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The New Age of Empire: How Racism and Colonialism Still Rule the World
"Kehinde Andrews is a crucial voice walking in a proud tradition of Black radical criticism and action" Akala"An uncompromising account of the roots of racism today" Kimberlé Crenshaw "This clear-eyed analysis insists upon the revolutionary acts of freedom we will need to break out of these systems of violence" Ibram X. Kendi The New Age of Empire takes us back to the beginning of the European Empires, outlining the deliberate terror and suffering wrought during every stage of the expansion, and destroys the self-congratulatory myth that the West was founded on the three great revolutions of science, industry and politics. Instead, genocide, slavery and colonialism are the key foundation stones upon which the West was built, and we are still living under this system America is now at the helm, perpetuating global inequality through business, government, and institutions like the UN, the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO. The West is rich because the Rest is poor. Capitalism is racism. The West congratulations itself on raising poverty by increments in the developing world while ignoring the fact that it created these conditions in the first place, and continues to perpetuate them. The Enlightenment, which underlies every part of our foundational philosophy today, was and is profoundly racist. This colonial logic was and is used to justify the ransacking of Black and brown bodies and their land. The fashionable solutions offered by the white Left in recent years fall far short of even beginning to tackle the West's place at the helm of a racist global order. Offering no easy answers, The New Age of Empire is essential reading to understand our profoundly corrupt global system. A work of essential clarity, The New Age of Empire is a groundbreaking new blueprint for taking Black Radical thought into the twenty-first century and beyond.
273 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 4, 2021
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February 14, 2021
An interesting read to say the least. I do admire Kehinde Andrews for not shying away from controversy. His writings are very sharp and provocative, and often come with a truth which is difficult to swallow.
He details the racist origins of the West, arguing that a lot of the economic benefits we have today rest on colonialism and slavery. The entire system of Capitalism is built on 'White Supremely' according to Andrews. He also details scepticism about the IMF and World Bank as examples of how Capitalism keeps Africa in its place. Furthermore, he discusses how China are likely to continue in this supremacist logic inherited from 'Whiteness'. He hints that Black people must revolt without the help of White people against this terrible system. He doesn't say what the alternative is, nor how the revolution should take place. But nonetheless, a passionate revolution is needed.
I personally learnt a lot from this book, there is a lot that I appreciate about Andrews. He doesn't settle for superficiality. He is passionate about real issues affecting real people, not just slogans and a guilt-tripping Instagram post. I think it's easy to brush over Britain's past deeds when they are unpleasant, so found it helpful glancing into the mirror, as it were. Kehinde rightly shows the damage done by slavery and colonialism, and how more action is needed to make the world a fairer place. I think it's important that it is brought to attention that racism has led to such poverty across the globe. Also, the racism on an individual level has been symptomatic from past superiority-complexes. It is important we have an awareness of this history as we continue to tackle racism. I think it's almost undeniable that more creative international economic solutions need pursuing to relieve the poverty in various nations be relieved, considering the West are at fault for this.
Although there is much to be appreciative of, the book is lacking in certain ways. Western philosophy is effectively discarded by Andrews as inseparable from the racism held by philosophers. This displays absolutely appalling logic. The idea that we can't appreciate Kant's categorical imperative because of other racist opinions doesn't make sense at all! Kant and other Enlightenment thinkers have been incredibly helpful in developing an array of wonderful ideas. Much like I can appreciate Andrews even though he's wrong on a lot, I'm sure he can learn to do the same with Kant.
Perhaps if he respected the Enlightenment philosophers slightly more, he may have encountered Hume's dictum that one can't deride an 'ought' from an 'is'. Andrews recognises present racism and awful historical examples of it. But then jumps extremely quickly to the idea that we ought to get rid of the entire system! Nothing short of revolution is an acceptable argument to Andrews as the System is irredeemable. I'm just not convinced by this enormous jump to conclusions. I did find it very ideologically charged, and there is of course a different perspective to most of what he's written. Alas, that is to be with any book arguing a specific point of view.
It is nonetheless worth a read. No one will agree with every word, but I'm pretty sure he wouldn't want them to. Andrews is great at making people think, and I was challenged by this book.
He details the racist origins of the West, arguing that a lot of the economic benefits we have today rest on colonialism and slavery. The entire system of Capitalism is built on 'White Supremely' according to Andrews. He also details scepticism about the IMF and World Bank as examples of how Capitalism keeps Africa in its place. Furthermore, he discusses how China are likely to continue in this supremacist logic inherited from 'Whiteness'. He hints that Black people must revolt without the help of White people against this terrible system. He doesn't say what the alternative is, nor how the revolution should take place. But nonetheless, a passionate revolution is needed.
I personally learnt a lot from this book, there is a lot that I appreciate about Andrews. He doesn't settle for superficiality. He is passionate about real issues affecting real people, not just slogans and a guilt-tripping Instagram post. I think it's easy to brush over Britain's past deeds when they are unpleasant, so found it helpful glancing into the mirror, as it were. Kehinde rightly shows the damage done by slavery and colonialism, and how more action is needed to make the world a fairer place. I think it's important that it is brought to attention that racism has led to such poverty across the globe. Also, the racism on an individual level has been symptomatic from past superiority-complexes. It is important we have an awareness of this history as we continue to tackle racism. I think it's almost undeniable that more creative international economic solutions need pursuing to relieve the poverty in various nations be relieved, considering the West are at fault for this.
Although there is much to be appreciative of, the book is lacking in certain ways. Western philosophy is effectively discarded by Andrews as inseparable from the racism held by philosophers. This displays absolutely appalling logic. The idea that we can't appreciate Kant's categorical imperative because of other racist opinions doesn't make sense at all! Kant and other Enlightenment thinkers have been incredibly helpful in developing an array of wonderful ideas. Much like I can appreciate Andrews even though he's wrong on a lot, I'm sure he can learn to do the same with Kant.
Perhaps if he respected the Enlightenment philosophers slightly more, he may have encountered Hume's dictum that one can't deride an 'ought' from an 'is'. Andrews recognises present racism and awful historical examples of it. But then jumps extremely quickly to the idea that we ought to get rid of the entire system! Nothing short of revolution is an acceptable argument to Andrews as the System is irredeemable. I'm just not convinced by this enormous jump to conclusions. I did find it very ideologically charged, and there is of course a different perspective to most of what he's written. Alas, that is to be with any book arguing a specific point of view.
It is nonetheless worth a read. No one will agree with every word, but I'm pretty sure he wouldn't want them to. Andrews is great at making people think, and I was challenged by this book.
February 4, 2021
A damning exploration of the many ways in which the effects and logic of anti-black colonialism continue to inform our modern world written by the authoritative Dr. Kehinde Andrews - an Associate Professor in Sociology at the School of Social Sciences at Birmingham City University and developed the Europe's first Black Studies undergraduate degree. Colonialism and imperialism are often thought to be distant memories, whether they're glorified in Britain's collective nostalgia or taught as a sin of the past in history classes. This idea is bolstered by the emergence of India, China, Argentina and other non-western nations as leading world powers. Multiculturalism, immigration and globalization have led traditionalists to fear that the west is in decline and that white people are rapidly being left behind; progressives and reactionaries alike espouse the belief that we live in a post-racial society.
But imperialism, as Kehinde Andrews argues, is alive and well. It's just taken a new form: one in which the U.S. and not Europe is at the center of Western dominion, and imperial power looks more like racial capitalism than the expansion of colonial holdings. The International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Trade Organization and even the United Nations are only some of these modern mechanisms of Western imperialism. Yet these imperialist logics and tactics are not limited to just the west or to white people, as in the neocolonial relationship between China and Africa. Diving deep into the concepts of racial capitalism and racial patriarchy, Andrews adds nuance and context to these often over-simplified narratives, challenging the right and the left in equal measure.
Andrews takes the reader from genocide to slavery to colonialism, deftly explaining the histories of these phenomena, how their justifications are linked, and how they continue to shape our world to this day. The New Age of Empire is a damning indictment of white-centered ideologies from Marxism to neoliberalism, and a reminder that our histories are never really over. This is a fascinating, accessible and eye-opening exploration of a hard truth: we have not progressed as much as we would like to believe. Seamlessly and skilfully weaving history, economics and politics in order to back up his points and debunk the false narratives, this is a thorough and provocative, sharp-sighted and masterful dismantling of the social narratives that we continue to perpetuate without question or challenge. It's time for the world to wake up to some wholly uncomfortable truths as then, and only then, can we try to change that truth. Highly recommended.
But imperialism, as Kehinde Andrews argues, is alive and well. It's just taken a new form: one in which the U.S. and not Europe is at the center of Western dominion, and imperial power looks more like racial capitalism than the expansion of colonial holdings. The International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Trade Organization and even the United Nations are only some of these modern mechanisms of Western imperialism. Yet these imperialist logics and tactics are not limited to just the west or to white people, as in the neocolonial relationship between China and Africa. Diving deep into the concepts of racial capitalism and racial patriarchy, Andrews adds nuance and context to these often over-simplified narratives, challenging the right and the left in equal measure.
