“They keep putting me on the race things”: Raceification of Black Brit-ish academics within the EDI industrial complex

This paper draws on the Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) industrial complex, as well as anti-racist and decolonial discourses taking place in Higher Education (HE) in England. It introduces raceification as a process in which Black academics are produced and reproduced as perpetual race experts within HE. This framing occurs through a colonial gaze and hegemonic whiteness, shaping how Black academics and their knowledges are seen. Coloniality in academia is explored through the lived experience of Black Brit-ish academics working in HE in England. Central to this discussion is ‘Brit-ish’ identities, a hyphenated term, reflecting the complex, tenuous belonging of Black people living within the metropole and working in colonial institutions like universities. I drew on an Ubuntu-inspired methodology and used storytelling to document and analyse the experiences of 19 Black Brit-ish academics. Also drawing on my own experiences as a Black (Zimbabwean Brit-ish) academic using an autoethnographic reflective research journal, making me the 20th contributor within the study. The storytelling sessions took place during November 2022 and April 2023 (mainly online) with Black academics located in England as part of doctoral research at the University of Sussex. This paper will illuminate the key findings from the research; raceification as a colonial reproduction and raceification as a duty and burden affecting Black Brit-ish academics working in the liberal colonial university in England.