Reactivating Decoloniality in Black British Research-Activism

Abstract

Abstract This article presents a reflection on the reactivation of decolonial theories and concepts through a research-activist project and perspective. The work is based on qualitative research carried out during my master’s degree at the University of Bristol. It places itself between Bristol’s Black communities and their relationship with an ontology of Whiteness enforced by White institutions. By using the concept of ‘acting white’ (Fordham 2008), and reflecting on my own movement between Black and White spaces, I address this ontological struggle both as a member of the Bristol Black community as well as through my role as a researcher. I use my position as a way of reflecting more deeply on the movement between White and Black spaces, how this engages our longer history of decolonial activism, and what this means for mitigating the imposition of the ontology of Whiteness on my own research and role in my community. This research, which followed the Black Lives Matter (blm) protests of 2020, took place in a context of renewed engagement with decolonisation, and heightened awareness of the conditions of Black spaces for those within the Bristol community, which are brought into the discussion surrounding Black identity and community in the UK and Bristol.