African American Anti-Colonial Thought 1917-1937

*APPROVED*'This important collection will help to encourage a much-needed reconfiguration of the field of postcolonial studies. Some of these documents are in print in scattered sources, but many others have never been made available beyond their original form, and scholars in disparate fields will welcome the availability of Bergin's well-organised and expertly annotated collection.'Brian Kelly, Queen's University BelfastA collection of powerful but neglected African-American anti-colonial writings from between the two World WarsThis volume re-publishes key texts produced by African American anti-colonial activists between 1917 and 1937 v and locates this writing in both a US and global context . Some of these texts remain well-known, but many have disappeared from view and are once again re-inserted in their original polemical contexts. The context for these writings is the turbulent politics of 'race' in the US in the interwar years and the emergence of a particular 'race'/class politics. The framing of the material in the book stresses those texts which are specifically concerned with finding connections between the plight of African Americans and those who suffer colonial oppression in order to emphasise the dialectical nature of anti-colonial struggle. These writings also emphasise the relationship between African American politics and the Left during this period The intention of many of these writers was to create a space for interracial class politics. Despite, or because of, the complexities of negotiating 'race', class and colonialism, this material gives us access to an historically specific attempt to create a 'race'/class politics attuned to the challenges of confronting racism of the USA and beyond.Cathy Bergin is a Senior Lecturer in the Humanities Programme at The University of Brighton. She is the author of Bitter with the Past, but Sweet with the Dream: Communism in the African American Imaginary (2015).Cover image: Claude McKay addressing the Fourth Congress of the Comintern, 1923Cover design:[EUP logo]edinburghuniversitypress.comISBN [cover] 978-1-4744-0957-5ISBN [PPC] 978-1-4744-0968-1Barcode