GEOS Seminar: The Graduate Center
Earth and Environmental Sciences Doctoral Program
Presents

Solidarity Cities: Confronting Racial Capitalism, Mapping Transformaton
Thursday, November 21, 2024
4:15 PM - 6:15 PM
Room 4102 @ The Graduate Center & via Zoom

 

Dr. Marianna Pavlovskaya (Hunter College & The Graduate Center, CUNY) and Dr. Maliha Safri (Drew University) will discuss their new book, collectively authored by four scholars from three disciplines (M. Safri, M. Pavlovskaya, S. Healy, and C. Borowiak) and published by University of Minnesota Press in January 2025. See https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517916022/solidarity-cities/.

The book argues that cities have always been built with human solidarity instead of racial capitalism alone. Contemporary debates about capitalism and its alternatives often fall into two traps: either portraying economic life as so fully saturated by (racial) capitalism that alternatives are rendered insignificant or idealizing these alternatives to the point of overlooking racial and economic divisions within social movement spaces. In their new book, Solidarity Cities, Maliha Safri, Marianna Pavlovskaya, Stephen Healy, and Craig Borowiak skillfully navigate both pitfalls. Drawing on detailed geographic analysis of New York City, Philadelphia, and Worcester, MA, the authors argue that solidarity economies—often invisible in mainstream economic narratives—permeate urban landscapes. These economies have enabled many urban communities, particularly in historically black and brown neighborhoods, to endure the oppression wrought by racial capitalism, including the devastating impacts of redlining. By building urban life with economic solidarity, these communities have made place differently from racial capitalist logics. In the process, they have built what the authors call Solidarity Cities. The book abounds with examples illustrating how people actively build these Solidarity Cities, bridging racial and class fault lines, creating spatial imaginaries and placing solidarity economies at the forefront of urban life.

Zoom Details:
Meeting link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81677669214?pwd=f6IEO8F64myDFyk9MKbutlGZILSLiv.1 Meeting ID: 816 7766 9214
Passcode: 968529

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About GEOS: GEOS is a lecture series hosted by the Ph.D. Program in Earth and Environmental Sciences at the CUNY Graduate Center. This series features guest lectures by pre-eminent scholars and thinkers in the fields of Geology, Geography, Earth Science, Environmental Science & Psychology, Oceanography, Climate Science, and Atmospheric Science. This series provides the opportunity for students, faculty, and invited guests to interact, hear lectures about current research, and discuss the important topics of the day.​