BEYOND CAPITALISM SENIOR SEMINAR IN RADICAL THEORY

Residential College in the Arts & Humanities RCAH 492 section 001
Michigan State University Fall 2015

PROFESSOR INFORMATION DAY + TIME

DYLAN A.T. MINER, PHD T + TH 10:20‐12:10 C203 SNYDER
DMINER@MSU.EDU OFFICE HOURS 416 BAKER
884‐1323 T + TH 12:10‐2:00

“A revolution without dancing is not a revolution worth having.”

– Emma Goldman

“The philosophers have interpreted the world in various ways. The point, however, is also
to change it.”
– Karl Marx

“Imperialism leaves behind germs of rot which we must clinically detect and remove from
our land but from our minds as well.”
– Frantz Fanon

“We must be patient with each other as we learn to live in a decolonised way.”
– Patricia Monture‐Angus (Kanien'kehá:ka)

“This is about sharing knowledge amongst whānau, and between other indigenous people
around the world. Sharing assumes that knowledge is for the collective benefit and that
knowledge is a form of resistance.”
– Linda Tuhiwai Smith (Maori)

DESCRIPTION
Can a world outside or beyond capitalism exist? If it could, what would it look like?
Moreover, is this anti‐capitalist (or non‐capitalist) option one we should even explore? In
this senior seminar, we will investigate various theorists, activists, movements, and artists
as they articulate, to borrow a phrase from the Zapatistas, ‘another possible world’. Using
my own interest in Indigenous, Third World, anti‐colonial, and anarchist movements, we
will pay particular attention to the ways in which these movements have attempted to form
‘the structure of the new society within the shell of the old,’ to use the language of the IWW.
As in other RCAH courses, creative and artistic exploration may be central to your own
working through these questions. Moreover, as a senior seminar, this capstone course asks
you to invest significant time reading and making connections with other courses you have
taken during your tenure at university.
READINGS
1. Taiaiake Alfred (2005). Wasáse: Indigenous Pathways of Action and Freedom. Toronto:
University of Toronto Press.
2. Grace Lee Boggs (2012). The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the
Twenty‐First Century. Berkeley: University of California Press.
3. Frantz Fanon (2005). The Wretched of the Earth. New York: Grove.
4. Emma Goldman (1996). Anarchism and Other Essays. New York: Dover.
5. David Harvey (2010). A Companion to Marx’s Capital. New York: Verso.
6. Robin Wall Kimmerer (2014). Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific
Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants. Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions.
7. Staughton Lynd and Andrej Grubacic (2008). Wobblies and Zapatistas: Conversations on
Anarchism, Marxism and Radical History. Oakland: PM Press.
8. Karl Marx (1990). Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Volume I. London: Penguin
Classics. $13
9. Various PDFs available on angel.msu.edu.

OBJECTIVES
01. Due to the interdisciplinarity of this course, the goals and objectives are likewise
multiple. By reading, discussing, analyzing, eating, and cooking, students will accomplish
the following:
• Investigate the relationship between and among cultures and societies;
• Explain how and why societies create or contest hierarchies;
• Examine the complex role that radical political thought performs across cultures
and time periods;
• Interpret various non‐capitalist texts and practices;
• Describe the relationship between cultures, economics and social structures;
• Understand how and why certain societies dominate and/or subjugate others;
• Develop a vocabulary to discuss the complexities of non‐ and anti‐capitalist
ontologies;
• Create an awareness of the integral role that capitalism and its resistance plays in
the world.

02. The course will also help students meet general liberal learning outcomes, as outlined
by the American Association of Colleges and Universities. These include, but are not limited
to: • Develop a robust knowledge of human cultures and the natural world;
• Improve intellectual and practical skills, such as inquiry and analysis, critical and
creative thinking, communication, literacies, and problem solving;
• Enhance personal and social responsibility through direct civic participation,
ongoing intercultural competency, and continued ethical reasoning and action;
• Demonstrate integrative learning by synthesizing Indigenous and Western
knowledge across disciplinary fields.

ASSIGNMENTS GRADING SCALE

Project 1 20% 4.0 100‐93
Project 2 20% 3.5 92‐86
Weekly Participation 30% 3.0 85‐81
Final Project 30% 2.5 80‐76
 2.0 75‐71
1.5 70‐66
1.0 65‐61
0.5 60‐55
0.0 54‐0
ATTENDANCE
As part of the Residential College in Arts and Humanities, attendance is expected. Although
I will not actively ‘take roll,’ you are obliged to reflect upon seminar activities and
discussion in the form of weekly writing assignments. Therefore, continued absences will
alter your ability to comprehend the overall themes of the course. Moreover, your presence
in the seminar is needed for full participation credit. As such, your attendance may
positively or negatively affect your final grade through multiple avenues.

