“Solidarity Is Not a Market Exchange”: An RM Interview with Robin D. G. Kelley, Part 1

Abstract

The following is part 1 of an interview with Robin D. G. Kelley, the distinguished UCLA historian. The interview covers the following topics: Kelley’s biography of Thelonious Monk, Monk’s “surrealism,” and Monk’s radical jazz practices; the notions of “authenticity,” “empathy,” and “solidarity” in Kelley’s writings; the black freedom struggle since the 1970s; Kelley’s relationship to the utopian critiques of black feminism; Kelley’s connection to Marxism and the crucial idea of “contradiction”; Kelley’s strategic intervention into the intellectual clash between Cornel West and Ta-Nehisi Coates; Kelley’s pedagogy of “challenge” versus “confirmation”; Kelley’s indebtedness to the work of Cedric Robinson, Robinson’s notion of “racial capitalism,” and Robinson’s critique of European-based Marxism; Kelley’s work in progress on the late journalist Grace Halsell and the role of the Palestinian struggle in her life and Kelley’s current politics; and much else.

Key Words:

• Black Feminism
• Black Freedom Struggle
• Jazz
• Racial Capitalism
• Solidarity

Acknowledgments

The interviewers wish to thank the editors of Rethinking Marxism and especially Serap Kayatekin and Marcus Green for their patience, encouragement, and support for this project. In addition, Jack Amariglio would like to thank Dr. John (Sean) Condon, Interim Dean of Liberal Arts at Merrimack College, for his financial, material, and professional backing of this interview. Finally, Amariglio and Wilson wish to thank Robin for his friendly, comradely, and patient willingness to participate in this endeavor; our sincerest gratitude to Robin should be evident on every page.