ASA Mini-Conference on Race, Labor and Empire
August 1 & 2, 2008
Northeastern University
O'Bryant African-American Institute
40 Leon St.
Boston, Massachusetts
(this page last updated on August 5, 2008)


Organized by the American Sociological Association Section on Labor and Labor Movements and the Association of Black Sociologists. Co-sponsored by the Department of Sociology and Anthropology of Northeastern University, and the following ASA Sections: Section on Asia and Asian America, Section on Latino/Latina Sociology, Section on Marxist Sociology, Section on Race, Gender and Class, Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities, and Section on Political Economy of the World System.


Directions to the Race Labor Empire Mini-Conference:


From the Sheraton or Hilton Hotels:
Head southeast on Dalton Street to Belvidere Street, turn left and walk .2 miles to Huntington Avenue; at Huntington, turn right and walk past the Marriott and Colonnade Hotels.

From the Colonnade Hotel:
Head southwest on Huntington Ave/Ave of the Arts/Rt-9 for .6 miles
Turn left at Forsyth Street (at midpoint of Northeastern Univ campus) and go .1 miles
Turn right at Greenleaf Street and go 266 feet (thru campus)
Turn left at Leon Street and go .1 miles to #40 Leon St, the O'Bryant African American Institute

On the SUBWAY:
Green Line E line subway (outbound) to the Northeastern Stop on Huntington Ave. It is a two block walk from there.



Program
Download a pdf version of the final Conference Program flyer.

Friday, August 1


6:30-7:00. Gathering

7:00-9:00. Dinner and Plenary


Organizers: Dan Clawson and Deirdre Royster
Moderator and MC: Deirdre Royster, Black Studies and Sociology, the College of William and Mary

Jerome Scott, Founder and Director, Project South
Saru Jayaraman, Restaurant Opportunities Center
General Baker, founding member the League of Revolutionary Black Workers




Saturday, August 2


8:00-9:00. Gathering and Welcome


Jill Esbenshade and Rod Bush


9:00-9:45. Opening Keynote


Bill Fletcher, Jr, Executive Editor of BlackCommentator.com (www.blackcommentator.com), and former Assistant to President John Sweeney, AFL-CIO, "Labor and the Racial Trip-Wire."


9:45-11:15. Session: Theorizing Race and Capitalism/Imperialism


Organizer: Rod Bush

Kelvin Santiago-Valles, SUNY Binghamton. "Racialized capitalist accumulation in the historical long-term: The continuing significance of Oliver C. Cox."

Edna Bonacich, University of California, Riverside, "Race and the U.S. Labor Movement: A Continuing Challenge."

Cynthia Lucas Hewitt, Morehouse College. "Soul to soul: Alternative paradigms of solidarity to race, nation, class, and gender."

Agustin Lao-Montes, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. "Contending Pan-Africanisms in the Americas: Imperial multiculturalism against radical hemisphere Black politics."

Discussant: Aldon Morris, Northwestern University



11:30-1:00. Session: Dividing Lines: How Capital, States, and We Ourselves, Divide Us


Organizers: Carolina Bank Muñoz and Dorian Warren

Stephen Steinberg, Queens College and CUNY Graduate Center, "Neoliberal immigration policy and its impact on African Americans."

Steven Pitts, University of California, Berkeley.

Margaret Grey, Adelphi University. "'Are They Taking Our Jobs?' Black-Brown Tensions in the Workplace."




1:00-2:00. Lunch


Chair: Hector Delgado, University of La Verne
Presentation of prize for best work on Race, Labor and Empire




2:00-3:30. Panels:


• A. Comparative Racial Capitalisms:
  Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on How Race Matters for Global Capital
  
  Organizers Ching Kwan Lee and Steve McKay
  
  Jane Collins, University of Wisconsin, Madison. "Neoliberal and Neoconservative Imperialisms and Race, in Milwaukee and Mexico."
  
  Robin Archer, London School of Economics. "Race and Labor in New World Settler Societies in Australia and the United States."
  
  Steve McKay, University of California, Santa Cruz. "Our Little Brown Sailors: Colonial Constructions of Race and Labor in and beyond the Philippines."
  
  Moon-Kie Jung, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. "Hanapepe Massacre: Racism, Violence, and Filipino Sugar Workers in Hawai'i."
  
  


• B. Beyond Union Organizing:
  Mobilizing around Race and Labor
  
  Organizers: Rachel Meyer and Anna Guevarra
  
  Dorian Warren, Columbia University. "Contesting Neoliberalism in the City: Race, Class, and Anti-Wal-Mart Campaigns in Chicago and Los Angeles."
  
  Sarah Swider, University of Wisconsin. "Recognizing Difference and Recreating Unions: Migrant Domestic Workers in Hong Kong."
  
  Alliance to Develop Power Workers Center/Casa Obrera, Springfield, MA.
  
  Discussant: Rachel Meyer, University of Michigan.
  
  


• C. Racializing Capitalism:
  Gender, Sexuality and the Politics of Labor
  
  Organizers: Jennifer Chun and Robyn Rodriguez
  
  Bridget Kenny, University of Witwatersrand
  "Recognizing race: South African service workers' post-apartheid gendered politics."
  
  Renisa Mawani, University of British Columbia
  "The racial impurities of global capitalism: The politics of labor, interraciality, and lawlessness in British Columbia's salmon canneries."
  
  Bruce Nissen and Sherman Henry
  "The legacy of racism: A case study of continuing racial impediments to union effectiveness."
  
  Enobong Hannah Branch and Melissa Wooten, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
  "Who gets to work? Race, gender, and the notion of 'appropriate' labor."
  
  


3:45-5:15. Building an Inclusive and Just Labor Movement


Open discussion led by Bill Fletcher Jr.

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