Volume 24, Issue 1/2, Fall 2018
Alyssa Adamson
Pages 153-176
https://doi.org/10.5840/clrjames20191359
C.L.R. James¡¯s Decolonial Humanism in Theory and Practice
This paper argues for the concept of a decolonial humanism at the heart of C.L.R. James¡¯s theoretical and political engagements. In exploring the concept of decolonial humanism, the paper moves through three major sections dealing with some of the definitive epistemic and political aspects of James¡¯s work: (i) a critique of Enlightenment Humanism and European Marxism without disavowing the aspirations of universal human emancipation; (ii) James¡¯s work with the Johnson-Forest Tendency, the Pan-Africanist movement, and his attempts at labor organizing in Trinidad first alongside Eric Williams in the People¡¯s National Movement (PNM) and later in his own Workers and Farmer¡¯s Party (WFP); and (iii) the practicality of decolonial humanism in terms of its adoption by Tim Hector and the Antigua Caribbean Liberation Movement (ACLM).