Dr William Ackah

Overview

Biography

• William Ackah is Senior Lecturer in Black and Community Geographies in the Department of Geography and Programme Director for Community Development and Public Policy and Community Leadership. He is the current chair of the School Ethics Committee and Chair of the Decolonising the Academy Collective.

He holds a PhD in Government from the University of Manchester and was 2016-17 Fulbright research scholar at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, where he conducted research on the impact of gentrification on African-American church congregations.

He is current chair of the Transatlantic Roundtable on Religion and Race an international organization that brings together academics, community activists and church leaders with the aim of tackling injustices faced by people of African descent around the world.

He is the co-editor with Jualynne Dodson and R. Drew Smith of Religion, Culture and Spirituality in Africa and the African Diaspora (New York: Routledge, 2017). And his most recent work is ‘The Politics of Pan-Africanism’ in R. Rabaka ed (2020) The Routledge Handbook of Pan-Africanism.

Professional activities

Chair Transatlantic Roundtable on Religion and Race

Chair Decolonising the Academy Collective Birkbeck

Co-Convenor African Diaspora Postgraduate Network

Board Member African Diaspora Consortium (responsible for designing the AP African Diaspora Course in the USA) and Senior Research Fellow African Diaspora International Research Network

Editorial Board Member

of Black Theology an International Journal

And Whiteness and Education

Research

Research interests

Religion and Politics in Africa and the African Diaspora
Pan-Africanism
Equality and Diversity Policy and Practice in the UK
Black Church Community Activism UK and USA
Anti-Racist and Decolonial Pedagogy
Spatial Dimensions of African Diasporic Cultures

Supervision and teaching

Supervision

Supervisions within Birkbeck:: 6

I am interested in supervising in the areas of:

Pan-Africanism

Black Community Politics UK

African and African Diaspora Religion/Spirituality

I convene with Dr Gabriella Beckles Raymond and Leading Routes: Blacks in Academia The African Diaspora Post-graduate Network which supports aspiring and current Doctoral Students of African descent in the social sciences and humanities.

Current doctoral researchers

SABRINA BOWEN

Nature of supervision:
Joint Principal Supervisor, Oct 2022 onwards
AUGUSTA-MARY JOSEPH

Nature of supervision:
Principal Supervisor, Oct 2020 onwards
JADA BROWN

Nature of supervision:
Joint Principal Supervisor, Oct 2023 onwards
NANDITA SIRKER

Nature of supervision:
Principal Supervisor, Jan 2021 onwards

Doctoral alumni since 2013-14

PAULINE MUIR

Nature of supervision:
Joint Principal Supervisor, Mar 2018

Title of thesis:
Psychosocial Studies Research

Awarded:
2018

Teaching

I teach and co-ordinate in the areas of

Community Action (Social Movements UK and International)

The Politics of Race and Diaspora

Community Based Placement (supporting students undertaking placement and volunteering opportunities on the Community Development Programme)

Critical Social Geographies (Spatial dimensions of race, class, gender, sexuality and religion)

Equality and Diversity Policy and Practice in the UK

Teaching modules

Community Action (FFCV002S4)
Critical Social Geographies (SSGE062S7)
The Politics of Race and Diaspora (SSGE070S6)

Publications

Article

Ackah, William (2021) From ethnic minorities to Black majorities: the challenges and dilemmas of attempting to decolonize the British higher education system. Peabody Journal of Education 96 (2), pp. 192`-205. ISSN 0161-956X.
Ackah, William (2013) Review article: David Goodhew (ed.), "Church Growth in Britain 1980 to the Present". Theology 116 (4), pp. 298-299. ISSN 0040-571X.
Ackah, William (2011) Conceptualizing racialized black political activity within European spaces: a political opportunities approach. African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal 4 (2), pp. 161-176. ISSN I752-8631.
Ackah, William (2010) Back to black or diversity in the diaspora? re-imagining pan-African Christian identity in the twenty-first century. Black Theology: An International Journal 8 (3), pp. 341-356. ISSN 1476-9948.
Ackah, William (2001) Do the ties still bind: reflections on pan-African consciousness and identity in the Twentieth Century. Africa Quarterly 40 (1), ISSN 0001-9828.

Book

Ackah, William and Dankwa, J. and Mitchell, W. and Murray, D.-S. and Wane, M., eds. (2024) The Black PhD experience: stories of strength, courage and wisdom in UK academia. Bristol, UK: Policy Press. ISBN 9781447369981. (In Press)
Ackah, William and Dodson, J. and Smith, R.D., eds. (2017) Religion, culture and spirituality in Africa and the African diaspora. Routledge Studies in Religion. New York, U.S.: Routledge. ISBN 9781138205840.
Ackah, William, ed. (2016) Pan-Africanism: exploring the contradictions: politics, identity and development in Africa and the African diaspora. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate. ISBN 9781138205246.
Smith, R.D. and Ackah, William and Reddie, A., eds. (2014) Churches, Blackness and contested multiculturalism: Europe, Africa and North America. Black Religion/Womanist Thought/Social Justice. New York, U.S.: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781137411655.
Ackah, William and Christian, M., eds. (1997) Black organisation and identity in Liverpool: a local, national and global perspective. Liverpool, UK: Charles Wootton College. ISBN 9780952993407.