Andrews takes the reader from genocide to slavery to colonialism, deftly explaining the histories of these phenomena, how their justifications are linked, and how they continue to shape our world to this day. The New Age of Empire is a damning indictment of white-centered ideologies from Marxism to neoliberalism, and a reminder that our histories are never really over. This is a fascinating, accessible and eye-opening exploration of a hard truth: we have not progressed as much as we would like to believe. Seamlessly and skilfully weaving history, economics and politics in order to back up his points and debunk the false narratives, this is a thorough and provocative, sharp-sighted and masterful dismantling of the social narratives that we continue to perpetuate without question or challenge. It's time for the world to wake up to some wholly uncomfortable truths as then, and only then, can we try to change that truth. Highly recommended.
November 24, 2025
An extremely powerful book. Disturbing, but absolutely necessary during these times. Highly recommended.
March 17, 2022
5 stars. Standing ovation. Emmy, Grammy, Golden Globe!
January 14, 2023
“In truth, the West was birthed by genocide and relied on the slaughter of millions of Black and Brown bodies to develop and enrich itself. You cannot separate genocide and the West, which is by far the most brutal, violent and murderous system to ever grace the globe.”
This is a dangerous book. Easily one of the most controversial, iconoclastic, myth busting books I have read in a long time. Now I thought I knew a bit about many of the dark secrets hiding behind the history of the slave trade, but I discovered so much more in here.
“The West can never be the solution to global poverty because it is the cause of it.”
Andrews makes a fair point in stating that the West and its ideas of capitalism and democracy were built on racism, slavery, genocide and colonialism. And of course the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution and the phenomenal wealth and riches accrued by a small elite, were all made possible thanks to slavery.
“The Holocaust was the logic of empire brought into the heart of Europe.”
The Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin, who lost around fifty family members to the Holocaust, is credited with coming up with the term “genocide”. Andrews makes the point that the “Systemic killing of hundreds of millions of ‘savages’ in the colonies did not merit the creation of a new concept.” But when it happened to white people on a large, yet only a fraction of the scale and slaughter done to people of colour for centuries, we suddenly get a term and legal framework built upon it.
“When William Pitt the Younger, prime minister of Britain, realised that the British trade was enabling the success of their bitter rival he enlisted a certain William Wilberforce to begin a campaign to end the slave trade in 1786. The campaign was dressed up a moral crusade but was driven by the calculation that British colonies had trafficked enough Africans to maintain the plantations for ever, whereas the French plantations would be permanently damaged by losing their supply of enslaved Africans.”
“In 1833, Britain used £20 million, 40% of its national budget, to buy freedom for all slaves in the Empire? The amount of money borrowed for the Slavery Abolition Act was so large that it wasn’t paid off until 2015. Which means British citizens helped pay to end the slave trade.”
So reads a quote from Her Majesty’s Treasury, posted back in 9 February 2018.
Over £100 billion was paid out in compensation to private slave owners, a sum so phenomenal that the government had to borrow from the Bank of England, a loan so large it took 182 years to pay back. The church, politicians and banks (no surprises there) as well as thousands of private individuals owned slaves and were compensated. And not just the ancestors of former British PM David Cameron and his wife Samantha whose family have established links, but we also see that William Gladstone’s father received £83 million in today’s money.
“Nazis justified the Holocaust using the same racial science that legitimized genocide, slavery and colonialism in the colonies.”
Railways, industry and philanthropy were all connected to slavery and there’s no surprise to see that financial services were deep into it, two of the first five presidents of Sun Alliance owned slaves, Deloitte and Price Waterhouse Coopers were founded by families enriched by slave profits.
“The uncomfortable truth is that the Nazis did not undermine the governing principles of the West, they took them to their extreme, with deadly consequences. The simple ‘never again’ rhetoric misses the mark so widely because it presents the West as the solution, when in fact it was the system that was the problem all along.”
So ultimately what this book successfully does is make us question what exactly do we imagine when we use phrases like “Western civilization”. What exactly is civilized about the mechanised, trench warfare in the fields of Europe, or what led to the Holocaust?...
This reminded me that one of the joys of reading is that the more you read the less you realise you know. This makes for top drawer rage reading, and there were times where this came close to blowing my mind. This suffers a little from unhelpful repetition in the earlier stages, but make no mistake about it, the research is outstanding, and this is a superbly argued case and the results are at times stunning.
This is a dangerous book. Easily one of the most controversial, iconoclastic, myth busting books I have read in a long time. Now I thought I knew a bit about many of the dark secrets hiding behind the history of the slave trade, but I discovered so much more in here.
“The West can never be the solution to global poverty because it is the cause of it.”
Andrews makes a fair point in stating that the West and its ideas of capitalism and democracy were built on racism, slavery, genocide and colonialism. And of course the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution and the phenomenal wealth and riches accrued by a small elite, were all made possible thanks to slavery.
“The Holocaust was the logic of empire brought into the heart of Europe.”
The Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin, who lost around fifty family members to the Holocaust, is credited with coming up with the term “genocide”. Andrews makes the point that the “Systemic killing of hundreds of millions of ‘savages’ in the colonies did not merit the creation of a new concept.” But when it happened to white people on a large, yet only a fraction of the scale and slaughter done to people of colour for centuries, we suddenly get a term and legal framework built upon it.
“When William Pitt the Younger, prime minister of Britain, realised that the British trade was enabling the success of their bitter rival he enlisted a certain William Wilberforce to begin a campaign to end the slave trade in 1786. The campaign was dressed up a moral crusade but was driven by the calculation that British colonies had trafficked enough Africans to maintain the plantations for ever, whereas the French plantations would be permanently damaged by losing their supply of enslaved Africans.”
“In 1833, Britain used £20 million, 40% of its national budget, to buy freedom for all slaves in the Empire? The amount of money borrowed for the Slavery Abolition Act was so large that it wasn’t paid off until 2015. Which means British citizens helped pay to end the slave trade.”
So reads a quote from Her Majesty’s Treasury, posted back in 9 February 2018.
Over £100 billion was paid out in compensation to private slave owners, a sum so phenomenal that the government had to borrow from the Bank of England, a loan so large it took 182 years to pay back. The church, politicians and banks (no surprises there) as well as thousands of private individuals owned slaves and were compensated. And not just the ancestors of former British PM David Cameron and his wife Samantha whose family have established links, but we also see that William Gladstone’s father received £83 million in today’s money.
“Nazis justified the Holocaust using the same racial science that legitimized genocide, slavery and colonialism in the colonies.”
Railways, industry and philanthropy were all connected to slavery and there’s no surprise to see that financial services were deep into it, two of the first five presidents of Sun Alliance owned slaves, Deloitte and Price Waterhouse Coopers were founded by families enriched by slave profits.
“The uncomfortable truth is that the Nazis did not undermine the governing principles of the West, they took them to their extreme, with deadly consequences. The simple ‘never again’ rhetoric misses the mark so widely because it presents the West as the solution, when in fact it was the system that was the problem all along.”
So ultimately what this book successfully does is make us question what exactly do we imagine when we use phrases like “Western civilization”. What exactly is civilized about the mechanised, trench warfare in the fields of Europe, or what led to the Holocaust?...
This reminded me that one of the joys of reading is that the more you read the less you realise you know. This makes for top drawer rage reading, and there were times where this came close to blowing my mind. This suffers a little from unhelpful repetition in the earlier stages, but make no mistake about it, the research is outstanding, and this is a superbly argued case and the results are at times stunning.
June 8, 2024
I find I always struggle when writers rail against literally every single thing currently in the world, yet refrain from proposing even one idea of where to go from now. A call for revolution on the second to last page isn't enough. Of course we need a revolution. But what should it look like? Or at least, where is the revolution supposed to take us?
Sure, there is no easy fix and there are no clear actionable steps, but maybe a quasi-utopian outline of what the world should look like would be a start. The current global economy is deeply racist, so what could a new global economy look like in its stead? By this I don't mean to say that I think racism is inevitable, but I am still struggling to imagine where we could be, especially with regards to economic ties and protectionism vs. globalization. Maybe this isn't the book for that, but I also don't think you can spend this much time tearing absolutely everything down without any perspective for the future.
This book is very much a call to think and discuss, and based on the conversations it sparked in my life already as I was reading and thinking through the text with friends, it's certainly doing its job. I agree with a lot of Andrews' analysis, and really appreciated especially how he analyzed the Enlightenment roots of racism and post-war new economics-based imperialism, which clarified some things for me. I'm just missing at least a little bit of realistic, productive, "okay, and now what?" Maybe Andrews' other works would give me more of that.
Sure, there is no easy fix and there are no clear actionable steps, but maybe a quasi-utopian outline of what the world should look like would be a start. The current global economy is deeply racist, so what could a new global economy look like in its stead? By this I don't mean to say that I think racism is inevitable, but I am still struggling to imagine where we could be, especially with regards to economic ties and protectionism vs. globalization. Maybe this isn't the book for that, but I also don't think you can spend this much time tearing absolutely everything down without any perspective for the future.
This book is very much a call to think and discuss, and based on the conversations it sparked in my life already as I was reading and thinking through the text with friends, it's certainly doing its job. I agree with a lot of Andrews' analysis, and really appreciated especially how he analyzed the Enlightenment roots of racism and post-war new economics-based imperialism, which clarified some things for me. I'm just missing at least a little bit of realistic, productive, "okay, and now what?" Maybe Andrews' other works would give me more of that.
