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Sociology Research

 

Ali Meghji is an Associate Professor in Social Inequalities. His research puts critical race theory into dialogue with postcolonial sociology in order to understand the global dynamics of racialization and racism. In doing so, his work overcomes the methodological nationalism which characterises much contemporary race scholarship, and develops a way forward for thinking about global raciality.

Ali has held visiting fellowship at Harvard’s Weatherhead Centre, and Hutchins Centre, as well as a research fellowship at Sidney Sussex College. He is the director for undergraduate education, the convenor of the MPhil in marginality and exclusion, the course organiser for SOC12 Empire, colonialism, imperialism, and the chair of 'Decolonising sociology'. He is the co-editor-in-chief of the British Journal of Sociology and Sociology Compass, sits on the editorial board of Cultural Sociology, and is the co-founder and co-convenor of the Post/decolonial transformations subgroup of the British Sociological Association.

His current research involves archival work on the Black sociological tradition. Funded by the Isaac Newton Trust and by the Cambridge School of Humanities and Social Sciences, his research analyzes the unpublished writings of five classical Black sociologists: W.E.B Du Bois, Franklin Frazier, Anna Julia Cooper, St Clair Drake, and Ida Wells-Barnett. While these five thinkers are often construed as being theorists of race in America, he demonstrates the global nature of their social thought.

Given his research interests, Ali is available to supervise graduate students in critical race theory; empire and imperialism; and de/postcolonial sociology.

Research Interests

Decolonial thought; critical race theory; sociology of knowledge; social theory.

Teaching

Courses:

SOC1: Introduction to Sociology

SOC2: Social Theory

SOC4: Concepts and Arguments 

SOC6: Advanced Social Theory

SOC11: Racism, race and Ethnicity

SOC12: Empire, Colonialism, Imperialism (course organiser)

MPhil: Sociology (Co-ordinator for the marginality and exclusion pathway)

Graduate Supervision:

Ali is available to supervise graduate students working in the area of:
Critical race theory; Empire and imperialism; decolonial approaches in social theory and the sociology of knowledge. 

Publications

Monographs 

  • Meghji, A. (2023) A secret synergy: race, decoloniality, and world crises. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. 

  • Meghji, A. (2022) The racialized social system: critical race theory as social theory. Cambridge: Polity. 

  • Meghji, A. (2020) Decolonizing Sociology. Cambridge: Polity. (translated into Arabic) 

  • Meghji, A. (2019) Black middle-class Britannia: identities, repertoires, cultural consumption. Manchester: Manchester University Press (in UK); Oxford: Oxford University Press (in US). 

  • Meghji, A., Tinsley, M., Papadakis, S. (Eds) (Contracted 2023/4) Post and decolonial transformations of British sociology. Routledge, British Sociological Series in Sociological Futures.  

 

Journal articles 

  • Meghji, A. (Forthcoming). From public sociology to sociological publics: the importance of reverse tutelage to social theory. Sociological Theory. 

  • Meghji, A. (2023). On violence, race, and social theory: thinking with Wacquant and Du Bois. Contention, 11(2): 95-108. 

  • Meghji, A. (2023). Making Academic Outsiders. Contemporary Sociology, 52(5): 395-397.  

  • Meghji, A. (2023). To dwell in epistemic disobedience: a reply to Go. British Journal of Sociology (Online First). 

  • Meghji, A. (2022). Towards a theoretical synergy: Critical race theory and decolonial thought in Trumpamerica and Brexit Britain. Current Sociology, 70(5): 647–664. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392120969764 

  • Meghji, A., & Niang, S. M. (2022). Between Post-Racial Ideology and Provincial Universalisms: Critical Race Theory, Decolonial Thought and COVID-19 in Britain. Sociology, 56(1): 131–147. https://doi.org/10.1177/00380385211011575 

  • Meghji A (2021) Just what is critical race theory, and what is it doing in British sociology? From “BritCrit” to the racialized social system approach. The British Journal of Sociology, 72(2): 347–359.  

  • Meghji, A. (2021). What can the sociology of race learn from the histories of anti-colonialism? Ethnicities, 21(4): 769-782. 

