Malcolm X and Tranversality

In what sense could the figure of Malcolm X be considered ‘transversal’? Let us understand transversality in part as rejection of hierarchy that is at the same time not content with the horizontal. Let us also suggest transversality calls into question of the very idea of leadership in the search for a different organizational practice. Does Malcolm X then begin to emerge not so much as mobilizer of others, but as the mobilization in others. When we hear someone say he spoke for us, could we think of this phrase outside of the Western political epistemology of representation and leadership? Are there aspects of his oratorial style, of his performances, that point in this direction? In this seminar we are going to read the Autobiography, but we are also going to read, listen to, and watch a constellation of figures and movements, before, during and after Malcolm X to rethink the way Malcolm X served. Figures and movements like Yuri Kochiyama, women in the Black Panther Party, Amiri Baraka and the Black Arts Movement, and the traditions of the itinerant preacher in the American South will be studied. Students should read the Autobiography, in any available language, prior to attending the seminar.