March 31, 2021
While the book clearly shows the crimes committed by Western nations in terms of racism, genocide, slavery and colonialism, it progressively loses its objectivity in becoming racist in reverse only looking at racism shown by the great names of the Enlightenment but denying their contribution. Same comment regarding the Industrial revolution. It is a pity as it could have been a good book with a strong message if it had stayed objective.
A small additional remark (though it didn’t affect my rating) the author refers repeatedly to oil palm while the correct term is palm oil.
A small additional remark (though it didn’t affect my rating) the author refers repeatedly to oil palm while the correct term is palm oil.
June 5, 2021
This is a book in serious need of an editor.
Andrews has plenty of valid points and research to back them up but fails to structure it in a way that is convincing or readable, leaving the reader to dig through repetitive diatribes and unnecessary barbs to get to the facts.
Andrews has plenty of valid points and research to back them up but fails to structure it in a way that is convincing or readable, leaving the reader to dig through repetitive diatribes and unnecessary barbs to get to the facts.
February 23, 2021
Absolutely incredible, a jaw-dropping walk through the history of genocide and slavery that led to the current western systems we have today. Very much an eye-opening read about how white supremacy is built into everyday lives and just how much white people benefit from the exploitation of African and Asian lives to the modern day. My 'favourite' part was learning about how loans from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund underdeveloped countries and keep them reliant on the West, like a modern form of a colony.
April 5, 2021
4.25|5
🌼 My 600th read 🌼
🌼 My 600th read 🌼
July 5, 2024
Review ongoing.... thought vomit stage....
Kehinde has such a strong voice which made it very easy to read this book. It felt more like a conversation.
In summary, this book explores the persistence of racial and colonial structures in the modern world and highlights how western prosperity is dependent on the underdevelopment of colonized/ newly independent regions through institutions like the IMF, perpetuating economic disparities under the guise of promoting good governance and economic development.
Below, I break down the focus of each of the chapters.
Introduction
Here, Kehinde lays out the thesis of this work. He highlights key constructs that have shaped the discourse around racism and colonialism today. From racial capitalism (with insights into the prison industrial complex and privatization of prison labour), to colonial nostalgia (with Trump 'MAGA' campaign and Britain's Brexit), to racial patriarchy (highlighting the role white women played in colonialism and slavery) and finally post racialism. As he states,"The New Age of Empire focuses on tracing the colonial logic of the west and explores how whiteness is embedded into the political and economic system."
Chapter 1 - I'm White, Therefore I Am
Kehinde starts by discussing the intellectual labour that feed and fed off racism. He uses Kant as an example. Kant's work is filled with racist stereotypes and a sheer hatred for Black people; but this is often overlooked by Kant lovers because of his condemnation of colonialism. Kehinde is quick to remind us that these two things are not contradictory. He highlights how Kant's work underpins some of the social order (e.g. UN) that we have today. He discusses racial science and Darwin's racism; the corruption of enlightenment and more interestingly (to me at least) the decolonization of knowledge. A lot of 'Enlightenment' thinkers seem to believe that wisdom was of the white man.(This is obviously a joke. When the West - Britain, Spain and their friends were dying of diseases, shadowed in the dark ages - civilizations around the world had established libraries and universities, constructed geometrical structures that were considered witchcraft by the west at the time - I could go on and on but back to the point.) Basically, the current global economy and current social order is built on the "image of White supremacy that was so neatly outlined by the Enlightenment thinkers".
Chapter 2 - Genocide
Here, Kehinde starts by tracing Columbus (the guy who sailed the ocean blue) journey to America and the subsequent genocide of the natives through purposeful massacres, diseases and starvation. Kehinde highlights how resistance of the natives was seen and used as a justification for genocidal escalation (hmm, where have I seen that before, I wonder). Kehinde discusses settler colonialism as genocide, describing the ways settlers and colonizers establish majority and demographic superiority using the extermination of Aborigines in Australia as an example. He explores the term 'genocide' and it almost singular attribution to the Holocaust. He criticizes the western monopolistic use of the term for the Holocaust and their blindness to African genocides, including the Rwandan genocides and the role western imperialism played in dividing the tribes. The main point is this, the Holocaust was horrible but it is not the work of a few bad powerful men. It is a principle of western modernity and expansion come to play at home using the same racial science justifications. So if it is to be accorded the status of genocide (as it should), other genocides should be responded to with the same horror and necessary compensation should be provided (we can start with the $90 Billion that Germany paid, and then go from there).
Chapter 3 - Slavery
Here, Kehinde explores the current view and thoughts around the impact of slavery on western capitalism and development. He highlights the costs of abolition as it pertains to amount paid to slave owners as well as how and who paid for it (including tax payers today). Some of which included descendants of enslaved Africans. He briefly mentions the cities that grew and depended on the slave trade (for more information see Eric Williams book Capitalism & Slavery). Mostly importantly, he discusses the impact slavery had on the African economy and politics, highlighting how Africa was not a homogeneous society which was consequential, in that different kingdoms participated in the slave trade to protect their people.
Chapter 4 - Colonialism
Kehinde starts by challenging the idea of fair trade, highlighting the exploitation of African countries to further the development of the west. He stress that this is a continuation of the slave trade. He describes how the west's development is tied to the underdevelopment of the east and africa. He identifies two corporations (Cardbury and Unilever) as examples. He highlights counties like Indonesia and Malaysia and India which are exploited for cheap labour now. I really liked the discussion on education and neocolonialism. Kehinde discusses the attempt by the west to 'educate' select member of Africians in the way of whiteness in order to employ them as extensions of western idealism in the region. He uses the e.g of Patrice Lumumba who received western education but did not serve as a puppet to their ideals. In addition, he discusses the establishment of Liberia and the US goverment use of the colony as an outpost. He highlights the US actions against the wishes of the African Union and their role in destabilizing the region. He discusses the war on terrior, the collapse of somalia economy, patriot act and the killing of millions of Arabs.
Chapter 5 - Dawn of a New Age
Here Kehinde discussed the current incarnation of western empire that present an image of international unity and progress but maintains the exploitative and colonial logic of the previous era. He starts by linking the history before the second world war, the germans loss of its colonies, bombing of pearl harbour and atlanta charter that formed the foundations of the UN. he highlights the problems with the structure (veto - security council) of the UN and how it undermines the sovereignty of other countries. He goes on to discuss the IMF and its role in underdeveloping African countries to the benefits of western global political and financial manipulation. He states that despite the differences between the IMF and the world bank, they both enforce neoliberalism and plunder economies. He discusses universities and government 'investment' is them as tools for propagating west imperialism. He turns his lens on the 'foreign-aid industrial complex' and the abandonment of race in the dustbin of history. Finally, he explores the British exploitation of Palestine, the Balfour declaration and US funding of Israel.
Whilst we had people like Lumumba and Nkrumh who did dnot succumb to their western education, it cannot be said of those in the underdeveloped world who replaced them, as Kehinde highlights "So complete and perverse is the new age of empire that is has allowed the face of Western domination to become increasingly diverse. In order to maintain the facade it is essential that the only diners at the through of empire are no longer just White people. There have always been those in the underdeveloped world who colluded with the oppressive system to enrich themselves. One of the more dispiriting features of the new age is that there is a growing class of Black and Brown faces profiting off the logic of racial oppression who are, knowingly or not, being used to market the fairness of the system" -It is like Prof Ruha Benjamin said, "Black faces in high places will not save us". Its like Fanon said in his book, the wretch of the earth, the native elites are often alwasys in cahoots with colonial powers.
Chapter 6 - The Non-White West
Here kehinder described the new centre of manufacturing power and trade and the its influence on global power and influence; starting with trump's trade war with foreign manufacturing and the western optics of transporting work or labour overseas. He moves on to discuss how china (like india) has a large workforcae in poverty that makes it a giant capable of producing so much (basically, their growth as a manufacturer is based on their population remaining in poverty). Tying this to china's scramble for africa and their growing 'predatory' relationships over the past few years. He highlights that while china builds infrastructure in agrica it also employs its own people with its foreign aid funds this allows the country to not lose money but at the same time make money from the west via production and ffrom africa via resource extraction. He discusses BRICS highlighting the heavy presence of new era western exploutation. However, whilst we can blame th ewest a lot (righfully) for their exploitation of Africa, we cannot elevate africans as blameless, especially when we observe the actions of the bourgeoisie class.
Chapter 7 - Imperial Democracy
Here Kehinde discuss the climate criss and how it disadvantages to the global south. He explore the perception of the enlighteningment ("The greatest lie underpinning the Enlightenment is embedded in its name. Knowledge did not spread out of Europe to bright light to the uncivilizrf parts of the world. In fact, it was the very opposite: Europe took knowledge produced around the globe and whitewashed it, pretending it was theirs. Science has certainly contributed much to the world but to pretend it is the possession of the West is only possible due to the conceits of Whiteness."), describing that the west's progress and development was built out of genocide, slavery and colonalism rather than science and industry as enlightenment thinker will have you believe. He discusses the 'intermet of things', china's use of the interest for surveillance in an autoritaiuam state, using it to squash dessent, the use fo technology by the US FBI to surveil and destory Black power groups from within. The privatization of governement defnense systems, he discusses the issues with borders and the 'brain-drain' in african counties, universe basic incomes, and their inadequecies in addressing the boomerang effect of empire. He goes on to describe protests and how they fails to advocate for those impacted by aempire as well as the hypocise of some of these movements.
