Knowledge-making in the field of alternative economies has limited
the inclusion of Black and racialized people's experience. In Beyond
Racial Capitalism the goal is close that gap in development
through a detailed analysis of cases in about a dozen countries where
Black people live and turn to co-operatives to manage systemic
exclusion. Most cases focus on how people use group methodology for
social finance. However, financing is not the sole objective for many
of the Black people who engage in collective business forms; it is
about the collective and the making of a Black social economy.
Systemic racism and
anti-Black exclusion create an environment where pooling resources,
in kind and money, becomes a way to cope and to resist an oppressive
system. This book examines co-operatives in the context of racial
capitalism-a concept of political scientist Cedric J. Robinson's that
has meaning for the African diaspora who must navigate, often
secretly and in groups, the landmines in business and society.
Understanding business exclusion in the various cases enables
appreciation of the civic contributions carried out by excluded
racial minorities. These social innovations by Black people living
outside of Africa who build co-operative economies go largely
unnoticed. If they are noted, they are demoted to an "informal"
activity and rationalized as having limited potential to bring about
social change. The sheer determination of Black diaspora people to
organize and build co-operatives that are explicitly anti-racist and
rooted in mutual aid and the collective is an important lesson in
making business ethical and inclusive.