Political Economy of Race & Class in Global Capitalism: Reflections Inspired by Bernard Makhosezwe Magubane

• In Event: 205 - Regular Session. Race and Ethnicity in the Capitalist World-System II

Abstract

The South Africa scholar Bernard Makhosezwe Magubane was one of the foremost scholars of the intersection of race and class in the capitalist world-system. Born on August 26, 1930 close to Colenso, in Natal, South Africa. Magubane’s life story, as a black South African and one of the country’s leading scholar activists in the 20th and 21st centuries, including during his years of exile, is an instructive and inspiring example. Magubane wrote some of the most powerful works of scholarship analyzing the relationship between imperialism, white settler colonialism and race and class in South Africa and the global system. This paper looks at Magbuane’s work and legacy for understanding the intersection of race and class in global capitalism today and over the longue duree.

Author

• Thomas Ehrlich Reifer, University of San Diego