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Anti-Colonial Solidarity: Analytical Clarification through Historical Reconstruction

Project description

Alternative models of solidarity in anti-colonial movements

Classical political theory defines solidarity as social awareness of shared interests. Today, the importance of practical dimensions of specific types of actions of solidarity is underlined, where a collective attempt is undertaken to contest injustice and recompense its effects. However, understudied transnational, global examples of solidarity in history like the anti-colonial movements could fill an important gap in contemporary political theory. To this point, the EU-funded ACSol project aims to develop alternative models of solidarity in anti-colonial movements based on the research of political struggles of three writers: Cuban revolutionary José Martí, Haitian statesman Anténor Firmin, and American Pan-Africanist W.E.B. Du Bois. This will contribute to the recognition of anti-colonial solidarity in global history.

Objective

The overall objective of my research programme is to develop an account of anti-colonial solidarity grounded in the global history of political thought, and to work out anti-colonial solidarity’s contribution to contemporary political theory. I take my cue from the recent emphasis on the practical dimensions of solidarity in analytic political theory. On this account, solidarity is best understood as a particular mode of action, through which agents attempt collectively to redress the effects of injustice or to contest the structures that produce and sustain it. But my project is motivated by the following hypothesis: that the history of anti-colonial solidarity is best able to clarify solidarity’s practical and global dimensions.
The first theories of solidarity were primarily concerned with nation building in modern France. But against and alongside these classical accounts, the central figures of my research project developed alternative models of solidarity in anti-colonial movements explicitly oriented transnationally and globally. Cuban revolutionary José Martí, Haitian statesman Anténor Firmin, and American Pan-Africanist W.E.B. Du Bois used solidarity to link local struggles against colonial domination around the world. By investigating these anti-colonial writers, and their understanding of the relation between local, transnational, and global political struggles, my research: (i) contributes to and expands on recent developments in analytic political theory by identifying anti-colonial solidarity as a distinct type of solidarity. In doing so, I (ii) develop a new perspective on solidarity that exceeds the ‘top-down’ models of cosmopolitanism that have long dominated political theory. I also (iii) excavate a crucial but neglected chapter in the global history of this contested political value.

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MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2019

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Coordinator

THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 224 933,76
Address
TRINITY LANE THE OLD SCHOOLS
CB2 1TN CAMBRIDGE
United Kingdom

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Region
East of England East Anglia Cambridgeshire CC
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 224 933,76
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