Neoliberalisms and the Transformation of the Cultural Sphere

"Shadow-lands": A Topological Glossary (v1.1)

by Gavin Keeney

Draft 05/20/12

Post-mortem of the exhibition "'Shadow-lands': The Suffering Image", Dennys Lascelles Gallery, Deakin... more Post-mortem of the exhibition "'Shadow-lands': The Suffering Image", Dennys Lascelles Gallery, Deakin University, Waterfront Campus, Geelong, Victoria, Australia, April 18 through May 18, 2012.

See also "Fifth (Final) Circular" (05/22/12):

http://cornell.academia.edu/agencex/Talks/79406/_Shadow-lands_The_Suffering_Image

There grows the neighbourhood’: Green citizenship, creativity and life politics on eco-TV

by Tania Lewis

Published in International Journal of Cultural Studies May 2012 vol. 15 no. 3

“Capitalism Reorganised: Social Justice after Neo-liberalism”, Constellations: An International Journal of Critical and Democratic Theory, vol. 17, issue 3 (Sept. 2010), pp. 390-406.

by Albena Azmanova

The article traces the emergence of “reorganized” capitalism as consecutively the fourth modality of capitalism –... more The article traces the emergence of “reorganized” capitalism as consecutively the fourth modality of capitalism – after the 19th century entrepreneurial form, the post-liberal “organized” capitalism of the welfare state, and the “disorganized” neo-liberal model of the late 20th century. The features of the fourth modality emerge from an analysis of (1) the key dynamics of social stratification, (2) the matrix of state-society relations, and (3) the structure of electoral mobilization in advanced industrial democracies.

Privatized resistance: AdBusters and the culture of neoliberalism.

by Max Haiven

Published in the journal The Review of Education, Pedagogy and Cultural Studies – 29:1, 2006, pp. 85-110.

A critique of the periodical AdBusters (and culture jamming more broadly) for its participation in a Neoliberal... more A critique of the periodical AdBusters (and culture jamming more broadly) for its participation in a Neoliberal cultural politics of individualization.

The Culture of Capitalism and the Crisis of Critique

by Arsalan Khan

Co-authored with Jason Hickel, published in Anthropological Quarterly (winter, 2012).

Neoliberalising violence: of the exceptional and the exemplary in coalescing moments

by Simon Springer

Springer, S. 2012. Neoliberalising violence: of the exceptional and the exemplary in coalescing moments. Area 44 (2), 136-143.

This paper sets out to develop two related ideas. First, it seeks to identify how both violence and neoliberalism can... more This paper sets out to develop two related ideas. First, it seeks to identify how both violence and neoliberalism can be considered as moments. From this shared conceptualisation of process and fluidity, I argue that it becomes easier to recognise how these two phenomena actually converge. Building upon this conceived coalescence of neoliberalism and violence, the second aim is to recognise how the hegemony of neoliberalism positions it as an abuser, which facilitates the abandonment of those ‘Others’ who fall outside of neoliberal normativity. I argue that the widespread banishment of ‘Others’ under neoliberalism produces a ‘state of exception’, wherein because of its inherently dialectic nature, exceptional violence is transformed into exemplary violence. This metamorphosis occurs as aversion for alterity intensifies under neoliberalism and its associated violence against ‘Others’ comes to form the rule.

Reappropriating the neoliberal university for a new putonghua (common language)

by Jon Solomon

“Russian Neoliberal: Entrepreneurial ethic and the spirit of ‘True Careerism’.”

by Alexei Yurchak Алексей Юрчак

Russian Review, v. 62, January 2003.

Meditations on the Unimaginable

by Gavin Keeney

Draft 12/09/2011

ABSTRACT

A structural critique of neo-liberal power and its relationship to cultural production,... more ABSTRACT

A structural critique of neo-liberal power and its relationship to cultural production, including its mechanisms of control, and a consideration of the creeping determinism at the heart of the model with a nod toward latent fascist tendencies evidenced by recent acts of repression.

