The Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH) at the University of Edinburgh is delighted to announce the appointment of award-winning activist Zakiya Sankara-Jabar as the Community Fellow for 2025. Sankara-Jabar has over 15 years of experience in grassroots organizing, policy advocacy, and leadership development in the USA. A nationally-recognized thought leader in the education and social justice movements, Sankara-Jabar has led major campaigns, influenced policy reform, and brings visibility to underrepresented communities through her leadership and media presence.
In 2011, she co-founded Racial Justice NOW!, a non-profit dedicated to dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline and fighting for racial justice in education.
Sankara-Jabar will spend October and November 2025 at IASH to work on her research project Racism towards Black boys in the non-profit sector under the mentorship of Professor Tommy Curry.
Prof. Curry said, “Zakiya is a passionate advocate for children’s rights. Over the last decade, she has become known and respected throughout the United States for her unwavering commitment and fervour in holding anti-Black institutions accountable. Like the anti-slavery activists of the late nineteenth century such as Frederick Douglass and Ida B. Wells, who saw the University of Edinburgh as a platform against the white racism of the United States, Zakiya offers a real opportunity for the University to learn of the struggles and resistance through which Black communities are fighting for their safety and futures of their children.”
IASH Director Prof. Lesley McAra said, “The Community Fellowship programme allows writers, community organizers, journalists and others from around the world to join the Institute for a time. This autumn, Zakiya will reflect on her remarkable work as an activist, and work towards new initiatives aimed at making a difference to marginalized groups in the USA and hopefully here in Scotland too.”
Previous Community Fellows at IASH include writers such as Jaspreet Kaur, Jemma Neville, Ahsan Ridha Hassan and Margie Orford, as well as acclaimed playwright Hannah Khalil and Ukrainian translator Elena Marinicheva.
The Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH) at the
University of Edinburgh
