The resources in this section of the guide demonstrate the variegated ways abolition/abolitionism has been defined, used as a theoretical framework, and harnessed as a mode of political resistance and worldmaking. The readings and media you will find here center abolition’s role in transatlantic and American slavery, the prison industrial complex, policing and surveillance, liberatory pedagogical practices, and social movements in the U.S. today. As these resources convey, abolition is an ongoing historical process that enables new ways of thinking about our present and allows us to conceive of more just, equitable futures.
From the Creator:
Amidst mounting calls to defund and abolish policing and prison systems it is crucial that we ground our activism in theories of struggle. To that end, this workshop will push activists, organizers, scholars, and accomplices to engage with the following questions: What is abolition? What are its historical roots, its political imperatives, what is an abolitionist demand? What is the relationship between reform and abolition? How does abolition intersect with race, class, gender, and various forms of state sanctioned, extra-legal, intra-communal, and interpersonal violence? What is an abolitionist approach to harm and harm reduction? Why do we need abolition now? Orisanmi Burton is a husband, father, and assistant prof at American University. He is a long time abolitionist scholar and organizer and a member of the Abolition Collective.
A conversation with Bettina Love, Gholdy Muhammad, Dena Simmons and Brian Jones about abolitionist teaching and antiracist education.
