What’s the Matter with Value? Anna Julia Cooper’s Political-Economic Thought

Abstract:This article proceeds from a perspective on value and valuation that is distinct from moral and economic discourses of value in that it conceives of value as primarily, and even paradigmatically, political. Drawing from the insights of Anna Julia Cooper’s political-economic writings, this article argues that value and values, markets and morals, and the constellation of issues entangled in modern discourses of valuation all have the effect of devaluing black life. It explores the tensions between economics and moral sentiments, as Cooper depicts them in her discussion of the concepts of worth and material. Cooper demonstrates the concept of matter to rely upon a tension between material goods and the common good. Cooper’s discussion is therefore pivotal to understanding how political priorities mesh with systems of material interdependence.