SOCI 381 - Emancipation, Decolonization, and Liberation: Black Lives Matter in World-Historical Perspective

Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1 unit(s)

As Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests gain momentum across the globe, student and working people movements challenge South African neo-liberalism, and as Africans throughout southern Africa grapple with the still unfinished dream of independence, CLR James’s words it can be argued ring truer than ever. Is the BLM moment unique? If not, what were some of its earlier iterations? If some wish to argue BLM is completely new, what were some of the previous movements to have emerged globally by people of African descent as they grappled with various forms of oppression from slavery, colonialism, and neo-colonialism? The purpose of this course is to give students interested in their contemporary conjuncture a historical- sociological/world-historical view on the evolution of emancipatory projects of people of African descent beginning with the dawn of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. This course developed out of a concern that far too many see BLM as being rooted in a contemporary Black American moment of radicalism, granted, with a few gestures to global concerns and a respectful nod to Black Power struggles. In order to deepen our understanding of the world-historical character of the current BLM moment, this course begins by exploring not only the founding moments of the US-based movement, but also journeys with it as others across the world seized the opening provided by BLM to articulate their own struggles. As we engage with this material we constantly keep an eye on contemporary events and many of the assignments encourage students to draw links between the past and present. Additionally, Black Internationalist links, interlocutions if you will, are heavily emphasized in this class to elucidate the deep connections between various emancipatory struggles. Students taking this class are encouraged to improve on their verbal and written communication skills, as well as cultivate an enduring appreciation for real-time research on events and processes from a historical-sociological perspective. Toivo Asheeke.

One 3-hour period.