Patchin: Towards a theory and political history of Africana Agrarianism

Abstract

This is a theoretical dissertation that seeks to explore the implications of using an Africana agrarian development philosophy to examine the historical evolution of African-American communities and social movements in the United States. The central theme of this study is the importance of recentering the land question as a theoretical tool used to construct narratives of the cultural development of African-American rural and farming communities. Particular emphasis is placed upon using the notion of an ecological revolution to explain African-Amencan responses to the socio-economic problems that have emerged from their relationship to the American state and, the resultant paradigms that have developed, within the tradition of African-American political philosophy, to both perceive and address these issues.