Abstract
AbstractW. E. B. Du Bois's novelDark Princess(1928) has become a paradigmatic text for left internationalism and Afro-Asian solidarity. Du Bois's hybrid progressivism enchants the American welfare state by giving it an intellectual genealogy that emphasizes Eastern political thought.Dark Princessengages with theArthashastra, an ancient work of political theory that was ostensibly written by the chief adviser to Chandragupta, who unified the Indian subcontinent. TheArthashastra, and the legend concerning its composition, stimulated a Du Boisian fantasy of global leadership, one that parallels the contemporary recuperation of theArthashastrafor power politics. However, theArthashastra's discussion of social programs and infrastructure also introduces the concept of the welfare state. Interweaving theArthashastrawith Black life in Chicago, Du Bois gives the progressive activist Sara Andrews a surprising agency. Today the most important aspect ofDark Princessis its vision of an antiracist and culturally syncretic New Deal.
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