Race & Capitalism Graduate Student Conference — May 18, 2018 — University of Chicago
Recent political and legal developments in the United States and around the world have sparked renewed interest in the histories and theories of racial capitalism. Racial capitalism, as an analytic, understands capitalist economies and racial hierarchies as interlocking and struggles for economic, racial and gender justice as mutually intertwined. However, there is much uncertainty about the theoretical framework that is best suited to thinking about the role of race and gender in capitalist economies. The Race and Capitalism Project has sought to advance a national conversation on developing and updating theories of racial capitalism for the 21st century. Key questions that have emerged from the project are: How do we narrate the present moment and its histories from the standpoint of racial capitalism? Are we confronting a moment of rupture or is the history of racial capitalism marked by a deep continuity? Relatedly, how should we judge popular descriptors for the contemporary political economy, such as neoliberalism, financialization or the new economy from the perspective of racial capitalism? Do they challenge our reliance on existing theories of racial capitalism, or do they obscure the historical continuities that these theories uncover?
For the first Race and Capitalism Graduate Student Conference, the University of Chicago invited submissions from graduate students working on these questions and on topics related more broadly to racial capitalism. They are particularly interested in work that discusses theories of racial capitalism (either with regards to their intellectual history or with regards to their contemporary fit and theoretical coherence), the gendered aspects of racial capitalism, racial capitalism & migration and racial capitalism & the rise of finance. The conference will also provide a chance for graduate students working on racial capitalism to connect with each other and the national Race and Capitalism Project.
The deadline to submit an abstract was February 1, 2018.
About the Race and Capitalism Project
The Race and Capitalism Project Graduate Conference is part of the Race and Capitalism project initiated by the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture (CSRPC) at the University of Chicago. It seeks to provide a platform for graduate students interested in the topic to exchange ideas and connect. The Race and Capitalism project is a multi-institution collaboration that seeks to reinvigorate, strengthen and deepen scholarship on how processes of racialization within the U.S. shaped capitalist society and economy and how capitalism has simultaneously shaped processes of racialization. This project was initiated and conceived at the CSRPC and the Washington Institute for the Study of Inequality and Race (WISIR) at the University of Washington. Central questions include: 1) What is the relationship between racial and economic inequality; 2) How has the relationship between various racial and ethnic groups, the economy and civil society changed over time; and 3) What theoretical approaches to the studies of capitalism and race best explain the empirical reality of 21st century capitalism.
Contact
Alfredo Gonzalez
algonzalez@uchicago.edu
Emily Katzenstein
katzenstein@uchicago.edu
