Working with communities

The RACE Centre is part of the University of Manchester but here for the whole community.

Our archive collections and library books are available to everyone and we are located in Manchester Central Library, a central and accessible location. 

How we work with communities

With our sister organisation, the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Education Trust, we work with many different communities. We can support the development of heritage projects, help community groups share their culture and histories and of course, ensure community perspectives and experiences are central to our library and archive collections.

We work collaboratively and respectfully for others - centring the needs of global majority groups and not those of the institution. We proactively seek to share our platform and privilege. 

Community-led heritage projects

Our sister organisation, the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Education Trust, leads our community-led collecting. The Trust can support global majority community groups to develop projects which explore and document experiences and histories. We can support with project design and fundraising as well as share our expertise in oral history and archive work. 

If you have an idea for a heritage project and would like to talk to us about this, please contact us.

Connecting people and communities with our collections

At the heart of our work is commitment to increasing understanding, awareness and appreciation of global majority histories. We do this in a range of ways, often through events and engagement activities for local community members. 

We see ourselves as trusted custodians of community histories and as such work carefully to share access to collections in ethical ways, that respect the wishes of donors and are sensitive to the current environment.

Please follow us on social media to keep informed of all our events and activities. 

As well as our public events and activities, where our capacity allows we work with community groups to design engagement sessions based on the interests of their members. If you are interested in developing an engagement session with us, please contact us.

Find out more about our staff at the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre.

Our vision is an inclusive, equally represented and racially just society where everyone belongs.

The Centre was established by Lou Kushnick, Professor of Sociology at The University of Manchester, in 1999.

The Trust works out of the RACE Centre, supporting community-led collecting and heritage projects, and engagement work with local communities.