PARTICIPATION
Active discussion is paramount to intellectual development. As such, 30% of your final
grade is based on class participation combined with in‐class writing assignments. You are
expected to arrive on time to each class session and fully prepared. Preparation includes
having thoroughly read all assigned readings and ready to critically and creatively discuss
the material. You are expected to speak during each and every class, however quantity of
participation is not a surrogate for quality. Your participation grade will take into
consideration the frequency, as well as excellence, of your participation in classroom
discussions.

POLICY ON ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND INTEGRITY

In agreement with Article 2.3.3 of the Academic Freedom Report which states that ‘the
student shares with the faculty the responsibility for maintaining the integrity of
scholarship, grades, and professional standards,’ it is expected that students neither
plagiarize nor copy from a peer’s intellectual or creative work. In addition, the RCAH
adheres to the policies on academic honesty as specified in General Student Regulations 1.0,
Protection of Scholarship and Grades, and in the All‐University Policy on Integrity of
Scholarship and Grades, which are included in Spartan Life: Student Handbook + Resource
Guide (http://www.vps.msu.edu/SpLife/index.htm). Students who engage in academically
dishonest activities may receive a 0.0 on that given assignment or for the overall course.

POLICY ON ACCOMODATIONS
Students with disabilities that may interfere with completing your assigned course work
may speak with me, as well as contact the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities to
establish reasonable accommodations. For an appointment with a counselor, call 353‐9642
[voice] or 355‐1293 [TTY].
Week One Introductions and Expectations
January 13 Introductions

Week Two Thinking Beyond the Constraints of Capitalism

Sept. 08 Understanding the Tools Audre Lorde, ‘The Master’s Tools,’ PDF
Freire, ‘Pedagogy of Oppressed,’ Ch. 3 PDF

Sept. 10 Learning to Speak Another Language Kimmerer, 3‐59

Smith, ’25 Indigenous Projects,’ PDF
Harvey, “Introduction”

Week Three An Anti‐Capitalist Origin Story?

Sept.15 Marx and Capital Marx, Ch. 1
Commodity Harvey, Ch. 1

Sept. 17 Marx and Capital, cont’d Marx, Chs. 2‐3

Exchange & Circulation Harvey, Ch. 2

Week Four Toward a Critique of Capital

Sept. 22 Marx and Capital, cont’d again Marx, Chs. 16, 19‐21
Capitalist Accumulation Harvey, Ch. 9‐10

Sept. 24 Marx, Gramsci, and some Notebooks Marx, Chs. 26‐27

Primitive Accumulation Harvey, Ch. 11
and Hegemony Gramsci, PDF

Week Five Anarchism, Syndicalism and Alternative Political Economies

Sept. 29 Anarchisms Goldman, Anarchism and Other Essays, 41‐108
Lynd & Grubacic, Wobblies & Zapatistas, 3‐61
Chomsky, On Anarchism, PDF

Oct. 01 Wobblies Lynd & Grubacic, Wobblies & Zapatistas, 62‐118

Kornbluh, Rebel Voices: IWW Anthology, PDF
Screen: The Wobblies (1979)

Week Six Frantz Fanon and Black Anti‐Colonial Thought

Oct. 06 Colonialism is a System Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth, Ch. IV
(also Ch. I suggested)
Sartre, ‘Colonialism is a System’, PDF
Marx, Ch. 33

Oct. 08 Colonialism is a Language Cesaire, Discourse on Colonialism, PDF

Memmi, Colonizer and Colonized, PDF

Week Seven Theorizing Against Patriarchy

Oct. 13 Feminisms Goldman, Anarchism & Other Essays, 177‐239
Mohanty, Feminism without Borders, PDF
Heywood, Political Ideologies
 (Feminism), PDF

Oct. 15 Womanisms Hill Collins, ‘What’s in a Name?’ PDF

Roundtable, ‘Must I be Womanist?’ PDF
Anzaldúa, Borderlands/La Frontera, PDF
Smith, “Native Feminism…Apology’, PDF
Kimmerer, 63‐117

