He is a researcher and author of books and academic studies on topics including racism, music and urban cultures.
[3] He studied at both undergraduate and postgraduate level at Goldsmiths, University of London, receiving his PhD in social anthropology in 1991.
He subsequently worked at the Institute of Education, Birkbeck College and the Department of Cultural Studies, University of Birmingham before returning to Goldsmiths in 1993.
Back's work focuses on the issues of race, racism, popular culture and belonging, discussed with ethnographic research often based in South London.
Back is also a regular contributor to The Guardian, Times Higher Education Supplement and the New Humanist as well as contributing to online magazines including openDemocracy.net, Eurozine and The Sociological Review.