Slaves Stretching Black Marxism: Du Bois Challenges the Horizon of “Self-Determination” in Radical and Democratic Thought

• In Event: 40803 - New Directions in Critical Theory: Racial Capitalism, Du Boisian Sociology, and Decolonial Perspectives

Abstract

What is self-determination to the slave? Du Bois' masterful exploration of slave movement leading up to, during, and immediately after the U.S. Civil War remains one of the most striking portraits of black resistance even nearly 100 years after the publication of Black Reconstruction. This paper takes a different approach to evaluating Du Bois’ articulation of the “general strike of the slave” than the normative social scientific canon - one which often scolds Du Bois for not assigning enough “agency” in his description of slave movement. Instead, we might ask whether Du Bois blows the lid off of the traditional “agency vs. structure” debate by positing an entirely different subjectivity which is produced through the violence of racial slavery. Through a close reading of Black Reconstruction, I demonstrate how Du Bois troubles hegemonic discourses surrounding the concepts of “agency” and “self-determination.”

Author

• Semassa Boko, University of California-Irvine