Africa, African Americans, and History of Capitalism

Examination of role people of African descent have had in history and political economy of capitalism since its origins in institutions of slavery and transatlantic trade. Addresses relationship between capitalism and slavery, and issues including incorporation of free Black labor into post-slavery regimes of capital accumulation; debt, underdevelopment, and Black reparations; impact of emancipation on imperialism in Africa; role of land, labor, and resources in history of colonization; Black labor migration in early-20th-century U.S.; Fordism and Black worker; ideas of worker self-management as Black critique of capitalism; neocolonialism and reorganization of capital accumulation in Caribbean and Africa; and Reconstitution of race under neoliberalism.

P/NP or letter grading.