The Black radical tradition - theory and practice: Black studies and the scholarship of Cedric Robinson

Abstract

Cedric Robinson’s scholarship and radical pedagogy are explored here, within the context of the development of Black studies in the US academy and the challenge that this posed to the ‘master narratives’ of Eurocentric scholarship. The emergence of Robinson’s works and his development of the concept of racial capitalism were integral to the political thrust of Black studies. His Black Marxism, in particular, not only identified and analysed earlier major radical theorists of the Black condition, but also located a hitherto subterranean, yet always existent and insistent, Black radical tradition. The continuing influence of Robinson’s historical and philosophical works on subsequent scholarship is outlined, as is the importance of creating a sustainable community of scholars to carry on the radical tradition.