Political Economy of Post-Secondary Education in Ontario

by Jacob Hodgins

Canadian universities and colleges have undergone dramatic changes over the last four decades. The demand for higher... more Canadian universities and colleges have undergone dramatic changes over the last four decades. The demand for higher education has grown substantially as the skill requirements demanded by employers have increased over time. In recent decades, however, federal and provincial funding towards post-secondary education has declined. As a result, lost revenue has required the increase use of tuition fees as a portion of the overall funding of operational costs for post-secondary institutions. The ascendancy of neo-liberalism and the use of lean production models in the education sector have led to other significant changes in the way universities and colleges operate. The neo-liberal promotion of free markets has led governments to restructure education policy so as to increase its exposure and responsiveness to market signals. This paper will argue that federal and provincial post-secondary policy has evolved along with the changing economic paradigms over the last four decades from one of active state involvement, to a competitive free market approach. As a result education and training programs have been shifted from the responsibility of governments, onto the individual and private sector.

2011 The three anthropological approaches to neoliberalism, in International Social Science Journal, Vol 61 (202) : 351–364.

by Mathieu Hilgers

International Social Science Journal, Volume 61, Issue 202, 2011: 351–364.

For around fifteen years now, anthropology has been engaged in the study of neoliberalism. What contribution does the... more For around fifteen years now, anthropology has been engaged in the study of neoliberalism. What contribution does the discipline have to make to a debate largely monopolized by economics and political science? To answer this question, the present article returns to the major texts and highlights the three perspectives from which anthropology has approached neoliberal expansion: culturalist, systemic and the approach based on governmentality. Each has its own epistemological presuppositions and a specific conception of anthropology, globalization and neoliberalism. The article highlights the relevance and limitations of these approaches.

Introduction: The Ethics of Disconnection in a Neoliberal Age

by Ilana M. Gershon

co-authored with Allison Alexy, Anthropological Quarterly 84(4): 799-808.

This special section aims to bring together conversations which have up until now been largely occurring separately... more This special section aims to bring together conversations which have up until now been largely occurring separately with different anthropological foci, such as the anthropology of work, economic anthropology, the anthropology of death, the anthropology of kinship, the anthropology of disaster, and the anthropology of media. Scholars with these foci have all paid attention to how people in the various domains under study engage
with endings and ruptures. Bringing these dialogues together, we hope to shed light on how neoliberalism has altered the labor of disconnection, a particularly salient question at this historical moment.

Analogy and Complicity: Women's Studies, Lesbian/Gay Studies, and Capitalism

by Miranda Joseph

The Double Flow of Vigilantism

by Yari Lanci

[first appeared in the sixth issue of the journal "NYX" (http://nyxnoctournal.org/) in November 2011].

In the composition of a bestiary of contemporary capitalism, the figure of the vigilante should be given particular... more In the composition of a bestiary of contemporary capitalism, the figure of the vigilante should be given particular attention. As a hybrid at the intersection of governmental police and civilians, the vigilante floats between forces which constantly redefine its position within the body of the Leviathan.

In the regimes of liberal and neoliberal securitization, the vigilante/overseer also takes the form of a set of dispositifs of security - as part of a broader discursive apparatus - which can control and influence the alleged natural movements of the market. Conversely, Anders Behring Breivik - who in July 2011 killed some ninety people in Norway - is only the most recent example of an introjected conduct which suddenly becomes ‘visible’ and crystallises in violent outbursts.

In the realm of popular culture, the “revisionist superhero comics” provide an appropriate model for our discussion of vigilantism. Frank Miller’s Batman: the Dark Night Returns and Alan Moore’s Watchmen were the first two manifestations of a superhero narrative which problematised the concept of vigilantism in the second part of the 1980s.

