{{Short description|British academic (born 1958)}} {{EngvarB|date=June 2025}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = | honrific_suffix = | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1958}} | birth_place = UK | death_date = | death_place = | other_names = | known_for = | occupation = Academic | alma_mater = University of East Anglia<br/>Goldsmiths, University of London | notable_works = ''Young, Female and Black'' (1992); ''Black British Feminism'' (1997); ''Tackling the Roots of Racism: Lessons for Success'' (2005) | relatives = }} '''Heidi Safia Mirza''' (born 1958)<ref>Mercedes Smith, [http://www.devonlife.co.uk/people/arts-2-24559/tracy-satchwill-s-unique-art-project-magna-carta-women-goes-on-show-in-devon-1-3915133 "Tracy Satchwill’s unique art project Magna Carta Women goes on show in Devon"], ''Devon Life'', 14 January 2015.</ref> is a British academic, who is Professor of Race, Faith and Culture at Goldsmiths, University of London,<ref name=Gold>[https://www.gold.ac.uk/sociology/staff/visiting-fellows-and-emeritus-professors/ "Heidi Safia Mirza"], Staff in the Department of Sociology, Goldsmiths.</ref> Professor Emerita in Equalities Studies at the UCL Institute of Education,<ref name=LFE>[http://londonfestivalofeducation.com/heidi-mirza/ Heidi Mirza biography], London Festival of Education, 2015.</ref> and visiting professor in Social Policy at the London School of Economics (LSE).<ref name="LSE Dept of Social Policy">{{cite web|url=https://www.lse.ac.uk/social-policy/people/Emeritus-Visiting/professor-heidi-safia-mirza|title=Professor Heidi Safia Mirza|website=Department of Social Policy|publisher=London School of Economics|access-date=1 March 2021}}</ref> She has done pioneering research on race, gender and identity in education, multiculturalism, Islamophobia and gendered violence, and was one of the first black women professors in Britain.<ref>Heidi Mirza, [https://mediadiversified.org/2014/03/23/black-british-feminism-then-and-now/ "Black British feminism then and now"], ''Media Diversified'', 23 March 2014.</ref><ref>Phil Gregory, [https://www.blackpresence.co.uk/14000professors-just-50-are-black/ "14,000 British professors – just 50 are black"], ''The Black Presence in Britain'', 20 June 2011.</ref><ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7746004.stm "'Stereotype' fear from race data"], BBC News, 25 November 2008.</ref>

Mirza is author and editor of several notable books, including ''Young, Female and Black'' (1992), ''Black British Feminism'' (1997), ''Tackling the Roots of Racism: Lessons for Success'' (2005), ''Race Gender and Educational Desire: Why Black Women Succeed and Fail'' (2009), ''Black and Postcolonial Feminisms in New Times'' (2012), and ''Respecting Difference: Race, Faith, and Culture for Teacher Educators'' (2012).

==Biography== ===Early years and education=== Heidi Safia Mirza was born in Britain to a Trinidadian father and an Austrian mother, and at the age of four she moved with her parents to Trinidad.<ref name=Sian>K. P. Sian, [https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137463562_10 "Heidi Mirza"], in Sian, K. P. (ed.), ''Conversations in Postcolonial Thought''. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 27–28.</ref><ref name=Conversation /> She returned to England in 1973, when she was 16, attending school in Brixton, and has written of the shock of encountering racist strife in 1970s England after her relatively sheltered experience of growing up in rural Trinidad and attending a secondary school founded by her grandmother: "You don't question your right to exist, but that is what happens when you become a racialized 'other.{{'"}}<ref name=Sian /> In 1977, she went to do Development Studies the University of East Anglia, where in her first year she met and married her husband;<ref name=Sian /> she was pregnant with their daughter when she sat her final exams.<ref name=Conversation />

