Online Symposium: Barriers to Black Academia: Slavery and Colonialism and The Case for Reparative Justice

Dr Leona Vaughn (Research fellow for Slavery and Unfree Labour Research Theme, University of Liverpool) and Malik Al Nasir (Fore-word Press and PhD Researcher at University of Cambridge) have devised this online symposium for the Centre for the Study of International Slavery (CSIS) at University of Liverpool and Black Academia Lifting the Barriers.

Starting on Slavery Remembrance Day (23^rd August 2021) and running through to the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade (25^th March 2022), this series of online panel discussions will discuss the barriers to Black academia in the UK with internationally renowned scholars and activists. Exploring the absence of Black UK academics in teaching and research, especially in studies of slavery, the implications of this absence in relation to student experience and research, and the reparative actions needed from Higher Education Institutions to address the barriers to representation.

Panel events are open to the public, community historians, scholars and aspiring academics in the UK and internationally.

These symposium panel events will be recorded and the co-convenors will develop a report and recommendations for CSIS from the events in advance of convening a ‘Lifting the Barriers to UK Black Academia’ roundtable for Higher Education Institutions and policy makers on 25^th March 2022.