Chapter 8 - Chickens Coming Home to Roost
In the final chapter kehinde both gives us hop and offer a warning. Starting with the poor global response to the pandemic - a result of decades long privatization of services that would have helped (with a focus on the UK), he descrubes the racism tied to immigration & trade deals like Brexits and the disastrous economic conquences. he descirbes the political class and the range of politicians that have destroyed the economy in a vain attempt to paciffy their base. A base that is usually ride with misinformation, racism, religious bigotry, islamophobia etc. if and when britain continues down the neoliberal abysss, the logic of imperialism will wreak the country. He describes politician manufacturing of fear to justify their ends of profit that ofent do not benefit the local population but corporate investors. He describes how the UK is dependent of the import of labour from their colonies to run the country. He goes onto discuss the rise of neoliberalism and the utilization of it fascist police tactice to quell protest, the use of imagery 'welfare queenb', China's market capitalism, the erasure of the Black middle class, likelihood of nuclear holocaust, overconsumation, climate crisis and the rise of non-white power who are the new and upcoming face of global racial capitalism.
Kehinde ends with this "But make no mistake, whether spurred by revolution or tipped into collapse under its own weight, the West will eventually fall. Malcolm was right when he warned that it will be 'the ballot or the bullet, liberty or death, freedom for everybody or freedom for nobody' .
Kehinde has such a strong voice which made it very easy to read this book. It felt more like a conversation.
In summary, this book explores the persistence of racial and colonial structures in the modern world and highlights how western prosperity is dependent on the underdevelopment of colonized/ newly independent regions through institutions like the IMF, perpetuating economic disparities under the guise of promoting good governance and economic development.
Below, I break down the focus of each of the chapters.
Introduction
Here, Kehinde lays out the thesis of this work. He highlights key constructs that have shaped the discourse around racism and colonialism today. From racial capitalism (with insights into the prison industrial complex and privatization of prison labour), to colonial nostalgia (with Trump 'MAGA' campaign and Britain's Brexit), to racial patriarchy (highlighting the role white women played in colonialism and slavery) and finally post racialism. As he states,"The New Age of Empire focuses on tracing the colonial logic of the west and explores how whiteness is embedded into the political and economic system."
Chapter 1 - I'm White, Therefore I Am
Kehinde starts by discussing the intellectual labour that feed and fed off racism. He uses Kant as an example. Kant's work is filled with racist stereotypes and a sheer hatred for Black people; but this is often overlooked by Kant lovers because of his condemnation of colonialism. Kehinde is quick to remind us that these two things are not contradictory. He highlights how Kant's work underpins some of the social order (e.g. UN) that we have today. He discusses racial science and Darwin's racism; the corruption of enlightenment and more interestingly (to me at least) the decolonization of knowledge. A lot of 'Enlightenment' thinkers seem to believe that wisdom was of the white man.(This is obviously a joke. When the West - Britain, Spain and their friends were dying of diseases, shadowed in the dark ages - civilizations around the world had established libraries and universities, constructed geometrical structures that were considered witchcraft by the west at the time - I could go on and on but back to the point.) Basically, the current global economy and current social order is built on the "image of White supremacy that was so neatly outlined by the Enlightenment thinkers".
Chapter 2 - Genocide
Here, Kehinde starts by tracing Columbus (the guy who sailed the ocean blue) journey to America and the subsequent genocide of the natives through purposeful massacres, diseases and starvation. Kehinde highlights how resistance of the natives was seen and used as a justification for genocidal escalation (hmm, where have I seen that before, I wonder). Kehinde discusses settler colonialism as genocide, describing the ways settlers and colonizers establish majority and demographic superiority using the extermination of Aborigines in Australia as an example. He explores the term 'genocide' and it almost singular attribution to the Holocaust. He criticizes the western monopolistic use of the term for the Holocaust and their blindness to African genocides, including the Rwandan genocides and the role western imperialism played in dividing the tribes. The main point is this, the Holocaust was horrible but it is not the work of a few bad powerful men. It is a principle of western modernity and expansion come to play at home using the same racial science justifications. So if it is to be accorded the status of genocide (as it should), other genocides should be responded to with the same horror and necessary compensation should be provided (we can start with the $90 Billion that Germany paid, and then go from there).
Chapter 3 - Slavery
Here, Kehinde explores the current view and thoughts around the impact of slavery on western capitalism and development. He highlights the costs of abolition as it pertains to amount paid to slave owners as well as how and who paid for it (including tax payers today). Some of which included descendants of enslaved Africans. He briefly mentions the cities that grew and depended on the slave trade (for more information see Eric Williams book Capitalism & Slavery). Mostly importantly, he discusses the impact slavery had on the African economy and politics, highlighting how Africa was not a homogeneous society which was consequential, in that different kingdoms participated in the slave trade to protect their people.
Chapter 4 - Colonialism
Kehinde starts by challenging the idea of fair trade, highlighting the exploitation of African countries to further the development of the west. He stress that this is a continuation of the slave trade. He describes how the west's development is tied to the underdevelopment of the east and africa. He identifies two corporations (Cardbury and Unilever) as examples. He highlights counties like Indonesia and Malaysia and India which are exploited for cheap labour now. I really liked the discussion on education and neocolonialism. Kehinde discusses the attempt by the west to 'educate' select member of Africians in the way of whiteness in order to employ them as extensions of western idealism in the region. He uses the e.g of Patrice Lumumba who received western education but did not serve as a puppet to their ideals. In addition, he discusses the establishment of Liberia and the US goverment use of the colony as an outpost. He highlights the US actions against the wishes of the African Union and their role in destabilizing the region. He discusses the war on terrior, the collapse of somalia economy, patriot act and the killing of millions of Arabs.
Chapter 5 - Dawn of a New Age
Here Kehinde discussed the current incarnation of western empire that present an image of international unity and progress but maintains the exploitative and colonial logic of the previous era. He starts by linking the history before the second world war, the germans loss of its colonies, bombing of pearl harbour and atlanta charter that formed the foundations of the UN. he highlights the problems with the structure (veto - security council) of the UN and how it undermines the sovereignty of other countries. He goes on to discuss the IMF and its role in underdeveloping African countries to the benefits of western global political and financial manipulation. He states that despite the differences between the IMF and the world bank, they both enforce neoliberalism and plunder economies. He discusses universities and government 'investment' is them as tools for propagating west imperialism. He turns his lens on the 'foreign-aid industrial complex' and the abandonment of race in the dustbin of history. Finally, he explores the British exploitation of Palestine, the Balfour declaration and US funding of Israel.
Whilst we had people like Lumumba and Nkrumh who did dnot succumb to their western education, it cannot be said of those in the underdeveloped world who replaced them, as Kehinde highlights "So complete and perverse is the new age of empire that is has allowed the face of Western domination to become increasingly diverse. In order to maintain the facade it is essential that the only diners at the through of empire are no longer just White people. There have always been those in the underdeveloped world who colluded with the oppressive system to enrich themselves. One of the more dispiriting features of the new age is that there is a growing class of Black and Brown faces profiting off the logic of racial oppression who are, knowingly or not, being used to market the fairness of the system" -It is like Prof Ruha Benjamin said, "Black faces in high places will not save us". Its like Fanon said in his book, the wretch of the earth, the native elites are often alwasys in cahoots with colonial powers.
Chapter 6 - The Non-White West
Here kehinder described the new centre of manufacturing power and trade and the its influence on global power and influence; starting with trump's trade war with foreign manufacturing and the western optics of transporting work or labour overseas. He moves on to discuss how china (like india) has a large workforcae in poverty that makes it a giant capable of producing so much (basically, their growth as a manufacturer is based on their population remaining in poverty). Tying this to china's scramble for africa and their growing 'predatory' relationships over the past few years. He highlights that while china builds infrastructure in agrica it also employs its own people with its foreign aid funds this allows the country to not lose money but at the same time make money from the west via production and ffrom africa via resource extraction. He discusses BRICS highlighting the heavy presence of new era western exploutation. However, whilst we can blame th ewest a lot (righfully) for their exploitation of Africa, we cannot elevate africans as blameless, especially when we observe the actions of the bourgeoisie class.
Chapter 7 - Imperial Democracy
Here Kehinde discuss the climate criss and how it disadvantages to the global south. He explore the perception of the enlighteningment ("The greatest lie underpinning the Enlightenment is embedded in its name. Knowledge did not spread out of Europe to bright light to the uncivilizrf parts of the world. In fact, it was the very opposite: Europe took knowledge produced around the globe and whitewashed it, pretending it was theirs. Science has certainly contributed much to the world but to pretend it is the possession of the West is only possible due to the conceits of Whiteness."), describing that the west's progress and development was built out of genocide, slavery and colonalism rather than science and industry as enlightenment thinker will have you believe. He discusses the 'intermet of things', china's use of the interest for surveillance in an autoritaiuam state, using it to squash dessent, the use fo technology by the US FBI to surveil and destory Black power groups from within. The privatization of governement defnense systems, he discusses the issues with borders and the 'brain-drain' in african counties, universe basic incomes, and their inadequecies in addressing the boomerang effect of empire. He goes on to describe protests and how they fails to advocate for those impacted by aempire as well as the hypocise of some of these movements.