This article will try to answer the question “who are the watchmen today?”. In order to do this, the article will draw a red line between the different kinds of vigilantism detectable in Miller and Moore’s graphic novels, and it will also try to identify contemporary manifestation of the disciplinary subjectification we are enclosing under the broad definition of “vigilantism”. This article, moreover, will argue that since neoliberal capitalism is characterised by its application on a micropolitical level of society - something that Deleuze and Guattari understood well - vigilantism has become a set of “practices of the self” which aim at the production of docile-but-vigilant subjectivities. The “neighbourhood watch area” and “report suspect behaviour” we see every day displayed on the streets, or on public transport, are only two examples supporting our thesis. Consequently, the becoming-vigilante is a process that seems incapable of escaping monstrous metamorphosis.

Dissertation Abstract

by Ivone Barriga

Under Humanity's Flag: The Role of Secularization in the Rise, Reign & Crisis of Modern Humanitarianism

by Emily Key Vielma

This master's thesis follows the rise of the modern humanitarian movement over the past century and a half, the development of the humanitarian system since the end of WWII, the boom of the humanitarian industry since the end of the Cold War, and the role secularization and various ensuing "-izations" have played in contributing to the growth, expansion, authority and also crises of humanitarianism today.

"Remembering Pain in Uruguay: What Memories Mean in Carlos Liscano’s El furgón de los locos."Human Rights, Suffering, and Aesthetics in Political Prison Literature. Eds. Yenna Wu, Simone Weil Davis. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2011

by Eugenio Di Stefano

"From Revolution to Human Rights in Mario Benedetti’s Pedro y el Capitán." Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies. 20.2 (2011) : 121- 137.

by Eugenio Di Stefano

Neoliberalism and geography: expansions, variegations, formations

by Simon Springer

Springer, S. 2010. Neoliberalism and geography: expansions, variegations, formations. Geography Compass. 4 (8), 1025-1038.

The pervasiveness of neoliberalism within the field of human geography is remarkable, especially when we consider its... more The pervasiveness of neoliberalism within the field of human geography is remarkable, especially when we consider its virtual absence from the literature less than a decade ago. While the growing attention afforded to neoliberalism among geographers is new, the phenomenon of neoliberalism is not. This paper traces the intellectual history of neoliberalism and its expansions across various institutional frameworks and geographical settings. I review the primary contributions geographers have made to the literature, and specifically their recognition for neoliberalism’s variegations within existing political economic matrixes and institutional frameworks. Contra the prevailing view of neoliberalism as a pure and static end-state, geographical inquiry illuminates neoliberalism as a dynamic and unfolding process. The concept of ‘neoliberalization’ is thus seen as more appropriate to geographical theorizations insofar as it recognizes neoliberalism’s hybridized and mutated forms as it travels around our world. I also consider some of the most salient ways that neoliberalism has been theorized among human geographers. In particular, I highlight understandings of neoliberalism as a hegemonic ideology, as a policy-based approach to state reform, and as a particular logic of governmentality, arguing that while there are significant differences between these various formations, it may also be important to work beyond methodological, epistemological, and ontological divides in the larger interest of social justice.

Violence, democracy, and the neoliberal ''order'': the contestation of public space in posttransitional Cambodia

by Simon Springer

Springer, S. 2009. Violence, democracy, and the neoliberal "order": the contestation of public space in posttransitional Cambodia. Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 99 (1), 138-162.

Neoliberal policies explain why authoritarianism and violence remain the principal modes of governance among many... more Neoliberal policies explain why authoritarianism and violence remain the principal modes of governance among many ruling elites in posttransitional settings. Using Cambodia as an empirical case to illustrate the neoliberalizing process, the promotion of intense marketization is revealed as a foremost causal factor in a country's inability to consolidate democracy following political transition. Neoliberalization effectively acts to suffocate an indigenous burgeoning of democratic politics. Such asphyxiation is brought to bear under the neoliberal rhetoric of order and stability, which can be read through the (re)production of public space. The preoccupation with order and stability serves the interests of capital at the global level and political elites at the level of the nation-state. Citizens themselves may fiercely contest these particular interests in a quest for a more radical democracy, as evidenced by the burgeoning geographies of protest that have emerged in Cambodian public spaces in the posttransition era.