GAGO Verónica. On the fascistization of social reproduction : cross-border views about anti-feminism, debt and neoliberalism

Semestre 2
Lundi 15h-17h
Chaire internationale de philosophie contemporaine de l’Université Paris 8 2024-2025
 
GAGO Verónica
On the fascistization of social reproduction : cross-border views about anti-feminism, debt and neoliberalism
 
In this seminar, we will analyze the dispute over what is perceived as a crisis at the level of social reproduction in order to develop the notion of “fascistization of social reproduction” (Silvia Federici), as a key point to understand the forms of anti-feminism as programmatic elements of the new ultra-right. The pandemic is a crucial moment to understand it, in relation to the intensification of tensions around freedom and care.
It is also important to discuss the category of “essential work” because it connotes a strong paradox : it names a re-naturalization of these tasks and their association with certain bodies and spaces. Social reproduction has long been discussed as a way of defining interdependence in a materialistic way. These arguments are key to a feminist epistemology that looks at production from below and understands its financialization as a field of class struggle. Along these lines, it is also necessary to discuss the “mutant” character of neoliberalism (Callison and Manfredi) in such a way that it does not become a totalizing reading : for that it is crucial to understand it as a response to particular cycles of struggle (hence the variable scale of its violence and modes of recomposition). Here a major problem arises that can be considered an open question, one that has been raised especially by transfeminist movements : what are the political tools of protest and negotiation of a labor force that lies in the intersection between financial (and platform) capitalism and non-guaranteed social reproduction ?
 
Class meetings : Monday, 3-5pm
1. Monday, 24 February 2025, from 3pm to 5pm
2. Monday, 3 March 2025, from 3pm to 5pm
3. Monday, 10 March 2025, from 3pm to 5pm
4. Monday, 17 March 2025, from 3pm to 5pm
5 Monday, 24 March 2025, from 3pm to 5pm
6. Monday, 31 March 2025, from 3pm to 5pm
7. Monday, 7 April 2025, from 3pm to 5pm
8. Monday, 14 april 2025, from 3pn to 5pm