Why Now? Thoughts on the Du Boisian Revolution

Meghji, Ali; Burawoy, Michael; Göçek, Fatma Müge; Itzigsohn, José; Morris, Aldon

doi:10.1111/soc4.13264

Sociology Compass

2024

DOI: 10.1111/soc4.13264

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Why Now? Thoughts on the Du Boisian Revolution

Ali Meghji,

Michael Burawoy,

Fatma Müge Göçek

et al.

Abstract: In this editorial collection, five sociologists share their opinions on why there has been a recent proliferation of scholarship on Du Bois, and summarize their own position in relation to this intellectual area. Ranging from reflections on how they “discovered” Du Bois's works, through to assessments of American sociology's reception of Du Bois's scholarship, the idea of this brief piece is to provide an insight into some of the potential driving forces behind the boom in Du Boisian scholarship.

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Cited by 2 publications

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The Philadelphia Negro at 125 Years: A Critical Commemoration

Oeur,

Rucks-Ahidiana

2024

City & Community

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On the occasion of the book’s quasquicentennial, our special issue brings together four articles that show the continuing relevance of W. E. B. Du Bois’s The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study (1899). The contributors illustrate how a fresh perspective on the theoretical insights that Du Bois began to develop in The Philadelphia Negro deepen understanding of contemporary topics such as gentrification, policing, residential mobility, and the rhythyms of daily life in Black neighborhoods. Taken together, these articles adopt four tenets of a Du Boisian Sociology that are grounded in the contributions of The Philadelphia Negro: (a) using history to contextualize the contemporary, (b) studying social phenomena through the subaltern perspective, (c) using a “case of” design, and (d) analyzing the structural context that shapes individual outcomes, with attention to people’s agency. As our special issue demonstrates, while already a classic, The Philadelphia Negro deserves an even wider audience for its lessons on what city blocks can tell us about the character of a city: the residents and their institutions that have come and gone, the shape of changing neighborhoods, and what all that could mean for urban change in the future.

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The Philadelphia Negro at 125 Years: A Critical Commemoration

Oeur,

Rucks-Ahidiana

2024

City & Community

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“Peace Is Dangerous”: Toward a Du Boisian Theory of Colonial Post-fascism

Meghji

2024

Sociology of Race and Ethnicity

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This article asks: “How was the rhetoric of post or anti-fascism used to develop colonial projects in the inter and postwar period?” Through investigating the Du Bois archive, I answer this through producing a Du Boisian theory of colonial post-fascism. While many have written about the connections between European fascism and colonialism in theories of “colonial fascism,” a Du Boisian approach leads us to the concept of colonial post-fascism, demonstrating the array of colonial practices which were instigated in the name of world peace in the inter and postwar era. Colonial post-fascism is characterized by three processes that Du Bois wrote about. First, colonial post-fascism involves a bifurcation between colonial violence and peace, such that Western powers in the inter and postwar period could make commitments to world peace without interrogating the actions of their empires. Second, colonial post-fascism involves the process by which empires developed their imperial practices to rebuild from the effects of the war against fascism. Finally, colonial post-fascism involves the U.S. empire increasing its militarization, which developed in the fight against fascism, to secure colonial power under the rhetoric of maintaining world peace. This article makes several contributions. First, instead of highlighting the link between European fascism and colonialism, I demonstrate how colonialism shaped European post-fascism. Second, I contribute toward the project of undoing bifurcated histories of the West which elide discussions of colonial violence. Finally, I highlight how Du Bois’s involvement in the peace movement was not just activism, but also generative to social theory.

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Why Now? Thoughts on the Du Boisian Revolution

Cited by 2 publications

References 41 publications

The Philadelphia Negro at 125 Years: A Critical Commemoration

The Philadelphia Negro at 125 Years: A Critical Commemoration

“Peace Is Dangerous”: Toward a Du Boisian Theory of Colonial Post-fascism

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