Join the Centre for the Study of Democracy for a talk by Dr. Joe Davidson on 'Apocalyptic abolitionists: the black radical tradition and the end of white democracy.'
Black thinkers and movements have long used apocalyptic rhetoric to critique racial violence, from millenarian narratives imagining the catastrophic collapse of slavery to Afrofuturist visions of nuclear and climate disasters. The Black radical tradition also contains rich reflections on democratic life, developing a vision of abolition democracy as a counterpoint to the dominant form of white democracy in the United States. Yet scholars have paid little attention to how these two tendencies, apocalypse and democracy, interrelate. This is unfortunate, as many key figures in the Black radical tradition have employed apocalyptic narratives for democratic purposes.
The talk will focus on three thinkers: Maria W. Stewart, W. E. B. Du Bois, and James Baldwin. Each, whether implicitly or explicitly, offers a distinctive vision of democracy centered on the necessity of establishing new forms of Black self-government capable of withstanding the chaos and catastrophe of white supremacy. Declaring dominant governmental institutions corrupt and doomed, they turn to the informal practices of Black communities as resources for both continued survival and democratic self-organisation.
Location
Westminster Forum, 5th Floor, 32-38 Wells Street, London, W1T 3UW
The event will take place in-person. If you have any questions, please email the seminar convener, Dr Matthew Fluck ([email protected]).
About the centre
The Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD), established in 1989, is based in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Westminster. At the Centre, academics working in politics and international relations undertake socially engaged, methodologically diverse and often interdisciplinary research that aims to address a range of critical political challenges in relation to democracy worldwide.
CSD has a longstanding international reputation for research excellence through a programme of publications, events and collaborations with academics, practitioners, policymakers, and activists. Research in Politics and International Studies at CSD was ranked 4th highest in the UK for impact in the Research Excellence Framework 2021.
The Centre has established numerous collaborations with scholars and universities around the world and has hosted encounters with public intellectuals including Luc Boltanski, Judith Butler, Stuart Hall, Bruno Latour, Richard Rorty, Quentin Skinner, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Charles Taylor, James Tully, and Michael Walzer. The CR Parekh lecture, instituted by Lord Bhikhu Parekh, has included lectures by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Arundhati Roy, and Ashis Nandy.
CSD recognises that responding to contemporary social and political challenges requires engagement beyond the academy, so actively welcomes dialogue and collaboration with researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and activists around the world. The Centre is directed by Professor Nitasha Kaul.
About the speaker
Dr. Joe P. L. Davidson
Dr. Joe P. L. Davidson is a Vice-Chancellor Independent Research Fellow in the Department of International Relations, Politics, and History at Loughborough University. His current research explores apocalyptic visions in political theory, with publications in American Political Science Review, Political Studies, and Environmental Politics. He has also worked on utopian visions of the future, and his book Saving Utopia: Imagining Hopeful Futures in Dystopian Times is forthcoming from MIT Press in March next year.