Chapter 8 - Chickens Coming Home to Roost
In the final chapter kehinde both gives us hop and offer a warning. Starting with the poor global response to the pandemic - a result of decades long privatization of services that would have helped (with a focus on the UK), he descrubes the racism tied to immigration & trade deals like Brexits and the disastrous economic conquences. he descirbes the political class and the range of politicians that have destroyed the economy in a vain attempt to paciffy their base. A base that is usually ride with misinformation, racism, religious bigotry, islamophobia etc. if and when britain continues down the neoliberal abysss, the logic of imperialism will wreak the country. He describes politician manufacturing of fear to justify their ends of profit that ofent do not benefit the local population but corporate investors. He describes how the UK is dependent of the import of labour from their colonies to run the country. He goes onto discuss the rise of neoliberalism and the utilization of it fascist police tactice to quell protest, the use of imagery 'welfare queenb', China's market capitalism, the erasure of the Black middle class, likelihood of nuclear holocaust, overconsumation, climate crisis and the rise of non-white power who are the new and upcoming face of global racial capitalism.
Kehinde ends with this "But make no mistake, whether spurred by revolution or tipped into collapse under its own weight, the West will eventually fall. Malcolm was right when he warned that it will be 'the ballot or the bullet, liberty or death, freedom for everybody or freedom for nobody' .
November 8, 2021
Chapter 1,7 and 8 were a bit too long, his points could have been made in a paragraph. I HATED how many times he said „the chickens coming home to roost“ in the final chapter. The rest and the ideas therein are fantastic!!
* racialised patriarchy
* higher child mortality = women need to reproduce more to guarantee some survival. Lowering child mortality = freeing women from reproduction and allowing autonomy
* Kant was super racist in his reasons for moral existence. The enlightenment arose during the time of peak slave trade, thus the enlightenment has racism at its core.
* chapter 2 on genocide
* king leopold of germany and killings in the congo deeply remind me of Colonisers and Colonised
* “The Nazis did not undermine the governing principles of the west, but took them to their extreme” the western system was the problem all along not the solution
* Western powers also created hierarchies of race within black africa. Ex.Rwanda (Genocide) and Burundi stirred up rivalries and wars. Racialisation and instiutionalisation of tribal diffrrence by Europeans are the ground work for current violence between: Tutsi, Bantu, Hamit and Hudu
* The west was founded by genocide in the americas and carribean and sustained with colonial slaughter around the world.
* The roots of genocide in Nazi Germany and the Rwandan Genocide are a product of the west which could only have happend in the house built upon the violence of enligtenment thought.
* Christmas rebellion in Haiti in 1804 = fear = abandon trade in africa due to fear if carribean revolt.
* Rebellion and revolution (heightend risk) and lowering price of sugar (lower cost, competition from india) = in danger of collapse and west depends on welath from slavery and that welath stays with us till today.
* Finance cut its teeth on the slave trade, for example Lloyd Bank became rich by ensuring slaves. Sugar & Slave Labour
* immaculate conception story of british industry. many sectors of industry only had a market because of slavery = produce wealth, power and markets needed to fuel the industrial revolution
* End slave trade = british saw they had enough slaves to go on forever, but french did not = opportunity to gain market supremacy
* salvery not started by west, but transported to new heights. Arab slave markets inspired Europeans, Tunisian man from 15th century origin of inferiority of black man = west took racial ideas from arab world and built into political and economic system in order to exploit the globe and build the modern world
* Wealth from the colonialisation of africa allowed the west to have the capital to move into asia and created our current cheap labour force in asian markets
* the same commodities (drops) that drove colonialism fuel the global economy today. ex: sugar, rubber, oil palm
* Robbing India via taxation of colonies
* when african countries gained independence they were left with insufficient infrastructure such as hospitals and trains for their populations, as their former colonisers were not interested in this development
* Under British Rule, India went from being one of the richest countries in the world to one of the most underdeveloped in the world
* racialised patriarchy
* higher child mortality = women need to reproduce more to guarantee some survival. Lowering child mortality = freeing women from reproduction and allowing autonomy
* Kant was super racist in his reasons for moral existence. The enlightenment arose during the time of peak slave trade, thus the enlightenment has racism at its core.
* chapter 2 on genocide
* king leopold of germany and killings in the congo deeply remind me of Colonisers and Colonised
* “The Nazis did not undermine the governing principles of the west, but took them to their extreme” the western system was the problem all along not the solution
* Western powers also created hierarchies of race within black africa. Ex.Rwanda (Genocide) and Burundi stirred up rivalries and wars. Racialisation and instiutionalisation of tribal diffrrence by Europeans are the ground work for current violence between: Tutsi, Bantu, Hamit and Hudu
* The west was founded by genocide in the americas and carribean and sustained with colonial slaughter around the world.
* The roots of genocide in Nazi Germany and the Rwandan Genocide are a product of the west which could only have happend in the house built upon the violence of enligtenment thought.
* Christmas rebellion in Haiti in 1804 = fear = abandon trade in africa due to fear if carribean revolt.
* Rebellion and revolution (heightend risk) and lowering price of sugar (lower cost, competition from india) = in danger of collapse and west depends on welath from slavery and that welath stays with us till today.
* Finance cut its teeth on the slave trade, for example Lloyd Bank became rich by ensuring slaves. Sugar & Slave Labour
* immaculate conception story of british industry. many sectors of industry only had a market because of slavery = produce wealth, power and markets needed to fuel the industrial revolution
* End slave trade = british saw they had enough slaves to go on forever, but french did not = opportunity to gain market supremacy
* salvery not started by west, but transported to new heights. Arab slave markets inspired Europeans, Tunisian man from 15th century origin of inferiority of black man = west took racial ideas from arab world and built into political and economic system in order to exploit the globe and build the modern world
* Wealth from the colonialisation of africa allowed the west to have the capital to move into asia and created our current cheap labour force in asian markets
* the same commodities (drops) that drove colonialism fuel the global economy today. ex: sugar, rubber, oil palm
* Robbing India via taxation of colonies
* when african countries gained independence they were left with insufficient infrastructure such as hospitals and trains for their populations, as their former colonisers were not interested in this development
* Under British Rule, India went from being one of the richest countries in the world to one of the most underdeveloped in the world
March 11, 2021
Shockingly racist ranting. Factually incorrect and confused in the extreme.
A terrible piece of scholarship promoting the racial essentialist ideas of the far right.
Shameful rubbish.
A terrible piece of scholarship promoting the racial essentialist ideas of the far right.
Shameful rubbish.
May 18, 2021
So very angry, but no suggestions on what to do. Strong, and shocking, on the history of imperialism, but confused on the difference between that and capitalism. The most frustrating failure is his unwillingness to prescribe any remedy short of 'revolution', which is neither helpful nor clear.
December 18, 2021
One of the consequences of the growing profile of ‘race’ as site of political and socio-cultural struggle has been an increasing awareness that recognises the historical bases of that struggle and an admission, in some circles at least, that there is a structural and systemic issue here, not just the retrograde views of unenlightened individuals. There’s still a long way to go, and one of the major problems with the current approach is a general failure to recognise the links between historical and current circumstances. Part of the problem here has been the power of the ‘post-race’ fantasy that got its biggest boost with Obama’s election, but across much of Europe plays into a post-Imperial nostalgia sustained in some settings by myths of republican citizenship. This is in addition to the kinds of White Supremicist and neo-fascist politics we see associated in different balances with Trump, Modi, Bolsanaro, Johnson and others of their ilk.
It is in this context that we have seen the growing profile of new critical voices, including in the UK the sociologist Kehinde Andrews, whose previous book explored the currency and space for the Black radical tradition in contemporary politics, whereas here he turns, in a more internationalist shift, to the contemporary political dynamics of ‘race’. These two texts are very much part of an attempt, it seems, to rethink and reassert to place of race in contemporary theory and practice. It does so by weaving together the intellectual bases of ‘race’ with the structures and practices of oppression.
There is a widely recognised truth in studies of imperialism and colonialism as well as of racialized thinking that notions of race hierarchies as structural and inherent did not bring about colonialism, slavery and genocide, but that ideas of ‘race’ were systematised and made scientific to justify those practices. So while we look at the 16th century debates between Bartolomé de las Casas and Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, the Valladolid debate of 1550, over whether Indigenous Americans had souls and therefore should not be enslaved, we see that they became a justification for the enslavement of people from Africa who were deemed not to have souls – that is, to be less than human (to his credit, later in his life it seems that de las Casas shifted position to oppose enslavement of Africans also). We’re not so good in this literature at identifying how those views became systematised, so it a welcome move to see Andrews engage with both the historical literature pointing to the long-standing existence of racialized hierarchies before systemic enslavement, while also exploring the analyses of philosophical thought that highlight the adherence to racist outlooks among Enlightenment thinkers. That is to say, those views of hierarches of race were woven into the conventions of European thought: while this does not necessarily invalidate many of the insights of Kant and Hume and Herder and their ilk, it does rather undermine their universalism of them all and the legitimacy of many.
