Dr Amal Abu-Bakare is a lecturer in the politics of race and decolonial studies at the University of Liverpool. In this blog, she talks about her work using anti-colonial International Relations theory to explore how racial thinking affects life and death in the context of counterterrorism, migration-security, political discourse, and knowledge production.
Learn more about Dr Abu-Bakare and her research in this podcast
Amal writes:
I am interested in how race pervades international and transnational politics and security spaces in the context of International Relations theory, specifically postcolonial, anticolonial, and critical race theory.
I am concerned with how racial thinking affects life and death in the context of counterterrorism, migration-security, political discourse (e.g., laws, policies), and knowledge production. Conceptually, most of this research requires looking out for racialised epistemologies in mainstream political and security institutions and drawing attention to their presence and wider systemic effects.
My academic journey
I completed my PhD at Aberystwyth University in 2020, with a thesis project I independently designed that won two across-university Aberdoc and President Scholarships. My thesis was titled The ‘Colour’ in Counterterrorism: A postcolonial analysis of racialisation in British and Canadian counterterror approaches.
The project centred a theory-based empirical inquiry defined by the traditions of Pan-African sociologist W.E.B Du Bois, and an application of an anti-imperial lens to the counterterror activities of British and Canadian policymakers responding to the 2013 murder of Lee Rigby in Woolwich, England and the October 2014 terrorist attacks in Ottawa and Quebec.
My PhD research involved a comparative case study of British and Canadian state violence (e.g. counterterrorism as violence, and institutional racism), emanating from primary data gathered from semi-structured interviews with British and Canadian security practitioners and policymakers, theory-orientated document analysis (e.g., of policy, legal, and Hansard documents), and participant observation at government institutions (e.g., in British and Canadian parliament and civil society spaces dedicated to policy debate). This thesis is currently being adapted into a book titled The Colour of Counterterrorism: anti-terrorism and race in the United Kingdom and Canada. It is under contract with Manchester University Press.
After successfully defending my viva from my kitchen, pandemic style, I worked several research assistant, administrative, and learned society jobs before securing a permanent lecture post in the Department of Politics at the University of Liverpool in 2021. I am now the Lecturer in the Politics of Race and Decolonial Studies in the School of Histories, Languages, and Cultures.
Since 2017, I have published my research on numerous academic blogs and in peer-reviewed journal articles like Media-Diversified, E-International Relations, International Politics Reviews, International Affairs, Alternatives, International Political Sociology, and Critical Studies on Terrorism.
I have also been fortunate enough to have been invited to speak on the politics of counterterrorism and race at venues like The Royal Institute of International Affairs, the Geneva Graduate Institute, The Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security and Society, and various antiracist organisations and research institutes throughout the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, Portugal, Canada, and the Netherlands.
Teaching at Liverpool
At the University of Liverpool I currently convene two modules. One is titled 'The Politics of Race and Marginalisation'. It is a second-year module which introduces students to the critical notions of race and racialisation and the subsequent development of marginalised communities and individuals specific to the glocal (global-local) politics of Liverpool. I am quite proud of this course as its key texts are by authors of colour born and raised in the city of Liverpool and its activities consist of exploring anti-racist monuments of Toxteth and visiting the ‘decolonized’ Benin and Liverpool exhibit at the World Museum.
I also convene a postgraduate module titled 'Anticolonial Legacies in International Politics'. This master’s module aims to provide an overview of the theoretical foundations and debates of anti-colonial and decolonial thought and their intersections and disconnects with studies of international affairs. It introduces and contextualises modern and past institutions of international politics within institutions and histories of empire, to enable students to critically assess different political efforts to contest national and international policy interventions around the globe based on scholarship that is critical of colonialism, systemic racism, capitalism, western hegemony, and heteronormativity.
My current focus has been book writing, course designing, and collaborating with other inspired colleagues across the University of Liverpool to address issues of colonial legacies (e.g., institutional racism) and anti-racist education here at the university.
Anti-colonial Education Working Group
In August 2023, I created the Anti-colonial Education Working Group. The Working Group is dedicated to a collective interest in research on anti-colonial pedagogy in higher education. Here ‘anti-colonial’ refers to the ideology and practices of resisting empire, constituting a nonconforming anti-imperial inheritance from activists and intellectuals outside the university and the United Kingdom (Gopal, 2020).
Our working group recently co-authored a 51-page policy paper titled An appeal to Anti-colonial education at the University of Liverpool featuring the testimonies of numerous teaching and administrative staff as well significant contributions from activist organisations in the surrounding L8 community.
Read more about the Anti-colonial Education Working Group and its findings here.
In my spare time, I like to volunteer with the Greenhouse Multicultural Arts and Play Project, play basketball, and contribute to various causes of anti-racism, intersectional feminism, and race-conscious arts projects in the city. I am a huge foodie so most of the time you will find me on Lodge Lane gathering falafel and shaabiyat or reading articles in Hafla Hafla.