HIST 001Z. First-Year Seminar: Medieval Origins of Racial Capitalism

The first few chapters of Cedric Robinson’s Black Marxism - the book which introduced the concept of “racial capitalism” to the American academy and public culture - will provide the structure in this first year seminar for a deeper inquiry into the medieval roots of “racial capitalism”, a concept that is now central to the humanities and social sciences. The question of what this means for contemporary debates about the dynamics of modern racisms - including but not restricted to anti-Blackness, Islamophobia, antisemitism, and settler colonialism - will serve as the basis for the final project which will be structured around the modern period of Robinson’s study.
Concentrations: Capitalism, Culture and Identity
Social Sciences.
1 credit.
Eligible for Concentrations: Capitalism, Culture and Identity
Fall 2025. Azfar.
Catalog chapter: History
Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/history

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