Democracy and Empire in W.E.B. Du Bois’s International Thought

1020 East 58th Street,Chicago IL 60637

26 April, 2023

Description

This lecture will explore W.E.B. Du Bois's understanding of the modern world as structured by a racial capitalism, rooted in slavery and imperial commerce, that had taken a distinctive democratic form in the late nineteenth century. Du Bois revealed the many dimensions of the “world shadow” cast by what he called democratic despotism: protean forms of exploitation of land and labor, world war, and the complicity of seemingly emancipatory movements in domination. Du Bois remains among our most profound guides to the epistemic pitfalls of standard accounts of the international order and to theorizing global justice and democratic futures from a global present still shaped by empire. The lecture will be introduced by Professor Demetra Kasimis (Department of Political Science) and will be followed by a conversation led by Professor Natasha Piano (Society of Fellows). This event is co-sponsored by the Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory (3CT) and the Forum on Law and Legalities. Registration is required. Winter 2024 Study Abroad Opportunity: Critical Theory Program in Paris The University of Chicago’s Study Abroad office is currently accepting applications for the Winter 2024 Contemporary Critical Theory sequence in Paris. Courses on crisis, empire, and ideology will be taught by Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory (3CT) fellows Demetra Kasimis, Jennifer Pitts, and Lisa Wedeen. The deadline for applications is April 21, 2023. Read more about the program and apply on the Study Abroad website.