1. Classical authors in the history of modern European Political Thought (Hobbes, Spinoza, Marx).
2. Critical theory, Marxism, and postcolonialism.
3. Analysis and critique of contemporary capitalism.
4. Global processes, mobility, and migration.
5. Transformations of borders in the global age.
In my research work the original interest in classical authors of the history of European modern political thought (most notably Hobbes, Spinoza and Marx) and for the development of political, social and legal sciences in Germany between the 19th and the 20th century. These interests have subsequently nourished, while themselves being transformed by, a series of projects focusing on key issues at stake in contemporary debates in the field of political theory and philosophy. My engagement with migration initially led me to work on the concept of citizenship, while my encounter with postcolonial studies has prompted me to rethink the geographical coordinates of my research and to take seriously the global dimension of contemporary politics. Both my work on W.E.B. Du Bois and my readings of Marx over the last years have been profoundly influenced by such a spatial and geographical opening. Moreover, drawing on my intellectual formation within Italian Operaism, I have been working to “provincialize” that particular tradition of revolutionary thought while renewing and testing its relevance in the global present.
My research in different parts of the world (from Europe to the US, from Latin America to East Asia) has led to a wide range of intellectual collaborations. Particularly important has been my long-standing collaboration with my friend and colleague Brett Neilson (Western Sydney University), which has resulted in several co-authored books and research projects. Our joint work began with a book on the transformation of borders in the context of contemporary global processes (Border as Method, or, the Multiplication of Labor, Duke University Press, 2013). It subsequently turned more specifically to contemporary capitalism, with particular attention to extraction, logistics, and finance (The Politics of Operations: Excavating Contemporary Capitalism, Duke University Press, 2019), and, more recently, to transformations of capital and power in a conjuncture marked by pandemic and war (The Rest and the West: Capital and Power in a Multipolar World, Verso, 2024). The three books I have co-authored with Brett Neilson have been translated into several languages and have circulated widely in international debates.
