Marxist Theory and Racial Capitalism

This course has two aims and will be broken into two (unequal) units. The first unit will treat several key works by Marx and Engels, examining concepts such as history and class, capital and labor, and fetishism and ideology. The second unit will explore the parts of Marx and Engels corpus that are of particular relevance to study of race, colonialism, and imperialism. This unit, the longer of the two, will also take up a range of works by more contemporary Marxist theorists who have attempted to synthesize Marxist and anti-imperialist critique. Throughout the quarter emphasis will be placed on close reading of texts and on elaboration and analysis of the dialogues that are emergent amongst them. Previous course work in philosophy or critical theory will be helpful, but is not required as a prerequisite.