Achille Mbembe theorizes the genealogy of the contemporary world-one plagued by inequality, militarization, enmity, and a resurgence of racist, fascist, and nationalist forces-and calls for a radical revision of humanism a the means to create a more just society.

Nienke Boer examines the legal and literary narratives of enslaved, indentured, and imprisoned individuals crossing the Indian Ocean to show how colonial powers' mediation of sentiment and emotion was central to the racialization of these marginalized peoples.