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A hegemony is leadership or dominance, especially by one country or social group over others. Dr. Knight predicts the U.S. will fall, just like Rome and Britain fell as hegemonies. This happens because of overreach, he says, adding history teaches us that “sometimes you have to destroy, before you can rebuild.”

Friends of the Stanfield Conversations

Though he graduated from Dal almost 40 years ago, Dr. Knight remains connected to friends he met here like professor Dr. David Black (MA’86, PhD’92). Black and Dr. Knight’s long-time friend, former prime minister and Dal notable alum Joe Clark, both serve on the Friends of the Stanfield Conversations advisory board. When they asked Dr. Knight to join so he could bring a diverse perspective on speaker selection, he seized the opportunity. Dal’s annual Stanfield Conversation lecture tackles a different contemporary issue each year connected to democracy.

A period between reigns

The precarious position the world currently finds itself in politically, says Dr. Knight, connects to the interregnum, which means ‘between reigns.’ It is defined as a period of discontinuity in government, organization or social order.

He resists focusing on current-events history, he says, instead advocating for the longue durée—a French approach that prioritizes studying long-term historical structures. Through that lens he’s confident the current political swing backward will eventually be countered with a pendulum swing forward, imploring, “We must resist non-democratic ideas and processes.”

The longue durée perspective provides guidance we should heed in this time of global turbulence, he says. “It’s happened before and we’ve created something better. Look at World War I and World War II, which I consider two parts of the same war. After it ended, we got something better—the United Nations.” What kind of a world will emerge out of the current interregnum he says is up to us, stressing we need to positively influence what the new world order will be.

No choice but to persevere

Perseverance is a word Dr. Knight uses often. He says the double threats of climate change and nuclear armament threaten the planet and humanity, but persevering against such ominous possibilities is essential to ensure negativity doesn’t prevail.

Perseverance is also something Dr. Knight knows first-hand. After immigrating from Barbados, he did a BA in fine arts at McMaster, MA in political science at Dal, and PhD in international relations at York. He taught at Bishop’s University before becoming the only Black person in the Faculty of Arts when transferring to U of A in 1998. In the past 26 years, he’s made inroads diversifying the U of A faculty complement, bringing on qualified Black colleagues while also advocating for Indigenous and other minority hires. It’s work he’s rightly proud of, knowing firsthand how exhausting it is to be on every faculty committee because you’re the lone diversity representative. “It’s too big a job to place on the backs of a few people,” he says.

But to consider him solely an academic would be reductive. Dr. Knight is also a world leader in the study of international organizations, global governance, and human security, and an advisory board member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Welfare of Children.

He writes prodigiously (16 books and monographs, over 65 chapters and 30 journal articles so far) and has edited several globally prestigious peer-reviewed publications.

While on secondment in the Caribbean, he established the Caribbean Journal of International Relations and Diplomacy and established the Diplomatic Academy of the Caribbean. Plus, after his return to Canada, he created and hosts a podcast, “.” In his position as the University of Alberta’s inaugural Provost Fellow, Black Excellence and Leadership, Dr. Knight developed a new MOOC (massive open online course) on which attempts to fill gaps in knowledge about the contributions Black people have made to Canada.

He juggles a lot but points out there is much intersectionality in his work—a persistent connection. He says what drives him are “promoting human rights, building a better world, and understanding how marginalized people can punch above their weights in international circles.”

Recognitions

Dr. Knight was a Fulbright Distinguished Chair in International Area Studies at Yale University. He was named among Alberta's 50 most influential people by Venture Magazine and this past summer, he was honoured with a award presented by Western Union and sponsored by COSTI Immigrant Services and Windmill Microlending.

Although he’s already done much, the work is far from done. As Dr. Knight says, systemic change takes time, requiring decades-or-longer commitment. These days, in addition to the outcome of the U.S. election and a global political swing right, he’s concerned by a backlash against equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) policies by those people (i.e. white people) who feel EDI reduces their opportunities. He also fights what he calls ‘polite racism’—when racially diverse people are invited into spaces and made to feel comfortable but are not really heard.

‘Take up space’ is advice he likes to give young people, especially Black and other racialized youth. The space he has inhabited with focus and steadfastness serves as an example, and he acknowledge how important role models are in helping others see possibilities for themselves.

“A drop of water that keeps penetrating a block of cement will eventually form a crack,” he says. “We must keep pressing on, even when things look bleak.”