Virtual Event: Michael E. Sawyer

Harvard Book Store's virtual event series welcomes MICHAEL E. SAWYER—Assistant Professor of Race, Ethnicity, and Migration Studies at Colorado College and author of the monograph An Africana Philosophy of Temporality: Homo Liminalis—for a discussion of his latest book, Black Minded: The Political Philosophy of Malcolm X. He will be joined in conversation by FLORES A. FORBES, associate professor of urban planning at Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation and author of Invisible Men: A Contemporary Slave Narrative in the Era of Mass Incarceration.

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About Black Minded

Known as 'the angriest black man in America', Malcolm X was one of the most famous activists to ever live. Going beyond biography, Black Minded examines Malcolm X's philosophical system, restoring his thinking to the pantheon of Black Radical Thought. Michael Sawyer argues that the foundational concepts of Malcolm X's political philosophy—economic and social justice, strident opposition to white supremacy and Black internationalism—are often obscured by an emphasis on biography.

The text demonstrates the way in which Malcolm X's philosophy lies at the intersection of the thought of W.E.B. Du Bois and Frantz Fanon and is an integral part of the revolutionary politics formed to alleviate the plight of people of African descent globally. Exploring themes of ontology, the body, geographic space and revolution, Black Minded provides a much-needed appraisal of Malcolm X's political philosophy.

Praise for Black Minded

"Incisive, provocative, and essential, Black Minded makes a compelling case for Malcolm X's original contribution to a radical humanism that stands outside European traditions, against the dehumanization of the Black body, and for genuine global revolution" —Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination

"Brilliantly contends that meaningful Black activism is grounded in an underlying philosophy. Movements are driven by thought as well as action. Essential reading during the current Black activist renaissance" —Melina Abdullah, professor of Pan-African Studies at California State University and co-founder of Black Lives Matter: Los Angeles

"In its careful analysis of his radical and exemplary practice in word and deed, Black Minded doesn't give Malcolm X his rightful place in the canon of political philosophy so much as raise political philosophy to a height it never dared to reach by requiring and allowing it to ground with our brother. Michael Sawyer has written a powerful and necessary book" —Fred Moten, author of In the Break: The Aesthetics of the Black Radical Tradition