1900–1960: Nationalism, Pan-Africanism and Communism'' (1998), ''Pan-Africanism and Communism: The Communist International, Africa and the Diaspora, 1919–1939'' (2013), and the joint author (with
Marika Sherwood
Marika Sherwood (born 1937) is a Hungarian-born historian, researcher, educator and author based in England. She is a co-founder of the Black and Asian Studies Association.
Biography
Sherwood was born in 1937 into a History of the Jews in Hungar ...
) of ''The 1945 Manchester Pan-African Congress Revisited'' (1995) and ''Pan-African History: Political Figures from Africa and the Diaspora since 1787'' (2003). Reviewing Adi's 2018 book, ''Pan-Africanism: A History'',
Adom Getachew
Adom Getachew is an Ethiopian-American political scientist. She is the Neubauer Family Assistant Professor of Political Science and the College at the University of Chicago. She is the author of ''Worldmaking after Empire: The Rise and Fall of Self ...
wrote: "Few scholars are better positioned than Adi to chart Pan-Africanism’s history: Over the course of two decades, he has chronicled it and the modern black experience more broadly as the writer or editor of 11 books, not to mention many journal articles and chapters written for other books. In ''Pan-Africanism'', he brings to bear his encyclopedic knowledge of black freedom movements in Africa, the Americas, and Europe."
Adi has also written history books for children, including ''The History of the African and Caribbean Communities in Britain'' (2005).
Film work
Hakim Adi featured (alongside
Maulana Karenga,
Muhammed Shareef,
Francis Cress Welsin,
Kimani Nehusi
''500 Years Later'' ( ') is a 2005 independent documentary film directed by Owen 'Alik Shahadah and written by M. K. Asante, Jr. It has won five international film festival awards in the category of Best Documentary, including the UNESCO "Brea ...
,
Paul Robeson Jr
Paul Leroy Robeson Jr. (November 2, 1927 – April 26, 2014) was an American author, archivist and historian.
Biography
Robeson was born in Brooklyn to lawyer, activist and singer Paul Robeson and Eslanda Goode Robeson. As his family moved t ...
, and
Nelson George) in the multi-award-winning documentary ''
500 Years Later
''500 Years Later'' ( ') is a 2005 independent documentary film directed by Owen 'Alik Shahadah and written by M. K. Asante, Jr. It has won five international film festival awards in the category of Best Documentary, including the UNESCO "Break ...
'' (2005), written by
M. K. Asante, Jr.
M. K. Asante (born November 3, 1982) is an American author, filmmaker, recording artist, and professor. He is the author of the 2013 best-selling memoir Buck: A Memoir, ''Buck''. and directed by Owen 'Alik Shahadah.
"500 Years Later (2005): Full Cast & Crew"
IMDb
IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...
.
Selected bibliography
Books
* ''African Migrations'', Thomson Learning, 1994.
* With Marika Sherwood
Marika Sherwood (born 1937) is a Hungarian-born historian, researcher, educator and author based in England. She is a co-founder of the Black and Asian Studies Association.
Biography
Sherwood was born in 1937 into a History of the Jews in Hungar ...
, ''The 1945 Manchester Pan-African Congress Revisited'', London: New Beacon Books, 1995.
* ''West Africans in Britain 1900–1960: Nationalism, Pan-Africanism and Communism'', London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1998.
* With Marika Sherwood, ''Pan-African History: Political Figures from Africa and the Diaspora since 1787'', London/New York: Routledge
Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...
: 2003.
* ''The History of the African and Caribbean Communities in Britain'', Wayland, 2005. . Paperback 2014,
* Co-editor with Caroline Bressey, ''Belonging in Europe – The African Diaspora and Work'', London: Routledge, 2010.
* ''Pan-Africanism and Communism: The Communist International, Africa and the Diaspora, 1919–1939'', Trenton, New Jersey, USA: Africa World Press, 2013.
* ''Pan-Africanism: A History'', Bloomsbury Academic
Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. It is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index. Bloomsbury's head office is located in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a ...
, 2018.
* ''African and Caribbean People in Britain'', Allen Lane
Sir Allen Lane (born Allen Lane Williams; 21 September 1902 – 7 July 1970) was a British publisher who together with his brothers Richard and John Lane founded Penguin Books in 1935, bringing high-quality paperback fiction and non-fictio ...
, 2022.
Articles
"A New Kind of Imperialism"
''Radical History Review'', Issue 95: "New Imperialisms", Spring 2006. Workers' Daily Internet Edition
"London, slavery and abolition"
BBC, 2007.
"The wider historical context of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade"
''Pambazuka News'', Issue 302, 2 May 2007.
* " George Padmore and the 1945 Manchester Pan-African Congress
The Pan-African Congress was a series of eight meetings, held in 1919 in Paris (1st Pan-African Congress), 1921 in London, Brussels and Paris (2nd Pan-African Congress), 1923 in London (3rd Pan-African Congress), 1927 in New York City (4th Pan-Afr ...
", in Fitzroy Baptiste and Rupert Lewis (eds), ''George Padmore: Pan-African Revolutionary'', Kingston, JA: Ian Randle, 2009.
"To What Extent is Britain Post-Colonial?"
E-International Relations, 3 October 2012.
"The New Scramble for Africa"
E-International Relations, 15 April 2013.
"Britain’s black history has been shamefully whitewashed"
(review of '' Black and British: A Forgotten History'' by David Olusoga
David Adetayo Olusoga (born January 1970) is a British historian, writer, broadcaster, presenter and film-maker. He is Professor of Public History at the University of Manchester. He has presented historical documentaries on the BBC and contribu ...
), ''The Spectator
''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world.
It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...
'', 14 January 2017.
References
External links
Official website.
Development and Modern African Political Theory
* Hakim Adi
"London, slavery and abolition"
BBC, 24 September 2014.
"Dr Hakim Adi - New Scramble for Africa"
YouTube.
* Hakim Adi
"Africa and the Transatlantic Slave Trade"
History, BBC, 2012.
Hakim Adi
at Academia.edu
"Pan-Africanism and Communism: an Interview with Hakim Adi"
''Review of African Political Economy'', 26 January 2017.
"An Interview with YHP's founder Hakim Adi"
AAIHS, 16 July 2017.
"I was the first person of African heritage to become a professor of history in Britain, which shows that we have a long way to go"
Black Cultural Archives
Black Cultural Archives (BCA) is an archive and heritage centre in Brixton, London, devoted to the histories of people of African and Caribbean descent in Britain. Also known as BCA, it was founded in 1981, by educationalist and historian Len Gar ...
, 12 August 2019.
Hakim Adi
at Twitter
"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adi, Hakim
21st-century British male writers
Academics of Middlesex University
Academics of the University of Chichester
Alumni of SOAS University of London
Black British academics
Black British writers
British historians
British pan-Africanists
British television presenters
Historians of Africa
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)