Week Eight Indigenous Resurgence on Turtle Island

Oct. 20 Resurgence Alfred, Wasáse: Indigenous Pathways, TBD

Oct. 22 Leaving Gifts when Gaining Knowledge Kimmerer, 121‐201

(Suggested, New Socialist Review #58)
Screen: Kanasatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993)

Week Nine Indigenous Options Beyond Capitalism

Oct. 27 From Turtle Island Simpson, Dancing On Turtle's Back, PDF
Cheyfitz ‘What Is a Just Society?’ PDF
Kimmerer, 203‐300

Oct. 29 Desde el Ombligo de la Tierra Khasnabish, Zapatistas, PDF

Ramirez, Fire and the Word: A History
of the Zapatista Movement, PDF
Screen: Vice, The Zapatista Uprising: 20 Years Later (2014)

Week Ten Decolonization(s)

Nov. 03 Descolonización Ticona Alejo, Lecturas para Descolonización, PDF.
Paredes and Guzmán, Tejido de la Rebeldía, PDF

Nov. 5 Recognition Coulthard, Red Skin, White Mask, PDF

Week Eleven Decoloniality

Nov. 10 Coloniality of Power Quijano, Coloniality of Power, PDF
Mariatequi, 7 Interpretative Essays, PDF

Nov. 12 Decolonial Option Mignolo, “Epistemic Disobedience…,” PDF

Kimmerer, 301‐384

Wk Twelve Black Radicalisms Beyond Marxism

Nov. 17 Black Marxisms Robinson, Black Marxism, PDF
Screen: Black Power Mix Tape (2011)

Nov. 19 Anarchism + Johnson‐Forest Erwin, Anarchism & Black Revolution, PDF.

Misc. Johnson‐Forest texts, PDF

Wk Thirteen Queer Oppositions

Nov. 24 Queering Oppositions Daring, Queering Anarchism, PDF
Driskill, Queer Indigenous Studies, PDF
 GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, PDF
Nov. 26 Feast Day No Class

Wk Fourteen Community Economies

Dec. 01 Post‐capitalism Gibson‐Graham, A Postcapitalist Politics, PDF

Dec. 03 The End of Capitalism Gibson‐Graham, The End of Capitalism, PDF

Wk Fifteen The Next Revolution, A View from Detroit

Dec. 08 Toward Revolution Boggs, Next American Revolution, Chs. 1‐3
Crass, Towards Collective Liberation, PDF
Screen: American Revolutionary (2013)

Dec. 10 Toward Liberation Boggs, Next American Revolution, Chs. 4‐6

Wk Sixteen Final Examinations

Dec. 18 Friday, 7:45‐9:45 a.m.
BIBLIOGRAPHY - TEXTS
Taiaiake Alfred. Wasáse: Indigenous Pathways of Action and Freedom (Toronto: Broadview,
2005).

Anzaldúa, Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, Fourth Edition (San Francisco: Aunt
Lute Books,, 2012).

Grace Lee Boggs, with Scott Kurashige. The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism
for the Twenty‐First Century, Updated and Expanded Edition (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 2012).

Aimé Cesaire. Discourse on Colonialism, new edition (New York: Monthly Review, 2001).

Eric Cheyfitz. "What Is a Just Society? Native American Philosophies and the Limits of
Capitalism's Imagination: A Brief Manifesto." South Atlantic Quarterly Spring 2011 (110:2);
291‐307.

Noam Chomsky. On Anarchism (New York: New Press, 2013)

Glen Sean Coulthard. Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition
(Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Prss, 2014).

Chris Crass. Towards Collective Liberation: Anti‐Racist Organizing, Feminist Praxis, and
Movement Building Strategy (Oakland: PM Press, 2014).

C.B. Daring, J. Rogue, Deric Shannon, and Abbey Volcano, eds. Queering Anarchism:
Addressing and Undressing Power and Desire (Oakland: AK Press, 2013).

Qwo‐Li Driskill, Chris Finley, Brian Joseph Gilley, and Scott Lauria Morgensen, eds. Queer
Indigenous Studies: Critical Interventions in Theory, Politics, and Literature (Tucson:
University of Arizona Press, 2011).

Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin. Anarchism and The Black Revolution and Other Essays ().

Frantz Fanon. Wretched of the Earth (New York: Grove, 1963).

Paulo Freire. Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 30th Anniversary Edition (New York: Bloomsbury
Academic, 2000).

Daniel Heath Justice, Mark Rifkin, and Bethany Schneider, eds. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and
Gay Studies Vol. 16, No. 1‐2 (2010). Special Issue on "Sexuality, Nationality, Indigeneity".

