Despite the promises made by past idyllic and evolutionist perspectives, the first two decades of this new century witnessed a reiteration of decisive conflicts related to nonwhite populations around the globe. Capital accumulation, set in motion by various mediations, served the production of difference and discrimination, which has decided over (or annihilated) the lives of women, black people, indigenous people and workers, mainly in the Global South. This burden is reinforced by environmental degradation, since its results – in pandemics, in climate change and in ecological rifts – have a much greater impact on the population at the margins of capital.
Structural racism persists in different social formations under capitalistic mode of production and has triggered working class struggles in recent years, like the strikes of antiracist delivery riders in Brazil, the fight against the incarceration and genocide of black youths and the Black Lives Matter in United States.
Considering these conflicts, Cadernos Cemarx calls for contributions to its special issue Marxism and the race/ethnic question. We invite authors to submit papers which critically address theoretical topics on race or ethnicity related to Marxian or Marxist legacy, or that use historical materialism to interpret racial and ethnic conflicts in its multiple dimensions and historical periods. Particularly, we highlight the following:
1) Discussions of the race/ethnic question related either to the potential in the works of Marx, Engels and Marxist classics or the criticism of issues not covered by their theoretical production;
2) Critical engagements between marxism and intersectionality or postcolonial perspectives;
3) Debates about important figures of racial/ethnic movements and their relations with marxism;
4) Papers related to the historical emergence of capitalism and racism addressing, for instance, the diverse impacts primitive accumulation had on different populations; or the ways the birth of bourgeois formal freedom was linked to slavery and racial discrimination;
5) Discussions of the relative surplus population, immigration and racism;
6) Analysis of imperialism and the production of difference and discrimination;
7) Debates about the Rentier State’s extractivism and the threats and conflicts they generate in black and indigenous peoples’ territory;
8) History of soviet or revolutionary experiences and their relation with race/ethnic question – either their progress, blindness or regression on the topic;
9) Issues linked to workers’ organizations (parties, trade unions and social movements) and their approach to racial/ethnic question.
10) The racial/ethnic question in the strategies of Brazilian revolution in 20th and 21st centuries;
11) Contemporary articulations between capitalism and racism and the different impact of capitalism crisis (financial, migratory, sanitary, etc.) on racialized populations;
12) Debates about reform and revolution and que the policies around race/ethnic question (affirmative action, educational policies, territorial policies, etc.).
Nevertheless, we stress the broad scope of the special issue, which can include other themes, as long as they are related with discussions of marxism and the race/ethnic question.
Besides papers to the Special Issue, Cadernos Cemarx will also accept, in its open section, general contributions (articles, reviews and translations) related to Marxist debates.
Papers must have between 25,000 and 35,000 characters (with spaces), including the author’s name and affiliation, abstract, footnotes and references. All submissions to be sent by email only to: cadernoscemarx@gmail.com.
We will provide Portuguese translation for texts written in English and French.
Deadline for submission: February 25th 2021.