The African Activist Association presents a panel discussion on Africa and Capitalism.

Friday, June 1, 2018
11:45 AM - 6:00 PM
10383 Bunche Hall
Los Angeles, CA 90095

Title: Africa & Capitalism Colloquium

Brief Description:
The Africa & Capitalism Colloquium brings together scholars who are engaged in the task of (re-)theorizing Africa’s relationship to capitalism and its implications for global discourses on capitalism’s past, present, and future. From Harold Wolpe’s thesis that capitalism keeps, rather than destroys, other modes of production in order to sustain itself on the African continent to Africans critiquing the relationship between capitalism, race, colonialism, and imperialism, Africa has been a fertile ground for (re-)thinking capitalism and its effects on governments, peoples, and societies. Building upon previous works on Africa’s relationship with capitalism, The Africa & Capitalism Colloquium looks to chart new methodological and theoretical pathways to understand Africa’s fraternity with capitalism.

Below are confirmed participants and their proposed topics:

Lunch (11:45 am)
 
Introductory Remarks (12:05 pm):
Nana Osei-Opare (History, UCLA)
 
Panel 1 (12:15 pm)
Ghislaine Lydon (History, UCLA), Paper Instruments in Early African Economies: The Debated Role of the Suftaja or International Check.
 
Andrew Apter (History, UCLA), History in the Dungeon: Atlantic Slavery and the Spirits of Capitalism
 
Stephan F. Miescher (History, UCSB), “VALCO, the pace-setter”: Ghana, U.S. Capitalism, and the Contentious Story of an Aluminum Smelter
 
R. Lane Clark (Independent Filmmaker), documentary film, Ghana’s Electric Dreams: An American Island in Ghana
 
William Worger (History, UCLA), Discussant
 
Panel 2 (3:15 pm)
 
Percy Ngonyama (Researcher, Mzala Nxumalo Centre), Comrade Mzala - A revolutionary Anti-Capitalist Perspective of the Struggle for Freedom in South Africa
 
Comfort Azubuko-Udah (English, UCLA), African Literature in the Capitalocene
 
Hannah Appel (Anthropology, UCLA), Futures: Oil and the Licit Life of Capitalism in Equatorial Guinea
 
Edmond Keller (Political Science, UCLA), Discussant
 
Reception (5 pm)
Music Performance by Alby Ungashe ’18
Reception catered by Sumptuous African Restaurant
Reception catered by Sumptuous African Restaurant

Cost : Free and open to the public; pay-by-space and all day ($12) parking available in lot 3.

http://www.international.ucla.edu/africa

Sponsor(s): African Studies Center, African Activist Association at UCLA