She studied for a PhD at Goldsmiths, University of London,<ref name=Conversation /> and her thesis became her first book, ''Young, Female and Black'' (1992), about second-generation Caribbean young women in British comprehensive schools<ref>C. N. Trueman, [http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/sociology/education-and-sociology/heidi-safia-mirza/ "Heidi Safia Mirza"], The History Learning Site, 22 May 2015.</ref> and "the interplay between career choices, aspirations and educational structures", which she has described as "in effect, both an academic and an autobiographical journey".<ref name=Conversation>Heidi Safia Mirza and Kate Hoskins, [https://www.academia.edu/4747230/Love_in_the_cupboard_A_conversation_about_success_and_sadness_when_race_class_and_gender_collide_in_the_making_of_an_academic_career "Love in the cupboard: A conversation about success and sadness when race, gender and class collide in the making of an academic career"], in B. Cole and H. Gunter (eds) (2010), ''Changing Lives: Women Inclusion and the PhD'', Stoke on Trent: Trentham Books.</ref>

===Career=== Mirza's academic career has encompassed lecturing and teaching in the US at Brown University, then at South Bank University for nine years, and at Middlesex University (1998), where she became the UK's first Chair in Racial Equality Studies.<ref name=Conversation /> She is currently Professor of Race, Faith and Culture at Goldsmiths,<ref name=Gold /> Professor Emerita in Equalities Studies at the UCL Institute of Education,<ref name=LFE /> and visiting professor in Social Policy at the London School of Economics (LSE).<ref name="LSE Dept of Social Policy" />

Mirza has published widely on race, gender, Black British feminisms, multiculturalism, postcolonial theory and educational inequalities, her books including ''Young, Female and Black'' (1992), ''Black British Feminism'' (1997), ''Tackling the Roots of Racism: Lessons for Success'' (2005), ''Race Gender and Educational Desire: Why Black Women Succeed and Fail'' (2009), ''Black and Postcolonial Feminisms in New Times'' (2012), and ''Respecting Difference: Race, Faith, and Culture for Teacher Educators'' (2012).<ref name=Gold /> She co-authored the OfSTED school government inspection report ''Educational Inequality: Mapping Race, Class, and Gender''.<ref name=Gold />

She advises English Heritage on diversity, and established the Runnymede Collection at the Black Cultural Archives.<ref name=LFE />

==Honours and recognition== In 2014, Mirza won the Media Diversified Eight Women award, which celebrates the achievements of women of colour in the UK.<ref>Carly Read, [http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/11486968.Goldsmiths_professor_wins_diversity_award/ "Professor at Goldsmiths wins prestigious diversity award for race, gender and identity research"], ''News Shopper'', 21 September 2014.</ref>

In 2015, in recognition of her achievements, she gave the 50th Anniversary Martin Luther King Lecture with Doreen Lawrence in St Paul's Cathedral.<ref>Heidi Safia Mirza, [https://ioelondonblog.wordpress.com/2015/01/06/a-new-years-message-of-hope-martin-luther-kings-dream-to-end-racism-today/ "A New Year’s message of hope? Martin Luther King’s dream to ‘end racism today’"], ''IoE London Blog'', UCL Institute of Education, 6 January 2015.</ref><ref>Heidi Mirza, [https://www.gold.ac.uk/news/comment-martin-luther-kings-dream-how-can-we-end-racism-today/ "Martin Luther King's dream: how can we end racism today?"], Sociology, Goldsmiths, 23 June 2015.</ref><ref name="LSE Dept of Social Policy" />

In 2020, Mirza featured in the ''Phenomenal Women'' exhibition at London's Southbank Centre celebrating the 35 Black professors at UK universities.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://melanmag.com/2020/09/17/britains-black-female-professors-take-centre-stage-in-a-new-exhibition/|title=Britain's Black female professors take centre stage in a new exhibition|website=Melan|date=17 September 2020|access-date=1 March 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://bynder.southbankcentre.co.uk/m/217fa3be3c74c925/original/Phenomenal-Women-Press-Release.pdf|title=The Southbank Centre presents an outdoor exhibition celebrating Britain's Black female professors|publisher=Southbank Centre|date=17 September 2020|access-date=1 March 2021}}</ref>

