International Relations/Black Internationalism: Reimagining Teaching and Learning about Global Politics

Abstract

AbstractA growing body of critical scholarship interrogates racism in international relations. Yet many introductory undergraduate courses reproduce the colonial and racist foundations and practices of the discipline for new students of global politics. This article argues that, to engage seriously racism in international relations, scholars must rethink undergraduate curriculum and pedagogy. To this end, I offer an alternative model of teaching introductory international relations courses. I propose reading the disciplinary canon alongside, through, and against the texts of Black internationalists. This diverse intellectual and political tradition provides ways to (re)claim the study of race, racism, and Black liberation struggles as international politics. In doing so, Black internationalism allows international relations scholars to radically rethink our curricula, our classrooms, our pedagogy, and the politics of knowledge-making more broadly.