The aim of the working group is to critically approach the concept of ‘race’ and how it is used or not used in slavery and dependency studies. The group explores how racialization plays into different forms of ‘enslaveability’, i.e. the factors that contribute to making some people subject to enslavement and other forms of coercion. We ask if race is a term that can or should be used in different research contexts, and what the term does when it is used. While the starting point for the discussions is the field of critical race theory as it developed in North America, an important objective of the working group is to put more emphasis non-western ideas of race as well as other related concepts such as ‘ethnicity’, and to critically engage with American and European ideas of race.
The working group is open to researchers on all levels, including MA students. For more information, please contact Sara Eriksson, sara.eriksson@berkeley.edu.