This roundtable brings together community organizers with scholars to explore American Muslim initiatives rooted in Black histories and that echo what Malcolm X referred to as “the economic philosophy of Black Nationalism,” namely epistemologies of economic self-sustainability. The session addresses the work of organizations in Midwestern urban centers doing trailblazing work in local economic development and building alternative economic ecosystems, thereby challenging the extractive and exclusionary economic structures that govern our social world. The discussion will revolve around four key areas:
1. The connections between these different initiatives, and the kind of philosophy that their work expresses in practice.
2. The relationship between this economic work and questions of communal sovereignty.
3. The role of Islam and political theology in this work, and balancing particularity and rootedness with solidarity and inclusivity.
4. The potential of mutual exchange and interaction between scholars in academia and those doing work “on the ground.”