Soulaani praxis : the blueprint they called radical development

Abstract

The United States is built upon foundational contradictions, promising liberty while institutionalizing slavery and promoting democracy while denying rights to many. Rather than treating these contradictions as historical anomalies, this thesis examines them as central features of a racialized social order that has shaped the political, economic, and developmental experiences of Soulaani people. Throughout this study, the term Soulaani refers to descendants of Africans forcibly brought to the United States through the transatlantic slave trade whose ancestral lineage is rooted within the American experience of slavery and its enduring legacies. Within this context, Black resistance has often been framed as a struggle for rights and recognition. Yet it has also functioned as a site of development, generating alternative systems of survival, care, and collective advancement. Drawing from Development Studies, Political Thought, and theories of cultural hegemony, this research explores how Soulaani communities responded to exclusion by creating institutions, practices, and forms of collective action that challenged dominant understandings of development. Through an examination of community-led initiatives, political organizing, and self-determination, the thesis investigates how development can emerge from below rather than solely through the state, market, or international institutions. By centering Soulaani experiences, this study contributes to broader debates on development, power, and social transformation while inviting a reconsideration of who is recognized as a producer of development and what forms development can take.