Details
This conference examines the intersection of race, capitalism and class in the history of political thought in the U.S. context, with a particular focus on the concept of racial capitalism. While the concept of racial capitalism has at times been dismissed as a "buzzword," the animating idea behind it — that capitalist markets historically presupposed racial inequality and colonial hierarchy — has been fundamental to the history of American political thought, especially the Black Radical Tradition. From Frederick Douglass to the Black Panthers, movements and thinkers have variously struggled to trace the contours of the relationship between the often convoluted concepts of capitalism, class, and race. This conference thus seeks to revisit, problematize and reconsider the ways in which these activists and thinkers theorized the notion of racial capitalism, as well as its attendant relationship to the structures of white supremacy and of capitalist exploitation.
Please email Tristan Hughes to receive access to the papers.
Speakers/Participants
Ricardo Vega León (Rutgers University)
Michael Gorup (New College of Florida)
Inés Valdez (Johns Hopkins University)
Siddhant Issar (University of Louisville)
Lucas Pinheiro (Bard College)
Onur Ulas Ince (SOAS)
Ida Danewid (University of Sussex)
Charisse Burden-Stelly (Wayne State University)
Claudia Cervantes Pérez (PrincetonUniversity)
Tristan Hughes (Princeton University)
Schedule
10 a.m. - Opening remarks
10:15 a.m. - 12 p.m. - Archives of Racial Capitalism
Charisse Burden-Stelly, Ricardo Vega León, Claudia Cervantes Pérez
Commenters: Tristan Hughes, Issar Siddhant
1 - 2:45 p.m. - Empire, Slavery and Colonialism
Onur Ulas Ince, Inés Valdez, Tristan Hughes
Commenters: Michael Gorup, Lucas Pinheiro
3 - 4:30 p.m. - Contemporary Racial Capitalism
Issar Siddhant, Ida Danewid, Michael Gorup
Commenters: Ricardo Vega León, Claudia Cervantes Pérez
4:30 p.m. - Closing remarks