In the Shadow of Democracy: Theorizing the Dark Ghetto

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

In the wake of the tragedy surrounding Niani Finlayson’s recent murder, we are called to revisit urgent questions raised over the summer of 2020: what does democracy consist of given the everyday presence of violence and repressive state authority in dark ghettos? How do these realities shape the practices of resistance within marginalized communities? Bridging empirical political science and Black political thought, the panel’s four papers pursue ideas and themes related to the abiding specters of violence, dispossession, and white supremacy in the dark ghetto, as well as the grammars and tactics developed toward their resistance. Vesla Weaver examines Black-led police resistance to the carceral state to probe how black police officers operate within, define, and shape policing in a democracy characterized by ongoing legacies of repression and exploitation. Kierstan Kaushal-Carter interprets police abolition as Black feminist thought, challenging allegations of police abolition’s inefficacy by exploring its foundations in Black feminist epistemology. Chris Chambers theorizes intracommunal homicide through the political thought of Frantz Fanon, with implications for contemporary debates about Afro-Pessimism. Brandon Terry presents forthcoming work on Malcolm X, locating in Malcolm novel resources for theorizing black populism. Lester Spence has graciously agreed to chair the panel. Together, these four papers tackle fundamental yet underexamined questions about the theory and practice of resistance under the shadow of racialized social inequities.

Chair/Discussant: Lester Spence, Professor of Political Science and Africana Studies, Johns Hopkins University

Panelists:
Chris Chambers, Senior Fellow, University of Pennsylvania
Kierstan Kaushal-Carter, Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania
Brandon Terry, John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences, Harvard University
Vesla Weaver, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Sociology, Johns Hopkins University

Sub Unit

• Division 2: Foundations of Political Theory

Individual Presentations

• Frantz Fanon, Intracommunal Gun Violence, and the Politics of Afro-Nihilism - Chris Anthony Chambers, University of Pennsylvania

• Black Feminist Epistemology in Abolitionist Thought - Kierstan Kaushal-Carter, The University of Pennsylvania

• The Idea of Black-on-Black Crime: Explanation, Normativity, and Ideology - Brandon M. Terry, Harvard University

• Black Police and Racial Authoritarianism - Vesla Mae Weaver, Johns Hopkins University

Chair

• Lester Kenyatta Spence Johns Hopkins University

Discussant

• Lester Kenyatta Spence Johns Hopkins University