<p>Comment on Piketty, Thomas. 2014. <em>Capital in the twenty-first ... more <p>Comment on Piketty, Thomas. 2014. <em>Capital in the twenty-first century</em>. Translated by Arthur Goldhammer. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University.</p>
Life…in the midst of death": Notes on the Relationship Between Slave Insurance, Life Insurance and Disability
Disability Studies Quarterly
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�Le S�n�gal Qui Gagne�: Soccer and the Stakes of Neoliberalism in a Postcolonial Port
Soccer Society, 2006
This essay reveals how Senegal’s effort to promote itself as an anti‐terrorist Islamic nation whi... more This essay reveals how Senegal’s effort to promote itself as an anti‐terrorist Islamic nation while aggressively pursuing privatization is linked to the way soccer is promoted internally, to cohere the population around neoliberal aspirations, and externally, as evidence of Senegalese potential. This essay also explores the politics of ‘gagnism’, or the sense that economic development takes place most effectively by
Honey just jumped ship and left the captain, I guess that's the repercussions of my actions.-Jada... more Honey just jumped ship and left the captain, I guess that's the repercussions of my actions.-Jadakiss in Ryan Leslie's How It Was Supposed to Be (2009 remix) This ain't for the faint of heart. When you are trying to take a moment, and build some momentum, and turn it into a movement. .. this ain't for the faint of heart. This ain't for the weak.-Tavis Smiley, 2006 State of the Black Union symposium riter, activist, and radio personality Tavis Smiley was vexed when Barack Obama declined his invitation to attend the 2008 State of the Black Union (SOBU) symposium. Obama had missed the event in 2007 as well and had, in that instance, drawn the ire of Cornel West and Al Sharpton, among Thanks to the members of the editorial board of Public Culture for their intimate engagement with my ideas, and to Plaegian Alexander for her exquisite editorial insights. I am indebted to Erica
Honey just jumped ship and left the captain, I guess that's the repercussions of my actions.-Jada... more Honey just jumped ship and left the captain, I guess that's the repercussions of my actions.-Jadakiss in Ryan Leslie's How It Was Supposed to Be (2009 remix) This ain't for the faint of heart. When you are trying to take a moment, and build some momentum, and turn it into a movement. .. this ain't for the faint of heart. This ain't for the weak.-Tavis Smiley, 2006 State of the Black Union symposium riter, activist, and radio personality Tavis Smiley was vexed when Barack Obama declined his invitation to attend the 2008 State of the Black Union (SOBU) symposium. Obama had missed the event in 2007 as well and had, in that instance, drawn the ire of Cornel West and Al Sharpton, among Thanks to the members of the editorial board of Public Culture for their intimate engagement with my ideas, and to Plaegian Alexander for her exquisite editorial insights. I am indebted to Erica
"Racial capitalism" has surfaced during the past few decades in projects that highlight the produ... more "Racial capitalism" has surfaced during the past few decades in projects that highlight the production of difference in tandem with the production of capital-usually through violence. Scholars in this tradition typically draw their inspiration-and framework-from Cedric Robinson's influential 1983 text, Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition. This article uses the work of Orlando Patterson to highlight some limits of "racial capitalism" as a theoretical project. First, the "racial capitalism" literature rarely clarifies what scholars mean by "race" or "capitalism." Second, some scholars using this conceptual language treat black subjectivity as a debilitated condition. An alleged byproduct of the Transatlantic slave trade, this debilitated form of black subjectivity derives from an African American exceptionalism that treats slavery as a form of abject status particular to capitalism without providing adequate theoretical justification or historical explanation. By contrast, we demonstrate how Patterson's insights about property, status, and capital offer an analysis of slavery more attentive to race, gender, sexuality, age, and ability. We close by using the "forensics of capital" to explore the notions of causality and protocols for determining who owes what to whom implicit in Patterson's concept of "social death."
Widespread fascination with Tupac Shakur's 2012 holographic resurrection at the Coachella music f... more Widespread fascination with Tupac Shakur's 2012 holographic resurrection at the Coachella music festival provides the occasion for theorizing human possibility in the context of Afro-diasporic religions. In considering Tupac's life and legacy, we refer to the spiritual power of his resurrection as an apotheosis, or divine ascendency toward sainthood. However, instead of restricting our discussion to the familiar context of Catholic sainthood, we draw upon Afro-Cuban religious cosmologies (espiritismo, santer ıa, and palo monte) to explore the complicated relationship of spirit copresences who are also described of as " angel guardians " or santos (saints). We consider how these logics shift the role Tupac plays for hip hop. Tupac as guardian angel of hip hop acts as an Afro-Cuban santo who guides and protects his constituency from death. In addition, we complicate this dynamic by exploring how the Tupac hologram in particular might be akin to the palo monte practice of enslaving dead spirits for economic gain in the form of a spiritual cauldron (nganga). In this way, we explore Tupac's resurrection through multiple Afro-diasporic logics in order to theorize how the rebel spirit of this murdered rapper continues the fight against systematic oppression, even as he is potentially resurrected by different parties for different reasons.
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