Racial Capitalism 2023

In recent years, racial capitalism has become a much-discussed term. However, the frequent use of the concept is accompanied by unclear to contradictory arguments, which include the following problems: Is the intertwining of racism and capitalism contingent or logically necessary? How are racism and capitalism defined and classified historically? How does the relationship between racism and capitalism differ in different regions of the world and time periods? And how can we overcome the link between racism and capitalism?

These questions are also related to controversial debates on the strengths and weaknesses of different research programs, especially Marxist and postcolonial research, and the possibility of combining them. With this conference, the Department of Development Policy and Postcolonial Studies would like to create a space to discuss these questions and controversies in depth.

We welcome theoretical and empirical contributions that examine the relationship between racism, (post-)colonialism and capitalism. Ideally, these should attempt to close current research gaps and present innovative syntheses of different research programs. Researchers in the doctoral phase are particularly encouraged to present their research projects.

Abstracts (max. 400 words) can be submitted until June 4, 2023 to racialcapitalism[at]uni-kassel[dot]de. Feedback on the submissions will be sent out by mid-June. The detailed call for papers can be found here.