On Cedric Robinson and Black Marxism: a view from the US academy

Abstract

Cedric Robinson’s directorship of the Center for Black Studies at the University of California Santa Barbara reflected his genius as a radical communitarian during an era in which the US academy as a whole set itself on a path of increasing cultural and social isolation from mainstream society. As an academic enterprise, the Center mirrors the radical conservationism inherent in Black Marxism’s recuperation of the Black radical tradition.