Focusing on this issue is important to the argument Andrews is making because it allows him, correctly, to argue that these racialized outlooks are woven into the fundamentals of European philosophy and consequently into wider social and political thinking. It is this move that gives his compelling case for systemic and structural continuities between the genocide (as the basis of settler colonialism), slavery (as essential to the formation of capitalism) and colonialism of the era of high empire to the new Imperialism that sees not only many of the players of that era across the Euro-American nexus still acting as key players but also the emergence of new forces whose outlooks are linked to those Enlightenment hierarchies, including many in the BRICS grouping.
It is a powerful, revisionist, analysis in that there is little in the way of new source material; rather he does as many of us in scholarly work do – he goes back to what we know and asks new questions of it. This approach leaves him, as many of the rest of us who also work in this manner, open to the criticism of having made errors, when new questions lead to new and different answers that might appear to be erroneous. There are however some turns of phrase that did seem to have problematic implications – so for instance in reference to the New Zealand government’s settlements with Māori over breaches of a Treaty between Māori and the Crown (p82) it seems that that that settlements date back only to 1863, not 1840 when the Treaty was signed – but that is because of the phrasing as it relates to the specific settlement Andrews is citing. A good editor and fact checker should have picked this up.
Despite the argument’s power there are two aspects that continue to unsettle me. The first is one of emphasis and tone, where the rigour of his focus on questions of race risks, in places, becoming reductive – that is, race becomes a monolithic explanation to the exclusion of all else. This is, as noted, an issue of tone rather than the structure or form of the argument, but it has the effect of weakening a powerful case. The second aspect is related and is one of structure. The introduction includes a valuable discussion of racial patriarchy alongside one of racial capitalism and notes the importance of both capitalism and patriarchy to regimes of global and localised power. However, this discussion seems to reduce intersectionality to a question of gender, and there almost exclusively to an issue for women, and then marginalises patriarchal dynamics by noting “I have not specifically engaged I how the application of empire is gendered” (p xxvi). This seems to be a poor presentation of intersectional thinking (his discussion of patriarchy is good, it’s the apparent limitation of the intersectional only to gender that is the problem) and suggests that the reductive tone has a structural element – akin to the problem of some Marxist thinking that prioritises class over all else and leave race and gender to be dealt with after the revolution.
So, as powerful, coherent (as in with well integrated components) and consistent the argument is, it remains partial and his case needs to be considered alongside other work such as Alexander Anievas and Kerem Nişancioğlu’s How the West Came to Rule , Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin’s The Making of Global Capitalism , Brenna Bhandar and Rafeef Ziadah’s edited collection Revolutionary Feminisms , Lola Olufemi’s Feminism Interrupted: Disrupting Power and Françoise Vergés A Decolonial Feminism . There is much to do in rethinking empire: this is an important contribution.
It is in this context that we have seen the growing profile of new critical voices, including in the UK the sociologist Kehinde Andrews, whose previous book explored the currency and space for the Black radical tradition in contemporary politics, whereas here he turns, in a more internationalist shift, to the contemporary political dynamics of ‘race’. These two texts are very much part of an attempt, it seems, to rethink and reassert to place of race in contemporary theory and practice. It does so by weaving together the intellectual bases of ‘race’ with the structures and practices of oppression.
There is a widely recognised truth in studies of imperialism and colonialism as well as of racialized thinking that notions of race hierarchies as structural and inherent did not bring about colonialism, slavery and genocide, but that ideas of ‘race’ were systematised and made scientific to justify those practices. So while we look at the 16th century debates between Bartolomé de las Casas and Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, the Valladolid debate of 1550, over whether Indigenous Americans had souls and therefore should not be enslaved, we see that they became a justification for the enslavement of people from Africa who were deemed not to have souls – that is, to be less than human (to his credit, later in his life it seems that de las Casas shifted position to oppose enslavement of Africans also). We’re not so good in this literature at identifying how those views became systematised, so it a welcome move to see Andrews engage with both the historical literature pointing to the long-standing existence of racialized hierarchies before systemic enslavement, while also exploring the analyses of philosophical thought that highlight the adherence to racist outlooks among Enlightenment thinkers. That is to say, those views of hierarches of race were woven into the conventions of European thought: while this does not necessarily invalidate many of the insights of Kant and Hume and Herder and their ilk, it does rather undermine their universalism of them all and the legitimacy of many.
Focusing on this issue is important to the argument Andrews is making because it allows him, correctly, to argue that these racialized outlooks are woven into the fundamentals of European philosophy and consequently into wider social and political thinking. It is this move that gives his compelling case for systemic and structural continuities between the genocide (as the basis of settler colonialism), slavery (as essential to the formation of capitalism) and colonialism of the era of high empire to the new Imperialism that sees not only many of the players of that era across the Euro-American nexus still acting as key players but also the emergence of new forces whose outlooks are linked to those Enlightenment hierarchies, including many in the BRICS grouping.
It is a powerful, revisionist, analysis in that there is little in the way of new source material; rather he does as many of us in scholarly work do – he goes back to what we know and asks new questions of it. This approach leaves him, as many of the rest of us who also work in this manner, open to the criticism of having made errors, when new questions lead to new and different answers that might appear to be erroneous. There are however some turns of phrase that did seem to have problematic implications – so for instance in reference to the New Zealand government’s settlements with Māori over breaches of a Treaty between Māori and the Crown (p82) it seems that that that settlements date back only to 1863, not 1840 when the Treaty was signed – but that is because of the phrasing as it relates to the specific settlement Andrews is citing. A good editor and fact checker should have picked this up.
Despite the argument’s power there are two aspects that continue to unsettle me. The first is one of emphasis and tone, where the rigour of his focus on questions of race risks, in places, becoming reductive – that is, race becomes a monolithic explanation to the exclusion of all else. This is, as noted, an issue of tone rather than the structure or form of the argument, but it has the effect of weakening a powerful case. The second aspect is related and is one of structure. The introduction includes a valuable discussion of racial patriarchy alongside one of racial capitalism and notes the importance of both capitalism and patriarchy to regimes of global and localised power. However, this discussion seems to reduce intersectionality to a question of gender, and there almost exclusively to an issue for women, and then marginalises patriarchal dynamics by noting “I have not specifically engaged I how the application of empire is gendered” (p xxvi). This seems to be a poor presentation of intersectional thinking (his discussion of patriarchy is good, it’s the apparent limitation of the intersectional only to gender that is the problem) and suggests that the reductive tone has a structural element – akin to the problem of some Marxist thinking that prioritises class over all else and leave race and gender to be dealt with after the revolution.
So, as powerful, coherent (as in with well integrated components) and consistent the argument is, it remains partial and his case needs to be considered alongside other work such as Alexander Anievas and Kerem Nişancioğlu’s How the West Came to Rule , Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin’s The Making of Global Capitalism , Brenna Bhandar and Rafeef Ziadah’s edited collection Revolutionary Feminisms , Lola Olufemi’s Feminism Interrupted: Disrupting Power and Françoise Vergés A Decolonial Feminism . There is much to do in rethinking empire: this is an important contribution.
December 11, 2022
What a book! Kehinde Andrews is a great author and intellectual. Here are some of his main points:
- Critical approach to the Enlightenment (especially Kant) as a tool to justify racism and colonialism. All heroes of white people took part in, benefited or justified brutal colonialism
- Settler colonialism, like in the US, is genocide
- Whites have a Eurocentric view about where our knowledge came from. Most of our knowledge actually from Arabs, Africa, China
- European logic of genocide practised in colonies and logics of enlightenment brought together made the Holocaust possible
- Colonialism is still here today in form of liberal imperialism like the USA and institutions like IMF and World Bank
- The long-term devastating impact of the slave trade on Africa
-The state of Israel is a racial endeavour
- China is nowadays using the colonising tactics of the West in Africa
-The problem of the New Left (Occupy etc.), is that they do not know, how to not only bring wealth to the poor in the West, but also on a global scale. Especially to black and brown people
- Critical approach to the Enlightenment (especially Kant) as a tool to justify racism and colonialism. All heroes of white people took part in, benefited or justified brutal colonialism
- Settler colonialism, like in the US, is genocide
- Whites have a Eurocentric view about where our knowledge came from. Most of our knowledge actually from Arabs, Africa, China
- European logic of genocide practised in colonies and logics of enlightenment brought together made the Holocaust possible
- Colonialism is still here today in form of liberal imperialism like the USA and institutions like IMF and World Bank
- The long-term devastating impact of the slave trade on Africa
-The state of Israel is a racial endeavour
- China is nowadays using the colonising tactics of the West in Africa
-The problem of the New Left (Occupy etc.), is that they do not know, how to not only bring wealth to the poor in the West, but also on a global scale. Especially to black and brown people
August 23, 2022
This is very much a work in progress for me and I am still reading, but honestly, it could be a lot better. I think it's safe to say that despite Andrews' undoubted academic credentials, he's no historian and that is unfortunate in writing that seeks to bring historical context.