J.K. Gibson‐Graham. A Postcapitalist Politics (Minneapolis: University Of Minnesota Press,

2006).

J.K. Gibson‐Graham. The End Of Capitalism (As We Knew It): A Feminist Critique of Political
Economy (Minneapolis: University Of Minnesota Press, 2006).

Emma Goldman. Anarchism and Other Essays (Mineola, NY: Dover Books, 1929).
Antonio Gramsci. Selections from the Prison Notebooks, Reprint edition (New York:
International Publishers Co, 1971).

David Harvey. A Companion to Marx's Capital (New York: Verso, 2010).

Andrew Heywood. Political Ideologies: An Introduction (New York: Palgrave MacMillan,

2012).

Patricia Hill Collins. "What's in a name?: Womanism, Black Feminism, and Beyond." The
Black Scholar (Winter/Spring 1996).

Johnson‐Forest Tendency (C.L.R. James, Raya Dunayevskaya, and Grace Lee Boggs). Misc.
texts.

Alex Khasnabish. Zapatistas: Rebellion from the Grassroots to the Global (New York: Zed,
2013).

Robin Wall Kimmerer. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and
the Teachings of Plants (Minneapolis: Milkweed, 2014).

JoyceL. Kornbluh. Rebel Voices: IWW Anthology (Oakland: PM Press, 2011).

Audre Lorde. “The Master’s Tools,” Sister Outsider (Freedom, CA: The Crossing Press 1984):
110‐113.

Staughton Lynd and Andrej Grubacic. Wobblies and Zapatistas: Conversations on Anarchism,
Marxism and Radical History (Oakland: PM Press, 2008).

José Carlos Mariatequi. Seven Interpretative Essays on Pervuvian Reality (Austin: University
of Texas, 1988).

Karl Marx. Capital: Volume 1, A Critique of Political Economy (New York: Pengiun Classics,
1992).

Albert Memmi. The Colonizer and the Colonized, Expanded edition (Boston: Beacon Press,
1991).

Walter D. Mignolo. "Epistemic Disobedience, Independent Thought and De‐Colonial

Freedom." Theory, Culture & Society Vol. 26, No. 7–8 (2009): 1–23

Chandra Talpade Mohanty. Feminism without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing

Solidarity (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2003).

New Socialist Review #58.

Julieta Paredes C. and Adriana Guzmán A., El Tejido de la Rebeldía (La Paz, Bolivia: Mujeres
Creando Comunidad, 2014).

Anibal Quijano. “Coloniality of Power, Eurocentrism, and Latin America.” Nepentla: Views
From the South 1(3), 2000: pp. 533‐580
Gloria Muños Ramirez. The Fire and the Word: A History of the Zapatista Movement (San
Francisco: City Lights, 2008).

Cedric J. Robinson. Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition (Raleigh, NC:
The University of North Carolina Press, 2000).

Monica A. Coleman, et al. "Must I be a Womanist?," a Roundtable Discussion. Journal of

Feminist Studies in Religion Vol. 22 No. 1 (2006).

Jean‐Paul Sartre. "Colonialism is a System." Interventions: International Journal of

Postcolonial Studies Vol. 3 Issue 1 (2001); 127‐140.

Leanne Simpson. Dancing On Our Turtle's Back: Stories of Nishnaabeg Re‐Creation,

Resurgence, and a New Emergence (Winnipeg: Arbeiter Ring, 2011).

Andrea Smith. “Indigenous Feminism without Apology.’ Unsettling Ourselves: Reflections and
Resources for Deconstructing Colonial Mentality (2011). Available at
http://unsettlingamerica.wordpress.com/2011/09/08/indigenous‐feminism‐without‐
apology/

Linda Tuhiwai Smith. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples, Second
edition (New York: Zed, 2012).

Esteban Alejo Ticona. Lecturas para la descolonización : taqpachani qhispiyasipxañani

(liberémonos todos) (La Paz, Bolivia: Universidad de la Cordillera, 2005).

BIBLIOGRAPHY - FILMS
Stewart Bird and Deborah Shaffer. The Wobblies (1979, 89 minutes).

Luis Chaparro. The Zapatista Uprising (20 Years Later), Vice News (2014, 13 minutes).

Grace Lee. American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs (2013, 82 minutes).

Alanis Obomsawin. Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993, 119 minutes).

Göran Olsson. The Black Power Mix Tape 1967‐1975 (2011, 100 minutes).