==Bibliography== ===Books=== * ''Young, Female and Black'', London: Routledge, 1992. {{ISBN|978-0415067058}} * ''Black British Feminism: A Reader'', London: Routledge, 1997. {{ISBN|978-0415152891}} * ''Race, Gender and Educational Desire: Why Black Women Succeed and Fail'', London: Routledge, 2009. {{ISBN| 978-0415448765}} * "'A Second Skin': Embodied Intersectionality, Transnationalism and Narratives of Identity and Belonging among Muslim Women in Britain". ''Women's Studies International Forum'' 36: 5–16, 2013. * With Bhavnani, R., and V. Meetoo, ''Tackling the Roots of Racism, Lessons for Success'', Bristol: Policy Press, 2005. {{ISBN|978-1861347749}} * With Joseph, C. ''Black and Postcolonial Feminisms in New Times: Researching Educational Inequalities'', London: Routledge, 2010. {{ISBN|978-0415633956}} * ''Respecting Difference: Race, Faith, and Culture for Teacher Educators'', IOE Press, 2012. {{ISBN|978-0854738878}} * Co-edited with Jason Arday, ''Dismantling Race in Higher Education: Racism, whiteness and decolonising the academy'', Palgrave MacMillan, 2019.

===Selected articles=== * With Yasmin Gunaratnam, "'The Branch on which I sit': Heidi Safia Mirza in conversation with Yasmin Gunaratnam", ''Feminist Review'', 108, 2014, pp.&nbsp;125–133. ISSN 0141-7789. * "'A second skin’: Embodied intersectionality, transnationalism and narratives of identity and belonging among Muslim women in Britain", ''Women's Studies International Forum'', 36, 2013, pp.&nbsp;5–15. ISSN 0277-5395. * "Plotting a History: Black and postcolonial feminisms in ‘new times’", ''Race Ethnicity and Education'', 12(1), 2009, pp.&nbsp;1–10. ISSN 1361-3324. * "'The Golden Fleece': The Windrush quest for educational desire". Windrush Stories, British Library, 8 October 2018.<ref>Heidi Mirza, [https://www.bl.uk/windrush/articles/the-golden-fleece-the-windrush-quest-for-educational-desire?mobile=on "'The Golden Fleece': The Windrush quest for educational desire"], Windrush Stories, British Library, 8 October 2018.</ref>

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

==External links== * Heidi Safia Mirza and Kate Hoskins, [https://www.academia.edu/4747230/Love_in_the_cupboard_A_conversation_about_success_and_sadness_when_race_class_and_gender_collide_in_the_making_of_an_academic_career "Love in the cupboard: A conversation about success and sadness when race, gender and class collide in the making of an academic career"], in B. Cole and H. Gunter (eds) (2010), ''Changing Lives: Women Inclusion and the PhD'', Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham Books. * [http://www.esrc.ac.uk/about-us/50-years-of-esrc/outlook-at-50/heidi-mirza/ Heidi Mirza interview], Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDI0gAq1Q_c "Decolonizing Pedagogies by Prof. Heidi Safia Mirza, Goldsmiths College"], keynote address at The European Conference on Education 2014 (ECE2014) in Brighton, England. YouTube video. * [http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/gallery/video/crassh-impact-a-black-feminist-conversation-patricia-williams-and-heidi-mir "CRASSH Impact: A Black Feminist Conversation – Patricia Williams and Heidi Mirza"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171202203128/http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/gallery/video/crassh-impact-a-black-feminist-conversation-patricia-williams-and-heidi-mir |date=2 December 2017 }}, 16 June 2017. * [https://twitter.com/HeidiMirza?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor @HeidiMirza] – Twitter. * [https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2021/may/spotlight-professor-heidi-mirza? "Spotlight on... Professor Heidi Mirza"], ''UCL News'', 13 May 2021.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mirza, Heidi Safia}} Category:1958 births Category:Living people Category:Academics of Goldsmiths, University of London Category:Academics of London South Bank University Category:Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Category:Alumni of the University of East Anglia Category:British people of Indian descent Category:British people of Austrian descent Category:British people of Trinidad and Tobago descent Category:British women academics