course description
Based on his forthcoming book The End of Supplication: The Invention of Prostrate Blackness as a Replacement for the Maroon (Bloomsbury, 2025), this course puts the state into question and re-reads the dominant discourse on Black struggle from a Black anti-colonial perspective. From Marronage to Civil Rights to the society of the anti-Black spectacle and the ritual of “peaceful protest,” it shows how Black revolt was displaced by colonial “hope” — how a maroon war against the colonies was reduced to supplication, to waiting with doffed cap on a white supremacist state to become enlightened and equitable. The course plots an escape from both fascist power and liberal mythology.
Each lecture runs 40–60 minutes, with on-demand access to all four sessions. The course also includes a curated list for further reading, expanding on the themes covered in each lecture.
This is not a course to “interrogate colonial power.” It is built with a view to its end.
About Dr. Yannick Giovanni Marshall
Dr. Yannick Giovanni Marshall holds a PhD in Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies from Columbia University, an MA in African American Studies, and a BA in Political Science and Caribbean Studies from the University of Toronto. He has taught in the School of Critical Studies at CalArts as Faculty in Contemporary Black Thought, as well as at liberal arts colleges such as Knox College and Colby College.
In April, he left the United States — and his faculty post at CalArts — not for another position, but in protest against the repression of anti-colonial thought and the silencing of Black Studies under an emboldened white supremacist order. That exile gave him the freedom to say what U.S. academia works to contain: that Black life is lived inside white supremacist totalitarianism, and that revolt has been traded for performances of obedience and gratitude.
Now based in East Africa and Western Europe, Dr. Marshall delivers his signature talk Message from Exile at universities across Europe and Canada. His work speaks to those living under the tightening grip of fascism and searching for ways to think, fight, and imagine outside the institution.
Lectures schedule
Lecture 1 – White Supremacist Totalitarianism
• Black anti-colonial life in white supremacist totalitarianism
• What is settler colonialism?
Lecture 2 – The Pitfalls of White Abolitionism
• Scenes of Marronage
• Replacing the threat of the Maroon with the “Supplicant Negro”
Lecture 3 – The Muzzle of Civil Rights
• A critique of Martin Luther King Jr. and “Civil Rights”
• The silencing of Black radicalism and normalizing hope for colonial reform
Lecture 4 – From Black Revolt to “Taking a Knee”
• Society of the Anti-Black Spectacle
• Towards an emotional divestment from “America”
Flexible payment plan available at checkout.
WHAT FORMER STUDENTS SAY
“It’s not often in academia that I feel heard and given a call to action that is both practical and authentic. This course introduced me to marronage as a foundation towards anti-colonialism. Through an analytical lens of the ‘long-movement’, Yannick manages to challenge popularized ideals of liberal thought with sharp criticism, wit and humor. The course is structured around readings, but its essence is serious critique delivered through sharp humor and honest conversation.”
— Reina Akkouche Halabi, The End of Supplication, Graphic Designer, Graduate Student
“Yannick changed everything I thought I knew about radical pedagogy. His courses consistently challenged students to see differently, read differently, and act differently. As both a teaching assistant and student, I found Yannick’s classroom to be a space of generative, provocative, and courageous questioning.”
— Jacob Blumberg, Filmmaker and Graduate Student, Black Crime in Lynch Mob Society, CalArts
“Yannick’s course stands out as one of the most transformative educational experiences I’ve had. Through probing questions and dialogue, he challenged widely accepted constructs that empires use to self-legitimize and that liberal discourses rely on to stifle resistance.
Yannick creates a uniquely candid space for students to push beyond the rigid boundaries of academia. He expanded my perspective and equipped me with sharper tools to debate and resist.”
— Tara, Educator and Graduate Student, Deconstructing the Police CalArts
Yannick Giovanni Marshall 