Book Review

Ackah, William (2019) The female heart of black nationalism in the twentieth century.

Book Section

Ackah, William (2024) We need black power, Lord: reflections on Black British Gospel Music. In: Dixon McKenzie, D.A. and Muir, P.E. and Ingalls, M.M. (eds.) Black British Gospel Music: From the Windrush Generation to Black Lives Matter. Congregational Music Studies Series. London, UK: Routledge. pp. 241-249. ISBN 9781032145853. (In Press)
Ackah, William (2021) Africa and the globalization of religion in the contemporary era. In: Falola, T. and Bashir Salau, M. (eds.) Africa in Global History. De Gruyter. pp. 263-279. ISBN 9783110677812.
Ackah, William (2020) The politics of Pan-Africanism. In: Rabaka, R. (ed.) Routledge Handbook of Pan-Africanism. New York, U.S.: Routledge. ISBN 9780367030667.
Ackah, William (2018) Religion and race across urban space in Africa and the diaspora. In: Smith, R.D. and Boddie, S. and Peters, R. (eds.) Urban Ministry Reconsidered. Louisville, U.S.: Westminster John Knox. pp. 62-69. ISBN 9780664263928.
Ackah, William (2018) Ethics from the underside. In: Steele, B.J. and Heinze, E. (eds.) Routledge Handbook of Ethics and International Relations. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. ISBN 9781138840201.
Ackah, William (2017) Introduction: Mapping the religious expressions and spirituality of African descendant communities. In: Ackah, William and Dodson, J. and Smith, R.D. (eds.) Religion, Culture and Spirituality in Africa and the African Diaspora. New York, U.S.: Routledge. pp. 1-14. ISBN 9781138205840.
Ackah, William (2015) Whither transcendence? Framing the contours of transatlantic black unity in contested post-racialized times. In: Smith, R.D. and Ackah, William and Tshaka, R. and Reddie, A. (eds.) Contesting Post-Racialism: Conflicted Churches in the United States and South Africa. Jackson, U.S.: University Press of Mississippi. pp. 229-242. ISBN 9781628462005.
Ackah, William (2012) The experience of my experience: reflections on working in "deranged" white academic space. In: Christian, M. (ed.) Integrated but unequal : Black faculty in predominately white space. Trenton, U.S.: Africa World Press. ISBN 9781592218684.
Ackah, William (2010) The intersection of African identities in the twenty-first century: old and new diasporas and the African continent. In: Soyinka-Airewele, P. and Edozie, R.K. (eds.) Reframing Contemporary Africa: Politics, Economics and Culture in the Global Era. Washington, U.S.: CQ Press. ISBN 9780872894075.

Business and community

Media

I am happy to receive enquiries from the media on the following topics:

Black communities in the UK
racism in the UK
African Diaspora Politics and Religion
Experience of Black Staff and Students in Higher Education
Decolonising the Academy

Outreach

15th October 2020 African Diaspora Consortium member of steering committee advising on teaching African Diaspora AP curriculum to partner schools across the US and internationally.

24th October 2020 Invited Speaker Reading Parkside Adventist Church, part of panel to discuss theological implications of George Floyd and Institutionalised Racism for the Christian Church.

27th October 2020 Invited Speaker/Trainer for the Joint Learning Initiative board on Decolonising their organisation and work processes 50 participants from International Development Organisations around the World.

28th October 2020 Invited Speaker the William Seymour Project on Race, Religion and Social Justice, 18 Pastors and Church leaders, spoke to them on ideas of community action and social change in their local contexts, drawing on Transatlantic Roundtable on Religion and Race work, research in the US and my paper on Urban Ministry in D. Smith et al Urban Ministry Revisited

30th October 2020 invited expert commentator for the Reach Society on the book 100 Black Britons. Asked to comment on decolonising the curriculum in Higher Education and how Universities are tackling the issue.

25th November 2020 Invited keynote Seminar Speaker Kings College, University of London, Department of Theology and Religious Studies on Reviving and Rejoicing amidst Marginalisation: An Assessment of the African Diasporic Religious Experience in the Inner City’.

27th November 2020 TV Interview on Indus TV programme the Scope, commenting on Universities UK report on Tackling Racial Harassment in Higher Education