Can Western modernity be analyzed and critiqued through the lens of enslavement and colonial history? As this volume reveals, such analysis is not only possible, it is essential to our understanding of contemporary race relations and society generally. Drawing from the fields of  postcolonial, decolonial, and black studies, this book assembles contributions from renowned scholars that offer timely and critical perspectives from a variety of disciplines, including history, sociology, political science, gender studies, cultural and literary studies, and philosophy.

Sabine Broeck is professor of African American studies, gender studies, and black diaspora studies at the University of Bremen, Germany. She is the author of White Amnesia—Black Memory?: American Women’s Writing and History and coauthor of Americanization—Globalization—Education. Carsten Junker is assistant professor of North American literary and cultural studies at the University of Bremen. He is the author of Frames of Friction: Black Genealogies, White Hegemony, and the Essay as Critical Intervention.