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Ince, Onur Ulas (2022) 'Deprovincializing Racial Capitalism: John Crawfurd and Settler Colonialism in India.' American Political Science Review, 116 (1). pp. 144-160.

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Abstract

Recent literature on racial capitalism has overwhelmingly focused on the Atlantic settler-slave formation, sidelining the history of European imperialism in Asia. This article addresses this blind spot by recovering the aborted project of British settler colonialism in India through the writings of its most prominent advocate, John Crawfurd. It is argued that Crawfurd’s vision of a liberal empire in India rejected slavery and indigenous dispossession yet remained deeply racialized in its conception of capital, labor, and value. Crawfurd elaborated a “capital theory of race,” which derived racial categories from a civilizational spectrum keyed to the capitalist organization of production. His proposals accordingly revamped the conventional terms of colonization by representing India as overstocked with labor but vacant of capital and skill that only European settlers could provide. The article concludes with the broader implications of a transimperial analytic framework for writing connected histories of racial capitalism and settler colonialism.

Item Type: Journal Article
SOAS Departments & Centres: Departments and Subunits > Department of Politics & International Studies
ISSN: 00030554
DOI (Digital Object Identifier): https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055421000939
Date Deposited: 10 Jan 2022 16:30
URI: https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/id/eprint/36209

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