For a start, the book is nominally concerned with 'the West', but it's not really clear quite where that is for Andrews. Sometimes it seems to be just modern America, sometimes it seems to be the industrialised European nations, sometimes it's a vague mix of the two.....with China? Maybe? Also, when is all this happening? These issues mean the book feels a bit unfocussed to me; there are definite sections I would have liked an editor to highlight for re-arranging.
The author is also undone by his love of a great rhetorical flourish; it's not enough to talk about the massive, racist, wrongs done in the name of British industrial expansion and how we feel those echoes today. For Andrews, any form of industrial labour, at all, anywhere, any time is only possible due to wealth generated from colonial exploitation. This blatant nonsense is the sort of bombastic claim a teenager would bring to a college debating club and weakens the general arguments presented throughout the book.
It is clear that racism is still a massive problem in the world at all levels and equally clear that we must all fight it wherever we can. However, this book seems absolutist in a way that is justifiably angry, but not especially actionable.
For a start, the book is nominally concerned with 'the West', but it's not really clear quite where that is for Andrews. Sometimes it seems to be just modern America, sometimes it seems to be the industrialised European nations, sometimes it's a vague mix of the two.....with China? Maybe? Also, when is all this happening? These issues mean the book feels a bit unfocussed to me; there are definite sections I would have liked an editor to highlight for re-arranging.
The author is also undone by his love of a great rhetorical flourish; it's not enough to talk about the massive, racist, wrongs done in the name of British industrial expansion and how we feel those echoes today. For Andrews, any form of industrial labour, at all, anywhere, any time is only possible due to wealth generated from colonial exploitation. This blatant nonsense is the sort of bombastic claim a teenager would bring to a college debating club and weakens the general arguments presented throughout the book.
It is clear that racism is still a massive problem in the world at all levels and equally clear that we must all fight it wherever we can. However, this book seems absolutist in a way that is justifiably angry, but not especially actionable.
March 25, 2021
This book's unapologetic internationalism and attacks on the mythologies of colonial history are done with a degree of precision that goes far beyond a typical "woke" screed, a credit to Andrews' rare intellectual precision and fearlessness. Like his last book, there is little on the prescriptive front, which I think is understandable. It's has a strong Anglophone focus makes it particularly adept at collapsing the illusions of a benign empire. His work on critiquing enlightenment thought mirrors that of Jason Hickel, coming on the heels of Black scholars who have been making these arguments for over 100 years. I imagine this attack on the mythology of European en(white)enment and his critique of Marxism are leading this book to not be as loved on the current social-democratic left, but in reality, the author is spot-on in his analysis of the white worker as a revolutionary subject, occupy being a performative movement, and most leftist demands equating to fundamentally begging for a more democratic redistribution of the ill-gotten gains of slavery, native genocide, and global colonization. This is a bitter, but necessary medicine for the emerging social-democratic left in the western world.
February 1, 2023
This will be a dull and mostly unnecessary read for anyone who's been tuned in to what's happened in the world during the past few years. The author spends most of the book lining up evidence that people who lived over 100 years ago had racist tendencies and organizations that exist to create profit for shareholders aren't purely altruistic. It's not that interesting to say that Charles Darwin had some racist tendencies - it's more interesting to debate what we do with that knowledge and that's a topic this book is wholly uninterested in.
If you're looking for a book to take down figures from the past like Immanuel Kant, the East India Company, and the Brendan Fraser movie The Mummy for contributing to potentially racist ideas, then this book might be for you, I guess, but there are much better resources for such writing. This author doesn't spend much ink praising any individuals or organizations that are doing things well, in his estimation. It's only a book for take-downs and the targets are not altogether surprising.
It only gets a bump to 2 stars instead of 1 because of the British perspective and a few tidbits I didn't know about Britain's history with slavery and the legacy that still benefits families of slaveholders over enslaved people.
If you're looking for a book to take down figures from the past like Immanuel Kant, the East India Company, and the Brendan Fraser movie The Mummy for contributing to potentially racist ideas, then this book might be for you, I guess, but there are much better resources for such writing. This author doesn't spend much ink praising any individuals or organizations that are doing things well, in his estimation. It's only a book for take-downs and the targets are not altogether surprising.
It only gets a bump to 2 stars instead of 1 because of the British perspective and a few tidbits I didn't know about Britain's history with slavery and the legacy that still benefits families of slaveholders over enslaved people.
March 23, 2025
In „The new age of empire“analysiert Kehinde Andrews die fortwährende Ausbeutung durch den westlichen Imperialismus und zeigt, wie Kolonialismus und Rassismus bis heute die globale Ordnung prägen. Während westliche Nationen Wohlstand aufgebaut haben, geschah dies oft auf Kosten anderer Länder, die durch Ressourcenausbeutung, billige Arbeitskraft und wirtschaftliche Abhängigkeiten benachteiligt wurden. Andrews argumentiert, dass koloniale Strukturen nie wirklich verschwunden sind.Sie haben sich lediglich verändert und manifestieren sich in modernen Formen der Unterdrückung.
Ein besonders provokanter Punkt des Buches ist die These, dass Kolonialismus nicht nur ein historisches Phänomen war, sondern weiterhin existiert, sei es durch wirtschaftliche Abhängigkeiten, politische Einflussnahme oder militärische Präsenz. Andrews nennt als Beispiel Israel als eine der letzten aktiven Kolonien und zieht Parallelen zu anderen historischen Besetzungen.
Das Buch ist gut recherchiert, direkt und unbequem, aber genau das macht es so lesenswert. Es fordert den Leser heraus, den westlichen Status quo kritisch zu hinterfragen. Besonders spannend sind die Verknüpfungen zwischen Vergangenheit und Gegenwart, die zeigen, wie tief imperialistische Strukturen noch immer verankert sind! Unbedingt lesen.
Ein besonders provokanter Punkt des Buches ist die These, dass Kolonialismus nicht nur ein historisches Phänomen war, sondern weiterhin existiert, sei es durch wirtschaftliche Abhängigkeiten, politische Einflussnahme oder militärische Präsenz. Andrews nennt als Beispiel Israel als eine der letzten aktiven Kolonien und zieht Parallelen zu anderen historischen Besetzungen.
Das Buch ist gut recherchiert, direkt und unbequem, aber genau das macht es so lesenswert. Es fordert den Leser heraus, den westlichen Status quo kritisch zu hinterfragen. Besonders spannend sind die Verknüpfungen zwischen Vergangenheit und Gegenwart, die zeigen, wie tief imperialistische Strukturen noch immer verankert sind! Unbedingt lesen.
July 13, 2024
Some very important, hard-hitting analysis here. Other parts felt quite reductive, however.
February 14, 2021
The British education system is a propaganda machine that pushes a white supremacist ideology. Kehinde Andrews important work seeks to address that propaganda and wake people up to the truth.
May 29, 2023
what a book!
I'm going to borrow one of the praises for the book because there are no better words to describe it:
"A no-holds-barred, searing indictment of the whole of modern Western civilization as based on slavery, colonialism and genocide...particularly timely...powerful" - Krishan Kumar
Indictment I think is the perfect word to describe this book. It is visceral and personal, especially as the author integrates his own experiences. Because of the author's incredible writing and elements of irony and pop culture, it never feels overwhelming and never reads like a dreaded textbook - even though it contains a plethora of sources, figures and names.
One of the many powerful quotes: "The most painful development of the new age of empire is that we have now become part of the problem, with our hands stained with the blood of the victims of our success."
I'm going to borrow one of the praises for the book because there are no better words to describe it:
"A no-holds-barred, searing indictment of the whole of modern Western civilization as based on slavery, colonialism and genocide...particularly timely...powerful" - Krishan Kumar
Indictment I think is the perfect word to describe this book. It is visceral and personal, especially as the author integrates his own experiences. Because of the author's incredible writing and elements of irony and pop culture, it never feels overwhelming and never reads like a dreaded textbook - even though it contains a plethora of sources, figures and names.
One of the many powerful quotes: "The most painful development of the new age of empire is that we have now become part of the problem, with our hands stained with the blood of the victims of our success."
July 11, 2024
First of all, I have to disclaim that I am a Kehinde Andrews fan. I think that his writing is uniquely brilliant in its combination of forceful academic critique and dark humour.
I agree with most points in this book (and the politics underpinning them), yet I felt that the author tried to fit in too much content into a relatively short monograph. As a consequence, the argumentation remained a little bit superficial at times, and some conclusions appeared rather hurried. The most convincing parts were the ones where original archival sources were cited and critiqued. Overall, I would say this works well as an introductory piece, suitable for people searching for a light first entry into the topics.
Looking forward to Andrews' forthcoming book on Malcolm X, which is already anticipated by the many citations here!
I agree with most points in this book (and the politics underpinning them), yet I felt that the author tried to fit in too much content into a relatively short monograph. As a consequence, the argumentation remained a little bit superficial at times, and some conclusions appeared rather hurried. The most convincing parts were the ones where original archival sources were cited and critiqued. Overall, I would say this works well as an introductory piece, suitable for people searching for a light first entry into the topics.
