Introduction: Black PhD journeys in context

Summary

What is it like to be a Black postgraduate student in the United Kingdom (UK)? A simple question for an academic text to answer, you may think. What may seem straightforward on the surface, however, is anything but. The Black postgraduate student experience is a complex mixture of hope, audacity, expectation, disappointment, rage, sacrifice and dreams fulfilled and unfulfilled. It is also part of the wider Black community experience in Britain, one that has been forged over the centuries through blood, sweat and tears (Olusoga, 2016). As bell hooks outlines:

I am grateful to the many women and men who dare to create theory from the location of pain and struggle, who courageously expose wounds to give us their experience to teach and guide, as a means to chart new theoretical journeys. Their work is liberatory. (hooks, 1994, p. 74)

The Black PhD Experience: Stories of Strength, Courage and Wisdom in UK Academia is our collective endeavour to share the complex and multi- layered experiences of Black students in the UK as they go through the process of obtaining the highest academic qualification, the Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD). It is a book, but it is more than merely a text: it is an experience. As the pages move you will be drawn into an immersive, emotional kaleidoscope of thoughts, feelings and tangible expressions of Black humanity. We want you, as readers, to walk with us, to see the higher education system through our eyes and to understand where we have come from to reach this place. Ours is not a traditional ‘how to do x and y’ textbook; there are excellent works outlining the what, where and how of tackling institutionalised racism in higher education (Verma, 2022) and we will refer to them at points on the journey. There are, however, more fundamental issues at stake for us than just showing people how to treat us equitably in universities and colleges. The heinous murder of George Floyd in May 2020 in the United States of America (US) was a powerful wake- up call for Black people all over the world and had particular resonances for Black students and scholars in the UK.