Recent historical research on comparative development in the Global South traces contemporary development outcomes to the types of state institutions installed by European colonizing agents. However, this research overlooks the role of the subaltern in state-building and, in turn, development. This talk will offer an alternative “postcolonial sociological approach” to historical analyses of development, which explicitly considers how subaltern agency shapes the development trajectories of nations. The utility of this approach is demonstrated using a comparative study of Trinidad and Tobago and Gabon.

This event is part of a year-long series of talks and workshops entitled “Critical Sociologies of Race and Empire,” developed by a group of faculty and students in Sociology and American Studies. This series will explore new sociological work on race and empire from critical perspectives such as postcolonial and Du Boisian sociology.