Select research outputs

Du Bois (and after)

I am currently working on a book project with Princeton University Press titled ‘After Du Bois’. The project seeks to excavate the Du Boisian tradition through archival research on a group of scholars, including St Clair Drake, Franklin Frazier, Anna Julia Cooper, Ida Wells-Barnett, and Charles S Johnson. While the book is being drafted, papers from this project include:

Meghji, Ali. 2024a. ‘Du Boisian Sociology after Du Bois: Frazier, St Clair Drake, and the Global and Comparative Study of Race and Empire’. Sociological Forum 39(4):361–72. doi: 10.1111/socf.13012. Winner of the 2025 Sociological Forum Inaugural Author award.

Meghji, Ali. 2024b. ‘“Peace Is Dangerous”: Toward a Du Boisian Theory of Colonial Post-Fascism’. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity 23326492241288496. doi: 10.1177/23326492241288496.

Meghji, Ali, Michael Burawoy, Fatma Müge Göçek, José Itzigsohn, and Aldon Morris. 2024. ‘Why Now? Thoughts on the Du Boisian Revolution’. Sociology Compass 18(8):e13264. doi: 10.1111/soc4.13264.

Public Sociology and Sociological Publics

In 2023 I had the pleasure of keynoting the annual British Sociological Association conference, which is on YouTube here.

This paper was then revised into a journal article, published in Sociological Theory: Meghji, Ali. 2024. ‘From Public Sociology to Sociological Publics: The Importance of Reverse Tutelage to Social Theory’. Sociological Theory 42(2):114–36. doi: 10.1177/07352751241227429.

A critical synergy

In 2023 I published the book ‘A Critical Synergy’ with Temple Press, which was a recipient of a Choice 2024 Outstanding Academic Title Award. The book is available to view here. An Ethnic and Racial Studies symposium on the book is available here.

Some papers associated with this project are available here:

Meghji, Ali. 2022. ‘Towards a Theoretical Synergy: Critical Race Theory and Decolonial Thought in Trumpamerica and Brexit Britain’. Current Sociology 70(5):647–64. doi: 10.1177/0011392120969764.

Meghji, Ali. 2023. A Critical Synergy: Race, Decoloniality, and World Crises. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

Meghji, Ali. 2024. ‘Theoretical Synergy, Global Social Theory, and the Global Colourline’. Ethnic and Racial Studies47(13):2844–53. doi: 10.1080/01419870.2024.2370029.

Decolonizing Sociology

In 2020 I published Decolonizing Sociology with Polity Press. The book is available to view here.

This book attempts to develop an historical sociology of sociology, showing the intimate relationship between sociology, colonialism, and anti-colonialism.

The Racialized Social System

In 2022, I published ‘The Racialized Social System’ with Polity, which you can view here.

This book is part of my project of excavating the tradition of critical race theory. Another paper related to this thinking specifically about CRT in Britain is available below:

Meghji, Ali. 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):347–59. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12801.

Oldies

Prior to turning to historical sociology and Du Boisian social theory, I conducted research on the Black middle-class in Britain. Here, I was interested in thinking about the relationship between race and class in the context of postcolonial Britain. Those interested in this agenda may find my first book interesting: Black middle-class Britannia, available here.