Globalizing Political Theory

225 Pages·2022·11.601 MB·English

by  Smita A. Rahman (editor), Katherine A. Gordy (editor), Shirin S. Deylami (editor)

“Globalizing Political Theory is a timely and rigorous volume that
effectively deprovincializes intellectual histories of political thought.
The editors have curated engaging conversations across time and
space that show how thinkers responding to differing local contexts
produced ideas and concepts that resonate beyond them.”
Juliet Hooker, Professor of Political Science, Brown University
“Among the most urgent missions of political theory today is to
deepen its engagement with forms of thought, knowledge, and imag-
ination beyond the Western canon. Scholars have now been doing
this in greater numbers and with greater rigor for almost two dec-
ades. But debates still persist about the most urgent priorities for this
mission, and the most appropriate methods and tools. This volume
is an outstanding introduction to these debates for an undergraduate
or graduate level, with chapters by some of the top emerging scholars
working in non-Western and decolonial thought.”
Andrew F. March, Professor of Political Science, University of
Massachusetts, Amherst
“Like it or not, political theory has always been global. From exca-
vating unrecognized prehistory to plumbing contemporary trans-
national resonances, this essential volume brings to light what is so
often hidden, and in so doing helps craft a political theory made to
the measure of the world.”
George Maher, Visiting Associate Professor of Global Political
Thought, Vassar College
“This volume offers new perspectives on a range of familiar political
issues, from a range of modern thinkers from across the world. It will
definitely disrupt business-as-usual in the teaching and practice of
political theory.”
Leigh K. Jenco, Professor of Political Theory London School of
Economics and Political Science

Globalizing Political Theory
Globalizing Political Theory is guided by the need to understand politi-
cal theory as deeply embedded in local networks of power, identity, and
structure, and to examine how these networks converge and diverge with
the global. With the help of this book, students of political theory no
longer need to learn about ideas in a vacuum with little or no attention
paid to how such ideas are responses to varying local political problems
in different places, times, and contexts.
Key features include:
• Central Conceptual Framework: Introducing readers to what it
means to “globalize” political theory and to move beyond the tra-
ditional western canon and actively engage with a multiplicity of
perspectives.
• Organization: Focused on key topics essential for an introductory
class aimed at both globalizing political theory and showing how
political theory itself is a globalizing activity.
• Themes: Colonialism and Empire; Gender and Sexuality; Religion and
Secularism; Marxism, Socialism, and Globalization; Democracy and
Protest; and Race, Ethnicity, and Indigeneity.
• Pedagogy: Each chapter features theoretical concepts and defini-
tions, political and historical context, key authors and biographical
context, textual evidence and exegesis from the foundational texts
in that thematic area, a list of discussion questions, and a list of
resources for further reading.
Committed to a multiplicity of perspectives and an active engagement
between the global and the local, Globalizing Political Theory connects
directly with undergraduate and graduate-level courses in political the-
ory, global political theory, and non-western political thought.
Smita A. Rahman is the Johnson Family University Professor of Political
Science at DePauw University where she teaches courses in modern, con-
temporary, and Islamic political thought. Her research interests lie at the
intersection of contemporary and comparative political theory. In particu-
lar, she is interested in exploring how foundational concepts in political
theory rupture and become contested in a globalized world of difference.
Katherine A. Gordy is a Professor of Political Science at San Francisco
State University, where she teaches courses in political theory and Latin
American Studies. Her specific research and teaching interests are com-
parative political theory (Latin American and Caribbean political thought
primarily), critical theory, and theories of history and ideology.
Shirin S. Deylami is a Professor of Political Science and affiliate faculty in
Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Western Washington University,
where she teaches courses in contemporary political theory, feminist the-
ory, and Islamic political thought. Her research interests are at the inter-
section of feminist theory and Islam with particular interest in the way
debates about Muslim women’s identity and freedom affect Islamic and
Western conceptions of self and other.
Globalizing Political Theory
Edited by Smita A. Rahman,
Katherine A. Gordy and
Shirin S. Deylami
Cover image: Alice Adams / Bruce Museum
First published 2023
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Smita A. Rahman,
Katherine A. Gordy & Shirin S. Deylami; individual chapters, the
contributors
The right of Smita A. Rahman, Katherine A. Gordy & Shirin S.
Deylami to be identified as the authors of the editorial material,
and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted
in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
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including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
ISBN: 978-1-032-11829-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-11826-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-22170-8 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003221708
Typeset in Times NR MT Pro
by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
Contents
Acknowledgments x
Contributors xii
Introduction: What Does It Mean to Globalize Political Theory? 1
SMITA A. RAHMAN, KATHERINE A. GORDY, AND SHIRIN S. DEYLAMI
PART I
Colonialism and Empire 9
1. The Mentor and the Mentee: Competing Visions
in Vietnamese Political Thought 11
KEVIN PHAM
2. From Black Liberation to Human Freedom:
Claudia Jones, Frantz Fanon, and Universal Emancipation 23
DEREFE KIMARLEY CHEVANNES
3. Life, Death, and Futurity in the Work of Achille Mbembe 33
JOHN E. DRABINSKI
PART II
Gender and Sexuality 41
4. The Ayatollah Khomeini: Gender and Sexuality
in the Fight against Westoxification 43
SHIRIN S. DEYLAMI
viii Contents
5. Toward an Afro-Latin American Feminism:
Notes on Lélia Gonzalez’s Theorizations 51
FERNANDA CARDOSO FONSECA
6. Different Foundations for Islamic Feminisms: Comparing
Genealogical and Textual Approaches in Ahmed and Parvez 60
CONNOR B.S. STROBEL
PART III
Religion and Secularism 69
7. Sayyid Qutb and the Politics of Renewal 71
SMITA A. RAHMAN
8. The Dialectical Utopianism of Ali Shariati 80
NAVEED MANSOORI
9. The Sikh and Ahmadiyya Communities: Finding
Shared and Distinct Understandings of the Oneness of
God through Religious Pluralism 88
MISBAH HYDER
PART IV
Marxism, Socialism, and Globalization 97
10. Walter Rodney and Samir Amin: From Relations of
Underdevelopment to Global Decolonization 99
THOMAS MEAGHER
11. Ernesto “Che” Guevara’s Political Economy:
Balancing Development and Dis-Alienation 109
KATHERINE A. GORDY
12. R. İhsan Eliaçık: Anti-Capitalist Islamic
Thought in Turkey 120
SIAVASH SAFFARI
13. Thomas Malthus and Global Malthusianism 129
JIMMY CASAS KLAUSEN
Contents ix
PART V
Democracy and Protest 139
14. “Be Water, My Friend”: Protest, Identity
Politics, and Democracy in Hong Kong 141
PENG YU
15. Fatima Meer’s Father: Storytelling-History,
Racialized Men of Color and Feminism, and Overcoming
the Precarity of Black-Asian Solidarity 151
TIFFANY WILLOUGHBY-HERARD
16. Abdias do Nascimento: Quilombist Praxis
Amidst the Genocide of Black People 159
ANANDA VILELA AND MARTA FERNÁNDEZ
PART VI
Race, Ethnicity, and Indigeneity 171
17. Contesting Conquest: Titu Cusi Yupanqui’s
Anticolonial Resistance 173
ANGÉLICA MARÍA BERNAL
18. Haunani-Kay Trask, Ka Lāhui Hawai’i, and
Indigenous Sovereignty 183
VICKI HSUEH
19. W.E.B. Du Bois, the Negro Problem, and the Case
against Black Involvement in War 191
JARED ANTHONY LOGGINS
Index 201