Hassan Akram is our tenth beneficiary of the AGM Randeree Scholarship in 2026.
I am delighted and grateful to be the AGM Randeree scholar for 2026/27. After graduating from Oxford in 2026, this scholarship will enable me to fulfil my aspirations for postgraduate study at Cambridge, through an MPhil in Modern British History. I am excited to contribute to this fantastic academic community.
My research is about international reactions to Enoch Powell’s ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech of 1968. The speech has been studied endlessly for its effects on national identity, race relations, and populism, but never for its effect outside the UK, not even in the Commonwealth countries which were the source of the immigration that Powell opposed. I hope that my research will act as a useful corrective by throwing light on previously ignored perspectives from the Global South.
In recent years, British Muslims have increasingly become the target of inflammatory language and minority bashing. As the dangers of racism, Islamophobia, and anti-migrant prejudice continue to rise, it is more and more important to examine the history of these problems, and to approach them from fresh perspectives. I hope that my academic research, and the journalistic career which I hope eventually to build, will give me the skills and knowledge necessary to stand firm against such prejudices and to defend principles of equality, diversity, and social justice.