W. E. B. Du Bois on the Logics of Settler Colonialism

ABSTRACT Many scholars have noted that while Du Bois clearly analyzed, theorized, and critiqued racialized labor exploitation, he did not have a framework for understanding settler colonialism. This paper systematically examines Du Bois's corpus of works and adds nuance to this claim. The paper argues that Du Bois did, in fact, theorize settler‐colonial dynamics as evidenced by his work on Kenya and South Africa, but he had a narrow, singular conceptualization of settler colonialism as having only one modality—the logic of dispossession. He did not take into consideration eliminatory logics that also form part of settler‐colonial domination. The paper excavates the strengths of Du Bois's analysis of settler colonialism, while highlighting its noteworthy limitations.