Looking forward to Andrews' forthcoming book on Malcolm X, which is already anticipated by the many citations here!
April 22, 2023
The best review I can write for this book is that this should be a mandatory reading to all white people in the world. Especially the ones who just at the sight of the cover would start to roll their eyes and shout. But it's not also just those, it's also every white person who might feel like they don't act in a racist way, that they still feel a little pride over their west country or dream of moving to the culture of another coloniser country. It's for those who like me, are so emotionally drained from the topic so they have been trying to avoid it the past year.
Before reading this I thought I had a solid understanding of these themes and it's relation with everything around us, but that wasn't true and with every chapter I was more in shock with how much I was learning and how much evil has always existed.
Before reading this I thought I had a solid understanding of these themes and it's relation with everything around us, but that wasn't true and with every chapter I was more in shock with how much I was learning and how much evil has always existed.
August 19, 2025
made me angry and sad but I was already angry and sad
October 15, 2022
4/5 stars
April 20, 2022
This is very good book, and a very difficult book to give a rating to. It's a passionate polemic with a strong scholarly underpinning. I would have liked a bit more nuance, but it's understandable that Andrews would overstate his case in order to make his case. It's also a disturbing book. Although the style is very accessible, I found the content difficult to get through and I was glad when it was over. It's also incredibly bleak, with Andrews concluding that "the glimmer of hope for true transformation in the West is that if the system is left to collapse under its own weight it may well end human existence as we know it." I'm not sure whether this is a helpful conclusion or not. Not an easy read but it definitely makes an impact.
April 29, 2021
This was excellent. It was interesting, engaging and also challenging. I did think it was also depressing in a way because it highlighted the challenges of empire without really offering any solutions. The author was quite clear that the book doesn't give solutions but it does offer glimpses of hope here and there.
Many years ago when I was studying to be a priest, I couldn't understand why 'The Enlightenment' was so enlightening. If it was enlightening then why did transatlantic slavery continue for so long? I eventually realised it was because Africans were not seen as human beings. The so called enlightenment thinkers were mired in their own racism and blindness. I pushed the enlightenment philosphers to the margins of my study. They hold no answers for me.
This book holds answers to that question I was asking. It is a very comprehensive analysis of our world today and the prevailing and invasive system of white supremacy and how this shapes and frames life today. How this underpins our politics and societies in the West and the underdevelopment of other nations.
It is a very easy book to read and understand providing a detailed narrative about Genocide, Slavery, Colonialism and new versions of empire. It also provides a really good historical narrative showing how the new framework of empire has emerged from British empire.
This is hard to read in places and a bit depressing but it is not without hope and vision. As I read it I did have questions about class and the author addressed that by showing how the elite benefit from capitalism even in underdeveloped nations.
I don't think the aim of this book is to provide solutions. I think it is a book which explains how we got to where we are and how the same racist framework keeps shifting and evolving and adapting and how this framework is necessary if capitalism is to succeed.
It also shows the power of myth. Too often the West is positioned as the 'good guys'. This book helps us see that the West are not the good guys and we should be far more self critical and stop creating saints of historical figures. Most of them had feet of clay.
The book is also challenging because how does one then respond when this is the system we live in? It is easy to say that revolution is the answer but what does that actually mean?
For me this book is a great one because it explains where we are and how we got here. It gives me enough to understand the world in which I live and the powers that shape our world. It gives me enough so that I can reflect upon my own place in this system and how I can give hope to others. It has also answered many questions about race, white supremacy and systems and the impact these have had on me.
I think books that make me question and think are always worth reading and this is one of them.
Many years ago when I was studying to be a priest, I couldn't understand why 'The Enlightenment' was so enlightening. If it was enlightening then why did transatlantic slavery continue for so long? I eventually realised it was because Africans were not seen as human beings. The so called enlightenment thinkers were mired in their own racism and blindness. I pushed the enlightenment philosphers to the margins of my study. They hold no answers for me.
This book holds answers to that question I was asking. It is a very comprehensive analysis of our world today and the prevailing and invasive system of white supremacy and how this shapes and frames life today. How this underpins our politics and societies in the West and the underdevelopment of other nations.
It is a very easy book to read and understand providing a detailed narrative about Genocide, Slavery, Colonialism and new versions of empire. It also provides a really good historical narrative showing how the new framework of empire has emerged from British empire.
This is hard to read in places and a bit depressing but it is not without hope and vision. As I read it I did have questions about class and the author addressed that by showing how the elite benefit from capitalism even in underdeveloped nations.
I don't think the aim of this book is to provide solutions. I think it is a book which explains how we got to where we are and how the same racist framework keeps shifting and evolving and adapting and how this framework is necessary if capitalism is to succeed.
It also shows the power of myth. Too often the West is positioned as the 'good guys'. This book helps us see that the West are not the good guys and we should be far more self critical and stop creating saints of historical figures. Most of them had feet of clay.
The book is also challenging because how does one then respond when this is the system we live in? It is easy to say that revolution is the answer but what does that actually mean?
For me this book is a great one because it explains where we are and how we got here. It gives me enough to understand the world in which I live and the powers that shape our world. It gives me enough so that I can reflect upon my own place in this system and how I can give hope to others. It has also answered many questions about race, white supremacy and systems and the impact these have had on me.
I think books that make me question and think are always worth reading and this is one of them.
June 9, 2021
Good, well presented historical evidence of British, American, Australian, German, Belgian, Portuguese, Dutch, Danish, Swedish French, Spanish colonialism and imperialism, its horrors and the same white supremacy logic driving them all
The book is at its best in connecting and showing how all the Western empires were built using the same racial science that legitimised genocide, slavery and colonialism
Highlights include:
How the Rwandan genocide that elevated Tutsi over the Hutu was rooted in racist ideas that the Belgians institutionalised
The term sub-Saharan Africa was built on the premise that proper Africa is where the savage Black people live and the north is inhabitated by a different, more civilised race
Drawing on CLR James's Black Jacobins, recounting that William Pitt the Younger, then British PM, enlisted William Wilberforce to begin a campaign to end the slave trade, not on moral grounds as commonly believed since the focus was on ending the trafficking of Africans rather than slavery itself, but economic grounds as it was driven by calculations thag British colonies had trafficked enough Africans to maintain thejr plantations indefinitely, whereas French plantations would be permanently damaged by losing their supply of enslaved Africans
Africans visiting and settling in the Americas long before Columbus's so called discovery and that trade routes from Guinea to Latin America had long been established, and that commonly held views of Columbus's discovery and the dismissal of African voyage and trade are rooted in white supremacy
However the book falls short in its understanding of class, race and their intersection as shown by their misinterpretation of Noel Ignatiev's writing on whiteness and fails to offer any analysis of racism, colonialism and empire that takes class into account
The book also fails to identify and explain the EU as a dysfunctional imperialist would-be power, which is egregious given the focus of the book
Another drawback is that the author has a poor understanding of China's political economy and their current relationship with Africa in both saying China is following Western capitalism to its highest stage - imperialism and has adopted Western approaches to enrich itself by plundering Africa for its resources, while presenting no evidence for these inaccurate claims
The author goes on to say that China is becoming a more efficient version of the West, which is an absurd claim especially considering the book does a good job of laying out the past age of Western empire and its current state, while providing no evidence that China is doing anything similar
The book is at its best in connecting and showing how all the Western empires were built using the same racial science that legitimised genocide, slavery and colonialism
Highlights include:
How the Rwandan genocide that elevated Tutsi over the Hutu was rooted in racist ideas that the Belgians institutionalised
The term sub-Saharan Africa was built on the premise that proper Africa is where the savage Black people live and the north is inhabitated by a different, more civilised race
Drawing on CLR James's Black Jacobins, recounting that William Pitt the Younger, then British PM, enlisted William Wilberforce to begin a campaign to end the slave trade, not on moral grounds as commonly believed since the focus was on ending the trafficking of Africans rather than slavery itself, but economic grounds as it was driven by calculations thag British colonies had trafficked enough Africans to maintain thejr plantations indefinitely, whereas French plantations would be permanently damaged by losing their supply of enslaved Africans
Africans visiting and settling in the Americas long before Columbus's so called discovery and that trade routes from Guinea to Latin America had long been established, and that commonly held views of Columbus's discovery and the dismissal of African voyage and trade are rooted in white supremacy
However the book falls short in its understanding of class, race and their intersection as shown by their misinterpretation of Noel Ignatiev's writing on whiteness and fails to offer any analysis of racism, colonialism and empire that takes class into account
The book also fails to identify and explain the EU as a dysfunctional imperialist would-be power, which is egregious given the focus of the book
Another drawback is that the author has a poor understanding of China's political economy and their current relationship with Africa in both saying China is following Western capitalism to its highest stage - imperialism and has adopted Western approaches to enrich itself by plundering Africa for its resources, while presenting no evidence for these inaccurate claims
The author goes on to say that China is becoming a more efficient version of the West, which is an absurd claim especially considering the book does a good job of laying out the past age of Western empire and its current state, while providing no evidence that China is doing anything similar
Displaying 1 - 30 of 165 reviews