Smina Akhtar

Contact

s.akhtar.1@research.gla.ac.uk

 

Research title: Experiences of and Resistance to State Racism in Scotland

Research Summary

I use a case study approach to examine how state racism is experienced and how communities do resistance.

  1. The Justice for Sheku Bayou Justice Campaign was established following the death of Sheku Bayoh a 31 year old Black man in Kirkcaldy whilst he was being arrested in the early hours of 3 May 2015. His family and friends established the campaign because they became suspicious of the different accounts of Sheku’s death given to them by the police.  I use a social movements analysis to examine what motivated activists to get involved in the campaign and the factors which influenced their repertoires of activism.  I examine how state racism affects activism and how the state responds when it is the subject of a claim.

  2. Serco is a private company contracted by the Home Office to house asylum seekers across the UK, including in Glasgow. In July 2018 Serco threatened to evict 300 asylum seekers from their housing in Glasgow.  A campaign to challenge the evictions was established almost immediately involving politicians, NGO’s and grass roots organisations.  I use the concept of state racism to examine the states use of private contractors to carry out its ideological commitment to keeping the numbers of certain asylum seekers down, particularly those from Muslim countries and are racialised as such.  I examine the campaign as it unfolds, to stop the evictions and how it organises and articulates its resistance to look at how resistance is done when the state is using a third party to carry out its work.

  3. The education system has historically been used to do the ideological work of the state in the maintenance of hegemonic class relations. When Britain was a coloniser the education system was used to teach the masses to be loyal to the British Empire resulting in the erasure of the history of racism from the education system.  This case study will examine how working within a state institution impacts teachers experiences of racism and how they challenge it.          

 

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2023 | 2022 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 1992
Number of items: 16.

2023

Piacentini, T. , Akhtar, S. , Mullen, A. and Mulvey, G. (2023) "It’s not like it just happened that day": anti-racist solidarity in two Glasgow neighbourhoods. In: Poulakidakos, S., Veneti, A. and Rovisco, M. (eds.) Social Movements and Everyday Acts of Resistance: Solidarity in a Changing World. Routledge. ISBN 9781032201887 (In Press)

2022

Akhtar, S. (2022) Containment, activism and state racism: the Sheku Bayoh justice campaign. Identities, 29(2), pp. 164-185. (doi: 10.1080/1070289X.2020.1813460)

2020

Meer, N., Akhtar, S. and Davidson, N. (Eds.) (2020) Taking Stock: Race Equality in Scotland. Runnymede: London. ISBN 9781909546318

Akhtar, S. (2020) Dissecting State Racism: in conversation with Smina Akhtar. [Audio]

Akhtar, S. (2020) When State Racism Meets the Pandemic: The Death of a Syrian Refugee in Hotel Detention in Discover Society. [Website]

Akhtar, S. (2020) Citizenship for all NHS Workers Now. [Website]

Akhtar, S. (2020) Sheku Bayoh, Police Accountability and the Myth of Scottish Exceptionalism. [Website]

2019

Akhtar, S. (2019) Sheku Bayoh investigation was not fit for purpose. National, 17 Nov.

Akhtar, S. (2019) Surviving Society with the BSA: Smina Akhtar. [Audio]

Akhtar, S. (2019) We must do more to make Scotland's education system anti-racist. National, 7 Apr.

Akhtar, S. (2019) The diary of a Scottish Muslim Woman after the Christchurch Massacre. [Website]

Gunson, D., Nuttall, L., Akhtar, S. , Khan, A., Avan, G. and Thomas, L. (2019) Spiritual Beliefs and Mental Health: A Study of Muslim Women in Glasgow. Project Report. UWS-Oxfam Partnership.

Akhtar, S. (2019) Rethinking racial capitalism: questions of reproduction and survival. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 42(8), pp. 1349-1351. (doi: 10.1080/01419870.2018.1544653)[Book Review]

2018

Akhtar, S. (2018) The British state is using gendered racism as a weapon against Muslim women. [Website]

Akhtar, S. (2018) Sajid Javid, Racism and The State. [Website]

1992

Akhtar, S. (1992) Race and Local Politics. Urban Studies, 29(2), pp. 317-318. (doi: 10.1080/00420989220080381)[Book Review]

This list was generated on Sat Sep 30 00:03:18 2023 BST.
Number of items: 16.

Articles

Akhtar, S. (2022) Containment, activism and state racism: the Sheku Bayoh justice campaign. Identities, 29(2), pp. 164-185. (doi: 10.1080/1070289X.2020.1813460)

Akhtar, S. (2019) Sheku Bayoh investigation was not fit for purpose. National, 17 Nov.

Akhtar, S. (2019) We must do more to make Scotland's education system anti-racist. National, 7 Apr.

Book Sections

Piacentini, T. , Akhtar, S. , Mullen, A. and Mulvey, G. (2023) "It’s not like it just happened that day": anti-racist solidarity in two Glasgow neighbourhoods. In: Poulakidakos, S., Veneti, A. and Rovisco, M. (eds.) Social Movements and Everyday Acts of Resistance: Solidarity in a Changing World. Routledge. ISBN 9781032201887 (In Press)

Book Reviews

Akhtar, S. (2019) Rethinking racial capitalism: questions of reproduction and survival. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 42(8), pp. 1349-1351. (doi: 10.1080/01419870.2018.1544653)[Book Review]

Akhtar, S. (1992) Race and Local Politics. Urban Studies, 29(2), pp. 317-318. (doi: 10.1080/00420989220080381)[Book Review]

Edited Books

Meer, N., Akhtar, S. and Davidson, N. (Eds.) (2020) Taking Stock: Race Equality in Scotland. Runnymede: London. ISBN 9781909546318

Research Reports or Papers

Gunson, D., Nuttall, L., Akhtar, S. , Khan, A., Avan, G. and Thomas, L. (2019) Spiritual Beliefs and Mental Health: A Study of Muslim Women in Glasgow. Project Report. UWS-Oxfam Partnership.

Audio

Akhtar, S. (2020) Dissecting State Racism: in conversation with Smina Akhtar. [Audio]

Akhtar, S. (2019) Surviving Society with the BSA: Smina Akhtar. [Audio]

Website

Akhtar, S. (2020) When State Racism Meets the Pandemic: The Death of a Syrian Refugee in Hotel Detention in Discover Society. [Website]

Akhtar, S. (2020) Citizenship for all NHS Workers Now. [Website]

Akhtar, S. (2020) Sheku Bayoh, Police Accountability and the Myth of Scottish Exceptionalism. [Website]

Akhtar, S. (2019) The diary of a Scottish Muslim Woman after the Christchurch Massacre. [Website]

Akhtar, S. (2018) The British state is using gendered racism as a weapon against Muslim women. [Website]

Akhtar, S. (2018) Sajid Javid, Racism and The State. [Website]

This list was generated on Sat Sep 30 00:03:18 2023 BST.

Teaching

Graduate Teaching Assistant (2018-19)

Sociology 1A: Self & Society
Sociology 1B: Critical Research in Contemporary Societies

Additional Information

I have over 20 years’ experience of doing community development work within the Scottish voluntary sector.

I have a BA (hons) Politics from the University of Strathclyde and a MSc in Urban Policy and Practice from the University of Glasgow.

Member of The Scottish Parliament Cross Party Group on Tackling Islamophobia in Scotland.