Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni - Marxism and Decolonization in the 21st Century (Worlding Beyond the West)

In the excitement over the current surge in decoloniality theory, some riding this wave are oblivious of the powerful role played by Marxism in analysing the oppressive nature of global capital and in illuminating the path of national liberation. The editors and authors of this collection confront this erasure, highlighting the influence of Marxism on the great thinkers of decolonization and exploring both the intersections and tensions between the two streams of thought and the movements shaped by them in the great battles against capitalism and colonialism. For those seeking decolonization of the mind and the world, this book is a stimulus and a resource in incorporating the best of progressive traditions while thinking freshly into the future.

Helena Sheehan,Emeritus Professor, Dublin City University, Ireland, author of Marxism and the Philosophy of Science: A Critical History and Navigating the Zeitgeist

This book relaunches the important debate about the relevance of Marxism for the unfinished project of decolonizationunderstood as local and global decolonialityjust as it rightly keeps in view that decoloniality necessarily involves a critique of capitalism as an economic, political, and ideological system. The book offers multiple invaluable approaches to the exploration of this task, grounded on a large array of perspectives from the Global South. It is an indispensable reference for exploring Marxism, decoloniality, as well as their connections and tensions in the 21st century.

Nelson Maldonado-Torres, Professor of Latino & Hispanic Caribbean Studies, Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA

In an Africa that seeks its epistemological freedom, what place does Marxist thought occupy? This book presents the case for the critical value of Marxist thought, but turns away from party vanguardism and Stalinism, and the coercion that so often came in the name of Marx. The contributors show how Marxism inspired African freedom fighters and decolonization, even now, is a weapon against todays dictatorships. It argues that Africa champions the Marxism that was in fact never realized in Europe.

Stephen Chan OBE, Professor of World Politics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, UK

This book argues convincingly that neo-liberalism has not pushed Marxism to oblivion. It equally demonstrates the maximalist connections between Marxism and decoloniality, focusing on the impact of globalization, nationalism, politics, creativity, and the media. Here is a compelling book that provides a solid foundation for teaching and research, and it reminds us that Marxism is integral to politics in a new reading of Africa.

Toyin Falola, Professor and the Frances and Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities, University of Texas at Austin, USA

Marxism and Decolonization in the 21st Century is a ground-breaking work that highlights the resurgence and insurgence of Marxism and decolonization, and the ways in which decolonization and decoloniality are grounded in the contributions of Black Marxism, the Radical Black tradition, and anti-colonial liberation traditions.

Featuring leading and young scholars and activists, this book is a practical scholarly intervention that shows how democratic Marxism and decoloniality might converge to provoke planetary decolonization in the 21st century. At the centre of this process, enabled by both increasing human entanglements and the resilience of racism, the volumes contributors analyse converging forces of anti-imperialism, anti-colonialism, anti-patriarchy, anti-sexism, Indigenous Peoples movements, eco-feminist formations, and intellectual movements levelled against Eurocentrism.

This book will be of great interest to students, scholars, and intellectuals interested in Marxism, decolonization, and transnational activism.

Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni is Professor/Chair of Epistemologies of the Global South with Emphasis in Africa at the University of Bayreuth, Germany. He is a leading decolonial theorist and historian with over 100 publications; recent books include Decolonization, Development and Knowledge in Africa: Turning Over a New Leaf (2020) and Epistemic Freedom in Africa: Deprovincialization and Decolonization (2018).

Morgan Ndlovu is Professor of Anthropology and Development Studies at the University of Zululand in South Africa and a founding member of the Africa Decolonial Research Network (ADERN). He is the author of Performing Indigeneity: Spectacles of Culture and Identity in Coloniality (2019).

Worlding Beyond the West

Series Editors:

Arlene B. Tickner, Universidad del Rosario, Colombia,

David Blaney, Macalester College, USA, and

Inanna Hamati-Ataya, Cambridge University, UK

Historically, the International Relations (IR) discipline has established its boundaries, issues, and theories based upon Western experience and traditions of thought. This series explores the role of geocultural factors, institutions, and academic practices in creating the concepts, epistemologies, and methodologies through which IR knowledge is produced. This entails identifying alternatives for thinking about the international that are more in tune with local concerns and traditions outside the West. But it also implies provincializing Western IR and empirically studying the practice of producing IR knowledge at multiple sites within the so-called West.

Decolonization, Development and Knowledge in Africa

Turning Over a New Leaf

Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni

Intersectional Decoloniality

Reimagining International Relations and the Problem of Difference

Marcos S. Scauso

Internal Colonialism and International Relations

Tracks of Decolonization in Bolivia

Ana Carolina Teixeira Delgado

Marxism and Decolonization in the 21st Century

Living Theories and True Ideas

Edited by Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni and Morgan Ndlovu

For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/Worlding-Beyond-the-West/book-series/WBW

Edited by Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni
and Morgan Ndlovu

First published 2022

by Routledge

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2022 selection and editorial matter, Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni and Morgan Ndlovu; individual chapters, the contributors

The right of Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni and Morgan Ndlovu to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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