81968 - CRITICAL THEORIES OF CONTEMPORARY CAPITALISM (1) (LM)

Anno Accademico 2018/2019

  • Docente: Sandro Mezzadra
  • Crediti formativi: 6
  • SSD: SPS/02
  • Lingua di insegnamento: Inglese
  • Modalità didattica: Convenzionale - Lezioni in presenza
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: Laurea Magistrale in Scienze storiche e orientalistiche (cod. 8845)

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

Through the critical review of classical theories of capitalism, the students will be able to discuss both fixed and invariant elements in the development of modern capitalism and what makes peculiar its contemporary forms. They will acquire specific awareness of some of the most important concepts in present intellectual and political debate, such as globalization, financialization, etc.

Contenuti

The course will start with a historical framing of the question regarding the peculiarity of contemporary capitalism, briefly considering some of the most influential classical approaches to the study of capitalism. It will subsequently focus on more recent debates and will examine several proposals to conceptually grasp the specific capitalist formation that began to take shape in the early 1970s. Such concepts as flexible accumulation and late capitalism, the knowledge economy and neoliberalism, cognitive and postcolonial capitalism, Empire and postfordism, "racial capitalism" and feminist critique of political economy will be critically discussed. On the basis of this discussion the course will then examine recent developments in three key “sectors” of capitalist operations, i.e. finance, logistics, and extraction. Discussing both case studies and theoretical works regarding these developments the attempt will be made to take finance, logistics, and extraction as points of entry for a more general analysis of contemporary capitalism.

Testi/Bibliografia

The main reference for the course will be provided by the following book:

Mezzadra, Sandro and Brett Neilson, The Politics of Operations. Excavating Contemporary Capitalism. Durham, NC and London, Duke University Press, 2019.

Textsthat will be discussed in class include:

Hardt, Michael and Toni Negri, Assembly, Oxford – New York, Oxford University Press, 2017.

Sassen, Saskia. Expulsions: Brutality and Complexity in the Global Economy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014.

Srnieck, Nick, Platform Capitalism. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2017.

Marazzi, Christian, The Violence of Financial Capitalism. Los Angeles: Semiotext(e), 2010.

Arrighi, Giovanni. Adam Smith in Beijing. Lineages of the Twenty-First Century. London – New York: Verso, 2007.

Cowen, Deborah. The Deadly Life of Logistics. Mapping Violence in Global Trade. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2014.

Crary, Jonathan. 24/7. Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep, London – Brooklyn: Verso, 2013.

Easterling, Keller. Extrastatecraft. The Power of Infrastructure Space, London – Brooklyn: Verso, 2014.

Cultural Studies, 31 (2017), 2-3 (“Cultural Studies of Extraction,” edited by Laura Junka-Aikio & Catalina Cortes-Severino).

Fraser, Nancy. Fortunes of feminism. From State-Managed Capitalism to Neoliberal Crisis, London – New York: Verso, 2013.

Fraser, Nancy. ‘Behind Marx’s Hidden Abode. For an Expanded Conception of Capitalism’, New Left Review 86 (2014), pp. 55-72.

Harvey, David. A Brief History of Neoliberalism, Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2005.

Harvey, David. Seventeenth Contradictions and the End of Capitalism, Oxford- New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.

Mezzadra, Sandro. ‘What’s at stake in the Mobility of Labour? Borders, Migration, Contemporary Capitalism’, Migration, Mobility, & displacement 2 (2015), 1: 30-43.

Mezzadra, Sandro and Neilson, Brett. Borders as Method, or, the Multiplication of Labor. Duke: Duke University Press, 2013.

Mezzadra, Sandro and Neilson, Brett (eds.). 2015. Special Issue ‘Extraction, Logistics and Finance’, The South Atlantic Quarterly, 114 (2015):1.

Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. Feminism Without Borders. Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity, Durham – London: Duke University Press, 2003.

Ong, Aiwa. 2006. Neoliberalism as Exception. Mutations in Citizenship and Sovereignty, Durham, NC - London: Duke University Press, 2006.

Rossiter, Ned. 2016. Software, Infrastructure, Labor. A Media Theory of Logistical Nightmares, New York – Oxon: Routledge, 2016.

Samaddar, Ranabir. 2015. ‘Zones, corridors, and postcolonial capitalism’, Postcolonial Studies, 18 (2015), 2: 208-221.

Sanyal, Kalyan. Rethinking Capitalist Development. Primitive Accumulation, Governmentality and Post-colonial Capitalism, London – New York – New Delhi: Routledge, 2007.

Streeck, Wolfgang, ‘E Pluribus Unum? Varieties and Commonalities of Capitalism’, MPIfG Discussion Paper 10/12, 2010.

Tsing, Anna. ‘Supply Chains and the Human Condition’, Rethinking Marxism 21 (2009), 2: pp. 148-176.

Tsing, Anna. ‘On Nonscalability. The Living World Is Not Amenable to Precision-Nested Scales’. Common Knowledge 18 (2012):3, pp. 505-524.

Metodi didattici

Lectures and discussions in class. For each week specific readings will be suggested. Students are encouraged to present in class.

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

Students attending classwork will write a short "response paper" on one of the topic addressed in class (1000 words) and a final paper (no more than 3000 words) on a topic agreed with the instructor. The bibliography for the paper will be agreed with the instructor and will be based on the references listed in the reading list and/or additional texts proposed by students.The topics of the final papers will be collectively discussed in class. Personal engagement and initiative in proposing and articulating themes for discussion will be appreciated and positively evaluated.

Students who do not attend classwork will have to take an oral exam. They are required to read Mezzadra, Sandro and Brett Neilson, The Politics of Operations. Excavating Contemporary Capitalism. Durham, NC and London, Duke University Press, 2019 and one of the books included in the reading list above. Questions will be aimed at testing the student's ability in exposing with an appropriate language some of the topics tackled by the books, as well as his/her skills in making connections between different texts in order to build an argument.

In all cases, proper language, the ability to speak about the books' content and to use information and examples articulating different texts with a critical approach will form part of the assessment.

More specifically, the assessment will examine the student’s:

  • Proper knowledge of the subject
  • Ability to summarise and analyse themes and concepts
  • Effective use of appropriate terminology

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

Readings may be complemented with other sources, such as videos and images. Guest lecturers may be invited.

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Sandro Mezzadra