  • Meghji, A. (2020) ‘Contesting racism: how do the black middle-class use cultural consumption for anti-racism?’, Identities: Global studies in culture and power, 27(5): 595-613. 

  • Meghji, A. (2019) ‘Encoding and Decoding Black and White Cultural Capitals: Black Middle-Class Experiences’, Cultural Sociology, 13(1): 3–19.  

  • Meghji, A. (2019) ‘Activating Controlling Images in the Racialized Interaction Order: Black Middle-Class Interactions and the Creativity of Racist Action’, Symbolic Interaction, 42(2): 229–249.  

  • Meghji, A. (2019). White power, racialised regimes of truth, and (in)validity. Sentio, 1(1): 36-41. 

  • Meghji, A. and Saini, R. (2018) ‘Rationalising Racial Inequality: Ideology, Hegemony and Post-Racialism among the Black and South Asian Middle-Classes’, Sociology, 52(4): 671–687.  

  • Meghji, A. (2017). Positionings of the black middle-classes: understanding identity construction beyond strategic assimilation. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 40(6): 1007–1025.  

  • Meghji, A. (2017). A relational study of the Black middle classes and globalised White hegemony: Identities, interactions, and ideologies in the United States, United Kingdom, and South Africa. Sociology Compass, 11(9): 1-13.  

Book chapters 

  • Meghji, A., Itzigsohn, J., Go, J., Connell, R., Bhambra, G., and Agozino., O. (Forthcoming) ‘Decolonizing Sociology: In Pursuit of Truth, Healing, Reparations and Restructuring’ in Oxford Handbook in Sociology and Social Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 

  • Meghji, A. and Tan, S. (Forthcoming) ‘Du Bois, race, and political sociology’ in Elgar Encyclopaedia of Political Sociology, Grasso et al (Eds.), Cheltenham: Elgar Press. 

  • Meghji, A. and Chan, T. (2023) ‘Critical Race Theory, Materialism, and Class’ in On Class, Race, and Educational Reform, Darder et al. (Eds)., pp 186-194, London: Bloomsbury. 

  • Meghji, A., Wain, L., Tan, S., (2022) ‘Demystifying the “Decolonising” and “Diversity” Slippage: Reflections from Sociology’ in Diversity, Inclusion, and Decolonisation: Practical Tools for Improving Teaching, Research, And Scholarship, Day et al. (Eds)., pp. 31-47, Bristol: Bristol University Press. 

  • Meghji, A. (2021) ‘Race relations’, Routledge Encyclopaedia of Race and Racism. London: Routledge.  

  • Meghji, A. (2019) ‘Post-racialism’, SAGE Encyclopaedia of Research Methods. London: SAGE.  

 

Review essays 

  • Meghji, A. (Forthcoming). [The Colonial Origins of Modern Social Thought. G Steinmetz. 2023] European Journal of Social Theory. 

  • Meghji, A. (2022) ‘Stirring the sugar in the English cup of tea: more notes on the continuing relevance of Stuart Hall’, Cultural Studies, Online First. 

  • Meghji, A. (2020). Britain’s Postcolonial Crisis: The Denial of Racism in Little England. Council for European studies.  

  • Meghji, A. (2019). [Chocolate cities: the Black map of American life. Hunter, M. and Robinson, Z. 2018]. Sociology of race and ethnicity, 5(2): 305-6. 

  • Meghji, A. (2017). Politics then and now: the enduring legacy of Stuart Hall. Cultural Studies, 31(6): 1-3. 

  • Meghji, A. (2016). [The Colour of Class: The Educational Strategies of the Black middle classes. Rollock et al., 2015] Ethnic and Racial Studies, 39(3): 526-528.  

  • Meghji, A. (2014). The Black middle-class and laissez-faire racism in Britain’s classrooms. Sociology Teacher Journal, 4(1): 9–13. 

 

Grants and Projects

Meghji, A. (PI) A new Black consciousness? Anti-racism among the Black elite in South Africa and the United States. Cambridge Humanities Research Grants Scheme (2019): £13,657.20

The Global roots of Black sociology, Cambridge Humanities Research Grants Scheme (£1425).

Research Groups & Affiliations

Job Title:
Associate Professor in Social Inequalities, Magdelene College
Dr Ali Meghji
Full CV / Publications: