Dr. Justin Leroy, assistant professor of history at the University of California, Davis, gave his lecture on November 6th, 2017 on the topic "Race, Finance and the Afterlife of Slavery". Leroy examined how emergent discourses of social finance and ethical investing have sought to recuperate the moral center of capitalism by offering financial instruments that transform poverty reduction, prison recidivism, and other social issues into profitable business ventures. These new intrusions of financialization into previously unmarketable spheres of life rely on making black bodies available for investment .By juxtaposing contemporary social finance practices with the history of slave insurance, Leroy argued that racial violence has been- and continues to be - crucial for expanding the limits of financial capital.
Sponsored by the Department of American Studies and the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences