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Sociology Research

 

Dr Ali Meghji

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 former 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 Du Boisian 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by the Isaac Newton Trust and by the Cambridge School of Humanities and Social Sciences, his research analyzes the unpublished writings of five classical Black sociologists who he contends can be read as Du Boisians: W.E.B Du Bois, Franklin Frazier, Anna Julia Cooper, St Clair Drake, and Ida Wells-Barnett. This project will be published as a monograph with Princeton University Press. Parallel to this, he is working on a project investigating the de-Americanization of the Pan-African movement.

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

Research Interests

Postcolonial sociology, race, historical sociology, Du Boisian sociology, social theory, anti/post/decolonial 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

Books 

  • Meghji, A. (Forthcoming, 2025) Du Boisian sociology after Du Bois: experiments in theorizing the global colorline. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

  • 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. (2024). ‘Peace is dangerous’: towards a Du Boisian theory of colonial post-fascism. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity.

  • Meghji, A, Gocek, F.M, Burawoy, M, Itzigsohn, J, Morris, A. (2024). Why now? Thoughts on the Du Boisian revolution. Sociology Compass (Editorial)

  • Meghji, A. (2024). Du Boisian sociology after Du Bois: Frazier, St Clair Drake, and the global and comparative study of race and empire. Sociological Forum.

  • Meghji, A. (2024). From public sociology to sociological publics: the importance of reverse tutelage to social theory. Sociological Theory.

  • Meghji, A. (2024). Theoretical synergy, global social theory, and the global colourline. Ethnic and Racial Studies.

  • Meghji, A. (2024). Sociologists as change agents? Thoughts on Lamont’s Seeing Others. Ethnic and Racial Studies.

  • Meghji, A. (2024). Who’s afraid of sociology? American Journal of Sociology.

  • Meghji, A. (2024). 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

2024: ‘Thinking between decolonization and anti-racism: the case of Nkrumah’. British Academy/Leverhulme Small Grant (£10,000)

2024: ‘Theorizing global fields: the case of the de-Americanisation of Pan-Africanism’. Cambridge Humanities Research Grants Scheme (£14,000)

2024-2027: ‘Catalysts of Decolonization’. Research Lab funding through CRASSH (£10,000/yr)

2024: ‘Black sociology and anticolonial thought’. Parry Dutton Grant (£5,000)

2020: 'The Global roots of Black sociology'. Cambridge Humanities Research Grants Scheme (£1425).

2021: ‘The Black British Voices Project.’ Isaac Newton Trust (£50,000)

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

Research Groups & Affiliations

 

 

Job Title:
Associate Professor in Social Inequalities, Sidney Sussex College
Dr Ali Meghji
Contact Information:

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Research at Cambridge