Jessica Levy, SUNY Purchase, and Paul Ocobock, University of Notre Dame

Contracting Empire: U.S. Corporations, Apartheid South Africa, and the Profits of Divestment

Jessica Levy, SUNY Purchase

Engaging scholarship on racial capitalism and corporate imperialism, this paper looks to the history of divestment from Apartheid South Africa in order to examine how U.S. corporations adapted to and shaped decolonization/desegregation, including through licensing, franchising, trademarks, and other not so benign business arrangements.

“Uncommercial Procedures”: Coffee and Debt-Crisis in Depression-Era Kenya

Paul Ocobock, University of Notre Dame

Details TBD

Respondent: Daniel Immerwahr, Northwestern University 

Registration

This event is free, but all participants must register in advance. Space is limited, so please do not request a paper unless you plan to attend.

About the History of Capitalism Seminar

The History of Capitalism Seminar provides a works-in-progress forum for work from scholars at all levels. Proposals may consider a variety of subjects, including the history of race and racism, gender and feminist studies, intellectual history, political history, legal history, business history, the history of finance, labor history, cultural history, urban history, and agricultural history. Elizabeth Tandy Shermer (Loyola University Chicago) and Andrew Hartman (Illinois State University) are the co-coordinators of the seminar.

Questions?