Anticolonial Marxism Working Group

Sara Hussein
African American Studies
UC Los Angeles

Lavanya Nott
Geography
UC Los Angeles

The convergence of Marxism, anticolonialism, and internationalism in the Global South from the beginning of the twentieth century till the end of the Cold War created new ways to address themes of care and repair. Writers and movements in the Global South interested in issues of collective care such as mutual aid, environmental protection, natural resource allocation, food sovereignty, and cultural preservation theorized and organized around Marxism as decolonization movements swept the world. They connected with each other in political struggles and cultural expressions that both reinforced and challenged the postcolonial nation-state. In the process, they stretched the ways we think about Marxism, anticolonialism, and internationalism both within and beyond academia today. Our working group brings together students from multiple UC campuses to refine the intellectual debate on decolonization in this particular political moment by convening a reading group, building an archive to share resources, and organizing a conference. These three projects concern the ways themes of care and repair were addressed by writers and movements in the Global South at the intersection of Marxism, anticolonialism, and internationalism in the hope that we may learn lessons for our current historical conjuncture from their successes and failures.