A ONE-DAY WORKSHOP
Wednesday, November 6th
B104, Brunei Building, SOAS
10am – 5:30pm

This workshop seeks to bring two different concepts into conversation: abolitionism and reparation. Abolitionism often remains a concept associated primarily with the movement for the radical overthrow of the military prison industrial complex, and reparation is often pinned to the tail end of struggles for decolonisation in post-colonies. While one seemingly seeks to rupture the status quo, the other aims to make previously enslaved and colonised people whole, to repair the colonial body politic. At the same time, as articulated by their most astute theorists, both abolitionism and reparation point in the direction of much broader and long durée struggles in and against racial
capitalism.

In this workshop, we will explore the common ground shared by abolitionism and reparation, which both draw on rich histories of resistance to Trans-Atlantic slavery and racial, colonial capitalism, and historical materialist methods in their mode of inquiry. Key questions for discussion are (drawing on the words of Ruth Wilson Gilmore): what are the preconditions for “liberated life-ways”; where have they emerged historically and in the terms of radical place-making, and how do we conceive of
generating “radical consciousness in action”?

Speakers: Ruth Wilson Gilmore (CUNY), Anita Rupprecht (University of Brighton),
Cameron Rowland (artist, MacArthur Fellow 2019)

Respondents: Gargi Bhattacharya (UEL), Sara Salem (LSE), Brenna Bhandar (SOAS)

No registration required, but please be punctual to get a seat.

Sponsored by the Centre for the Study of Colonialism, Empire and International Law, SOAS