A. Kayum Ahmed is a South African activist-scholar who teaches human rights at
Barnard. His interdisciplinary teaching and research examine contemporary struggles
for justice and liberation through the lenses of human rights, public health, social
movements, Indigenous epistemologies, and decolonial theory.
Before joining Barnard, Kayum served as Special Advisor at Human Rights Watch, and
as Chief Executive Officer of the South African Human Rights Commission. He has also
taught at Columbia law school and the school of public health, and held visiting scholar
roles at Birzeit University in Palestine, and Harvard's FXB Center for Health and Human
Rights.
Kayum is the author of Theorizing Fallism: Rhodes Must Fall and the Global Movement
to Decolonize the University (2026), which explores the intersections of student
movements, decolonial theory, and Black radical feminism. He is also the author of a
children's book, A is for Amandla: The ABC Guide for Young Revolutionaries [and Their
Parents] (2024).
Kayum holds a Ph.D. in education from Columbia University as well as various law
degrees from the universities of Oxford (MS.t), Cape Town (LL.B.), and Leiden (LL.M.).
In addition, he has degrees in anthropology (M.A.) and religious studies (B.A. Hons).