Colonialism, Hereditary Racial Slavery, Patriarchal Economic Organization: The Roots of Transatlantic Capitalism?

The scope with which we choose to analyse socio-economic systems is based on our understanding of how these constellations came into being. Same holds true for capitalism, whose origins have been fiercely debated for as long as the system has prevailed. And there are various schools of thought competing about the correct interpretation of this history. Many liberal and critical traditions share an understanding of the emergence of capitalism as rooted in the intertwined developments of the rise of the enlightenment tradition, the development and industrialisation of the European systems of production, early state formation and land enclosures in 18^th century Great Britain. Among historians and historical materialists, it is mostly unchallenged that these developments were indeed central for the emergence of capitalism and still shape its logics of accumulation, production, reproduction and ideology until today. However, there is more to the story of the rise of capitalism than that. It is a limited and thus analytically potentially limiting perspective to conceive of the fundament of capitalism as just the class struggle between the bourgeoisie and the workers in early industrializing Great Britain.  -----

To unravel which other conditions and systems have been foundational to the rise of capitalism we adopt a longue durée historical perspective focusing on historical literature. Starting in the mid-14^th century, we engage with the intertwined histories of the emergence of capitalism, hereditary racial slavery, colonialisms and patriarchal economic systems. We critically discuss the workings of these systems of systematic, racialized, patriarchal, exploitation, domination and oppression seeking to understand the role they played for the rise of capitalism. Based on this historical perspective we engage with theoretical and empirical analyses of contemporary capitalism. The aim of this course is to jointly establish a critical understanding of the emergence of these systems as well as their shadows and continuities in today’s capitalism.  ------

Central questions:

-          What were the inner logics of colonialism, hereditary racial slavery and patriarchal economic organization when they emerged?

-          Were they necessary preconditions for the rise of capitalism?

-          What are their continuities?

-           How can critical scholarship be mobilized to build a nuanced analysis of these systems in contemporary capitalism? -----

Recommended Readings:

Folbre, Nancy (2020): The Rise and Decline of Patriarchal Systems. An Intersectional Political Economy. London: Verso. -----

Morgan, Jennifer L. (2021): Reckoning with Slavery. Gender, Kinship and Capitalism in the Early Black Atlantic. Durham: Duke University Press. -----

Williams, Eric (2022): Capitalism and Slavery. London: Penguin Classics. -----

Proof of Participation & Examination

Next to regular engagements with the literature provided, every participant will have to take on two particularly active roles in order to get their active participation certified. Every participant will have to take the role as a Text Expert and as a Discussant once – but for two separate sessions. You will never always be a team of at least two participants. -----

Text Expert: For one chosen session you will act as a text expert. This job entails that you have profoundly engaged with the primary literature of the session and are knowledgeable abouts its content. This does explicitly not imply that you have to understand everything and give a PowerPoint Input (please refrain from doing so), but I expect that you have seriously engaged with the text and taken notes on its central thesis, its relation to other topics covered in the course and are able to share and discuss questions and critical remarks that came to your mind during the reading. It is particularly fruitful also to note questions that you have to the text. Furthermore, you are expected to have engaged with the additional reading and bring some of the debates covered into the general discussion. -----

Discussant: For one chosen session you will act as a team of discussants. This job entails that you have profoundly engaged the primary literature and prepared a discussion paper of approx. 1.000 words if alone or 1.500 words if you write with two persons (+/- 10%). The discussion papers have to be uploaded at latest until 6 o’clock PM the day before the session. The papers should go beyond the text and not reproduce its contents. You can think of the discussion paper as an exercise to engage with aspects / debates / questions touched in the primary literature more freely and i.e. discuss them critically / in relation to other scholarship. You are free to choose which aspects, hypotheses, or connections with other course contents or exterior theoretical and empirical debates you want to focus on within your discussion paper.  The papers are intended to kickstart a discussion in the group that you are expected to actively participate in. The discussion papers will be made available to the other course participants, and you will have maximum five minutes to briefly introduce your argument (approx. after half of the session) and start the discussion.   -----

In case you need a proof of examination and full credit for the module you are expected to write a term paper of 5.000-6.000 words. Please do only hand in papers via mail and in PDF format in an easily readable format (i.e., Times New Roman, 12, formatted in justified text, line spacing of 1.5 cm) with coherent referencing (style choice is yours). While you can freely choose a topic, as long as it has some connections to the debates and the literature covered in the course, shortly introducing the topic via mail, and considering the feedback from the instructor is mandatory. If you are not sure what to write about, or if your ideas need a short discussion or feedback: please feel always free to get in touch – also with early-stage ideas. -----

General Remarks:

Unfortunately, the university is a space where systems of domination such as patriarchy, racism, class, able, and others influence the way we interact with each other. To counter these potential dynamics and make this class a space where everyone wants to and can participate, I call upon a collective as well as an individual sense of awareness and responsibility. Furthermore, I will use quoted lists of speakers if needed and provide the following systems for feedback in case you feel unfairly treated by the instructor, or observe racist, sexist, classist or ableist (or really any other discriminatory) behaviour and dynamics in the course:

A.     You can always write me a non-anonymous mail from your FU-address.

B.      At the end of each session there will be an opportunity to speak out (time is rather limited though).

C.      You can always write me an anonymous mail (simply use any mail provider and a nickname not connected to your real name)

D.     I will share a pad in the online learning environment that is visible to all participants of the class. You can either use it anonymously or non-anonymously. I will have a look at it before every session. Please use responsibly.

I made the experience that these mechanisms are able to improve the learning environment. If you feel anything else is necessary or useful in order to feel safe and sound in the seminar, please do let me know (in some of the ways mentioned above). Furthermore, please have a look at the Code of Conduct released by the institute:

https://www.jfki.fu-berlin.de/information/code_of_conduct/index.html