Abolition 2/13: Abolition Democracy

This seminar will explore the theoretical lens of “Abolition Democracy” originally coined by W.E.B. Du Bois and later interpreted by Angela Davis, as a way to think critically about the different struggles for abolition, both historically and in their current context.

Robert Gooding-Williams, Ivan Calaff, Kendall Thomas, and Bernard E. Harcourt read and discuss W.E.B. Du Bois’s Black Reconstruction in America, 1860-1880 and Angela Davis’s Abolition Democracy: Beyond Prison, Torture, and Empire. Chris Wolfe will open the seminar with a reading of his personal essay: “The most beautifullest thing in this world.”

Ivan Calaff also joined us for Abolition 1/13: Abolitionism Today. Calaff is a Research Assistant at the Social Relations Lab at Columbia University. Since joining the lab in August, Calaff has served as a teaching assistant for courses at Sing Sing Correctional Facility. Calaff is interested in Social Justice as well as Urban Policy. Currently, Calaff is a student in Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies and is a Justice in Education Initiative scholar. Outside of the lab, Calaff is a father, musician and artist.