Silvia Federici
Encyclopedia
Silvia Federici is a scholar, teacher, and activist from the radical autonomist feminist Marxist tradition. She is a professor emerita and Teaching Fellow at Hofstra University
, where she was a social science professor. She worked as a teacher in Nigeria
for many years, is also the co-founder of the Committee for Academic Freedom in Africa and is a member of the Midnight Notes Collective.
Federici's best known work, Caliban and the Witch: Women the Body and Primitive Accumulation expands on the work of Leopoldina Fortunati
. In it, she argues against Karl Marx
's claim that primitive accumulation is a necessary precursor for capitalism
. Instead, she posits that primitive accumulation is a fundamental characteristic of capitalism itself - that capitalism, in order to perpetuate itself, requires a constant infusion of expropriated capital.
Federici connects this expropriation to women’s unpaid labour both connected to reproduction and otherwise, which she frames as a historical precondition to the rise of a capitalist economy predicated upon wage labor. In association with this, she outlines the historical fight for the commons
and the struggle for communalism
. Instead of seeing capitalism as being a liberatory defeat of feudalism
, Federici interprets the ascent of capitalism as a reactionary move to subvert the rising tide of communalism and to retain the basic social contract.
She places the institutionalization of rape
and prostitution
, as well as the heretic
and witch-hunt
, trials, burnings and torture at the center of a methodical subjugation of women and appropriation of their labor. This is then tied into colonial expropriation and provides a framework for understanding the work of the International Monetary Fund
, World Bank
and other proxy institutions as engaging in a renewed cycle of primitive accumulation, by which everything held in common from water to seeds, to our genetic code become privatized in what amounts to a new round of enclosures.
Hofstra University
Hofstra University is a private, nonsectarian institution of higher learning located in the Village of Hempstead, New York, United States, about east of New York City: less than an hour away by train or car...
, where she was a social science professor. She worked as a teacher in Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
for many years, is also the co-founder of the Committee for Academic Freedom in Africa and is a member of the Midnight Notes Collective.
Federici's best known work, Caliban and the Witch: Women the Body and Primitive Accumulation expands on the work of Leopoldina Fortunati
Leopoldina Fortunati
Leopoldina Fortunati is an Italian feminist, theorist, and author. Her influences include Mariarosa Dalla Costa, Antonio Negri, and Karl Marx....
. In it, she argues against Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
's claim that primitive accumulation is a necessary precursor for capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
. Instead, she posits that primitive accumulation is a fundamental characteristic of capitalism itself - that capitalism, in order to perpetuate itself, requires a constant infusion of expropriated capital.
Federici connects this expropriation to women’s unpaid labour both connected to reproduction and otherwise, which she frames as a historical precondition to the rise of a capitalist economy predicated upon wage labor. In association with this, she outlines the historical fight for the commons
The commons
The commons is terminology referring to resources that are owned in common or shared between or among communities populations. These resources are said to be "held in common" and can include everything from natural resources and common land to software. The commons contains public property and...
and the struggle for communalism
Communalism
Communalism is a term with three distinct meanings according to the Random House Unabridged Dictionary'.'These include "a theory of government or a system of government in which independent communes participate in a federation". "the principles and practice of communal ownership"...
. Instead of seeing capitalism as being a liberatory defeat of feudalism
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
, Federici interprets the ascent of capitalism as a reactionary move to subvert the rising tide of communalism and to retain the basic social contract.
She places the institutionalization of rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
and prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
, as well as the heretic
Heresy
Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...
and witch-hunt
Witch-hunt
A witch-hunt is a search for witches or evidence of witchcraft, often involving moral panic, mass hysteria and lynching, but in historical instances also legally sanctioned and involving official witchcraft trials...
, trials, burnings and torture at the center of a methodical subjugation of women and appropriation of their labor. This is then tied into colonial expropriation and provides a framework for understanding the work of the International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
, World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
and other proxy institutions as engaging in a renewed cycle of primitive accumulation, by which everything held in common from water to seeds, to our genetic code become privatized in what amounts to a new round of enclosures.
Books
- (2004) "Il Femminismo e il Movimento contro la guerra USA", in DeriveApprodi #24
- (2004) Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation
Edited books
- (1995) (ed) Enduring Western Civilization: The Construction of the Concept of Western Civilization and Its "Others". Westport, Connecticut and London: Praeger.
- (2000) (ed) A Thousand Flowers: Structural Adjustment and the Struggle for Education in Africa, Africa World Press.
- (2000) (eds) African Visions: Literary Images, Political Change, and Social Struggle in Contemporary Africa. Westport: Connecticut and London: Praeger.
Free access online articles
- Feminism And the Politics of the CommonsThe Commoner, 2011
- On capitalism, colonialism, women and food politics, Politics and Culture 2009 (2) - Special Issue on Food (&) Sovereignty
- Witch-Hunting, Globalization, and Feminist Solidarity in Africa Today, The Commoner, 2008
- Precarious Labour: A Feminist Viewpoint, 2008
- Notes on the edu–factory and Cognitive Capitalism, 2007 (with George CaffentzisGeorge CaffentzisGeorge Caffentzis is a political philosopher and an autonomist Marxist. He founded the Midnight Notes Collective, is a founder member of the co-ordinator of the Committee for Academic Freedom in Africa and a professor of philosophy at the University of Southern Maine.-Selected articles:*, LibCom,...
) - Theses on Mass Worker and Social Capital (1972, with Mario Montano)
- War, Globalization and Reproduction
- Mormons in space (with George Caffentzis)
- Why Feminists Should Oppose Capital Punishment
- A brief history of resistance to structural adjustment (with George Caffentzis)
- Donne, Globalizzazione e Movimento Internazionale delle Donne
- Genoa and the antiglobalization movement (with George Caffentzis)
- The great Caliban:The struggle against the rebel body, from Caliban & the Witch
- All the World Needs a Jolt: Social Movements and Political Crisis in Medieval Europe, from Caliban & the Witch
- The Debt Crisis, Africa and the New Enclosures
- The War in Jugoslavia. On Whom the Bombs are Falling? (1999, with Massimo De Angelis)
- "Viet Cong Philosophy: Tran Duc Thao". TELOSTELOS (journal)Telos is an academic journal published in the United States. It was founded in May 1968 to provide the New Left with a coherent theoretical perspective. It sought to expand the Husserlian diagnosis of "the crisis of European sciences" to prefigure a particular program of social reconstruction...
06 (Fall 1970). New York: Telos Press - Development and Underdevelopment in Nigeria (1985)
Talks (audio files)
- Silvia Federici, recorded live at Fusion Arts, NYC. (11.30.04)
- Audio from a talk entitled The Body, Capitalist Accumulation And The Accumulation Of Labour Power by Silvia Federici for Bristol Radical History Group