Race and Capital - Implications for Planning

The increasing racial' and ethnic' diversity of cities in a neoliberal terrain calls for planning scholars to revisit the notions of race and ethnicity in relation to capital. Theorists of Canadian multiculturalism have often used culturalist notions of race that are divorced from the inseparable links between racialization and capitalist processes. In light of this quandary, this paper is an attempt at a renewed conceptual and historical interpretation of race and capitalism by using a selection of Marxist scholars. The research takes two specific avenues in exploring race and capitalism: an analysis of the production of race in the labour history of the United States, and Caribbean slavery in the development of global capitalism. Furthermore, the paper concludes with a reflection on the implications of its content for planning. The construcxion of race is inextricably tied to the development of capitalism. The historical relationship of race to issues of labour, slavery, and colonial-imperial processes demonstrates the shared conceptual roots of race, class and capital.