Working from the injunction of C. L. R. James about the requirement to understand the “new forms created in the context of slavery,” this essay argues that there is a political requirement for the study of the intellectual history and political thought of the African enslaved. The essay also notes that the Black enslaved body represented a distinct form of labor in which it produced commodities while itself being a “property in person.” Such a historical process produced “thingfication,” and unique forms of domination and alternative frameworks of freedom.

中文翻译：

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我们曾经是奴隶

根据 CLR James 关于理解“在奴隶制背景下创造的新形式”的要求的禁令，这篇文章认为，研究非洲奴隶的思想史和政治思想是有政治要求的。这篇文章还指出，被奴役的黑人身体代表了一种独特的劳动形式，在这种劳动形式中，它生产商品，而其本身是“个人财产”。这样的历史过程产生了“物化”，以及独特的统治形式和自由的替代框架。