Race Erased: Continuing Anti-Racist Work in Times of Institutional Denial
When: Thursday, May 22, 2025, 12:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Where: Bancroft 4.04, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End
.png)
Join us for an in-person lunchtime panel comprising international guests from the university sector. You will hear from students, faculty, and union organisers about the current state of affairs, and what it means to continue anti-racist work under conditions that deny the significance of race in our scholarship and activism. Expect a warm welcome, a vegan and vegetarian lunch, and a principled space to continue community conversations.
The university has been under increasingly repressive measures that harness denial and misdirection to remove the focus of race, gender, and protest as institutional features from scholarly life. From the repression of Gaza solidarity encampments to the erasure of EDI from institutional governance - we have seen American-led efforts that refute the urgency for anti-racist action against white supremacist politics. These have implications for critical or radical scholarship more broadly which we aim to explore in this panel discussion.
About the event
- 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM: Lunchtime Panel Discussion
- 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM: Community Conversation
Speakers
Dr. Shirley Anne Tate - Professor and Canada Research Chair Tier 1 in Feminism and Intersectionality, Department of Sociology, University of Alberta, Canada
Dr. Tate brings a wealth of lived experience and academic expertise to the conversation on race and decolonization. Born and raised in Jamaica, Dr. Shirley Anne Tate brings a deeply personal and intellectual commitment to her work on race, intersectionality, and decolonization. Fluent in both Jamaican Creole (Patois) and English, her cultural background has profoundly shaped her approach to research and teaching. Over the years, she has developed and expanded Black decolonial feminist thought, drawing on Caribbean decolonial and feminist perspectives. Her groundbreaking scholarship spans institutional racism, race performativity, hybridity, and Black anti-racist aesthetics, among many other topics.
Dr. Tate’s impact extends far beyond academia—her insights have been shared globally through monographs, keynote lectures, and international speaking engagements in the UK, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Finland, South Africa, Brazil, and the USA. She has held prestigious academic positions across institutions, including Nelson Mandela University in South Africa and Leeds Beckett University in the UK. With over a decade of leadership in the fight against institutional racism and decolonization, Dr. Tate continues to be a driving force in critical cultural analysis and anti-racist scholarship.
Dr. Zara Dinnen - Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Literature, Department of English and Drama, Queen Mary University of London
Dr. Dinnen’s research explores how digital technologies shape contemporary literature and culture. Growing up in London, studying in Leeds and Birkbeck, and teaching at several UK universities, she has developed a keen interest in new media and its intersection with identity and activism. But Dr. Dinnen’s expertise also goes the classroom—her work extends into public spaces, such as her role in convening a short course on new media art at Tate Modern. A founding committee member of the British Association for Contemporary Literary Studies and an associate editor for ASAP Journal, she brings a wealth of knowledge and a collaborative spirit to the field. Since June 2022, she has also served as co-chair of QMUCU, advocating for workers' rights in higher education.
Dr. Suhraiya Jivraj - Reader in Law and Social Justice, Department of Law, University of Kent; Co-Director, Centre for Sexuality, Race, and Gender Justice (SeRGJ)
Dr. Suhraiya Jivraj is a scholar and activist whose work is deeply embedded in critical race and decolonial studies. With experience spanning international NGOs and grassroots activism, she brings a real-world perspective to her academic research in Public Law, Human Rights, Race, Religion & Law, and Intersectional Equalities Law & Policy. Her work centres on social justice and the pressing need to decolonize legal education.
Dr. Jivraj’s dedication to inclusive pedagogy is evident in her student-led projects, including the Decolonising the Curriculum Project at the University of Kent. The initiative led to the widely recognized DecoloniseUKC Manifesto, featured in the NUS/UUK #ClosingTheGap report. Her work continues to shape legal education, culminating in the publication of Towards Anti-Racist Legal Pedagogy: A Resource for Law School Teachers—an essential guide for rethinking foundational legal studies.
Seetha Tan - Doctoral Candidate, Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge
Seetha Tan is a doctoral student with a passion for storytelling—how it shapes identities, carries histories, and disrupts dominant narratives. Having grown up in Australia in an Indian and Malaysian family, and now based in the UK, Seetha is particularly interested in how people and their stories move through former imperial circuits. Her research explores how narratives of migration, colonialism, and identity are constructed, challenged, and reimagined. Using creative research methods such as food ethnography and music elicitation, Seetha looks at how culinary and sonic storytelling can reveal hidden histories and cultural entanglements. Her work speaks to the power of personal and collective memory in shaping belonging and resistance.
Panel Chair
Dr. Angela Martinez Dy - Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship, Loughborough University London
Dr. Angela Martinez Dy is an educator, activist, and scholar with a background in grassroots organizing and social justice. Originally from Seattle, USA, she co-founded and directed Youth Speaks Seattle, a leading youth creative writing and performing arts organization. This early work in community-building continues to inform her approach to research and teaching.
Since joining Loughborough University London in 2015, Dr. Martinez Dy has been at the forefront of launching and shaping its academic programs. Her research explores digital entrepreneurship, intersectional feminism, and technofeminism, examining the ways technology and society co-create workspaces. She also plays an active role in higher education labor rights as an Equality Officer and caseworker for the Loughborough University UCU Committee. Through her scholarship and advocacy, she is committed to fostering a more just and inclusive academic environment.
This event is an opportunity to engage in meaningful dialogue, reflect on institutional erasure, and discuss actionable steps for sustaining anti-racist efforts. We look forward to your participation!
About Borderlines
Borderlines is an Interdisciplinary Research Collective dedicated to advancing social justice through radical, experimental, and innovative methodologies. We champion interdisciplinary pedagogies and conceptual paradigms, bringing together scholars from diverse backgrounds who resist the strict definitions of traditional academic fields and disciplines.
Thriving through difference and embracing alternative vantage points, Borderlines is committed to decolonising praxis and interrogating the normative through critical enquiry. Our work seeks to challenge the margins, peripheries, boundaries, and notions of alterity, fostering new ways of thinking and engaging with the world.
Follow us on LinkedIn for the latest updates on our events, projects, and initiatives.