Abolition and Exodus.

The eminent theorist of contemporary abolition, Joy James, suggests that abolition displaces revolution. Inspired by her, Fred Moten and I ask whether revolution displaces communism. Is exodus the necessary supplement to abolition? The radical American movement, MOVE, thought so, alternately fighting police brutality and for animal rights, and withdrawing from the state and city to live differently. They will be a point of departure as we explore their praxis but also how a form of revolutionary leadership followed and undermined them in exodus. We will study the dialectic between abolition and exodus as it is playing out in contemporary thought and practice, reading such theorists as James, Angela Davis, and George Jackson. We will also explore the relationship between the carceral and the imperial. Please note this seminar will include a one-week intensive in the first week of November at the Performance Art Forum outside Paris, as well as weekly seminars.