Decolonising sociological teaching: Diaspora Studies Professor publishes two book chapters

Professor Ipek Demir published two book chapters in late 2023, one on ‘striking diasporas’ and the other on the teaching of sociology, focusing on coloniality of class, gender and migration.

Immigrant Lives

In her chapter for Immigrant Lives, entitled ‘Decolonizing Diaspora Studies: Accounting for the Transnational and Intersectional Interventions of “Striking” Diasporas’, Professor Demir makes a case for decolonising the field of diaspora studies through detailed analyses of the Bristol Bus Boycott and the Grunwick Dispute.

Professor Demir exposes links between empires and diasporas, expanding our understanding of the transnational and intersectional dimensions of diasporic interventions, and thus of how they have, and continue to, decolonise and shape the Global North. 

Edited by Edward Makwarimba and Edward Shizha, Immigrant Lives: Intersectionality, Transnationality, and Global Perspectives (Oxford University Press, 2023) offers in-depth analysis and critique of policies, practices and immigrant experiences. The handbook brings together a multinational and multi-disciplinary group of scholars to provide a global perspective, through an intersectional and ecological lens, on the subject of transnationalism and migration.

Teaching Political Sociology

Teaching Political Sociology, edited by William Outhwaite and Larry Ray (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2023), draws on the diverse experiences of internationally recognised specialists to provide educators with a concise and accessible guide to the main topic areas likely to form part of courses in political sociology.

‘The Challenge that Race and Coloniality Present to the Teaching of Sociology: A Discussion of Coloniality of Gender, Coloniality of Class and Coloniality of Migration’ is Professor Demir's contribution to the teaching guide.

Demir’s chapter argues that race and coloniality should no longer be treated as an additive or condiment, locked into the margins, but rather that race and coloniality should shift our understanding and teaching of central sociological categories and concepts. The chapter reveals, amongst others, the coloniality of class, the coloniality of gender and the coloniality of migration. 

Professor Ipek Demir is Professor of Diaspora Studies in the School of Sociology and Social Policy. She is also Director of the Centre for Racism and Ethnicity Studies, an interdisciplinary centre with a long-established international reputation for theoretically-informed and policy-relevant research on racism, ethnicity and migration.