Book contents
- Democracy and Empire
- Democracy and Empire
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Imperial Popular Sovereignty
- Part II Reproduction through Popular Rule of Labor/Nature
- Part III Anti-Imperial Popular Sovereignty
- Conclusion: Empire, Settler Colonialism, and Grounded Solidarities
- Bibliography
- Index
Conclusion: Empire, Settler Colonialism, and Grounded Solidarities
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 August 2023
- Democracy and Empire
- Democracy and Empire
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Imperial Popular Sovereignty
- Part II Reproduction through Popular Rule of Labor/Nature
- Part III Anti-Imperial Popular Sovereignty
- Conclusion: Empire, Settler Colonialism, and Grounded Solidarities
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The Conclusion recaps the book’s contributions and complements Chapter 5’s account of anti-imperial popular sovereignty by theorizing solidarity among the multiple positionalities covered in the book (Indigenous, settler, slave, forced refugee, diaspora settler, migrant settler, and other statuses). These statuses do not make the constitution of a people impossible but make the interrelations between these subjects the core of the “whole” we conceptualize. These interrelations include linkages with nature, which popular sovereignty leaves outside of its purview. An “ecological popular sovereignty” corrects this by recognizing the essential dependence of communities on nature, requiring relations of reciprocity and care toward nature. Joining anti-imperial and ecological as modifiers of popular sovereignty allows for its theorization without actively obscuring its material underpinnings. In particular, this way of theorizing popular sovereignty shifts the meaning of settler from an identity to a way of relating to other humans and to land, and provides parameters for evaluating political action for their (in)justice implications. This recasting presupposes a radical critique of private ownership of land, because capitalism’s right to charge humans for the right to occupy the earth sacrifices constructive relations with land and the attendant social relationalities.
Keywords
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- Democracy and EmpireLabor, Nature, and the Reproduction of Capitalism, pp. 193 - 206Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023