Papers by Eli Portella Perreras
Historical materialism, Apr 15, 2024
Attempts to unify Marxist and feminist social critique have been vexed by the fact that '... more Attempts to unify Marxist and feminist social critique have been vexed by the fact that 'patriarchy' predates the advent of capitalism (its transhistorical status). Feminists within the Marxist, socialist, and materialist traditions have responded to this point by either granting patriarchy a certain autonomy relative to capitalism (the 'dual/triple systems' approach), or by suggesting that patriarchal relations have a foundational and necessary status in the history of capitalist development (which we term the 'origins-subsistence' approach). This paper offers an alternative account of the relationship between capitalism and the transhistorical status of 'patriarchy.' In aid of a 'unitary theory' of Marxist Feminism, we argue that the transhistorical status of patriarchy is better understood through an application of Marx's concepts of formal and real subsumption. A modified version of these concepts can illuminate not only capitalist appropriation of antecedent social and economic forms, but also its capacity to produce new forms of gendered exploitation and oppression.
Historical materialism, Apr 15, 2024
Attempts to unify Marxist and feminist social critique have been vexed by the fact that '... more Attempts to unify Marxist and feminist social critique have been vexed by the fact that 'patriarchy' predates the advent of capitalism (its transhistorical status). Feminists within the Marxist, socialist, and materialist traditions have responded to this point by either granting patriarchy a certain autonomy relative to capitalism (the 'dual/triple systems' approach), or by suggesting that patriarchal relations have a foundational and necessary status in the history of capitalist development (which we term the 'origins-subsistence' approach). This paper offers an alternative account of the relationship between capitalism and the transhistorical status of 'patriarchy.' In aid of a 'unitary theory' of Marxist Feminism, we argue that the transhistorical status of patriarchy is better understood through an application of Marx's concepts of formal and real subsumption. A modified version of these concepts can illuminate not only capitalist appropriation of antecedent social and economic forms, but also its capacity to produce new forms of gendered exploitation and oppression.
Historical Materialism, 2024
Attempts to unify Marxist and feminist social critique have been vexed by the fact that 'patriarc... more Attempts to unify Marxist and feminist social critique have been vexed by the fact that 'patriarchy' predates the advent of capitalism (its transhistorical status). Feminists within the Marxist, socialist, and materialist traditions have responded to this point by either granting patriarchy a certain autonomy relative to capitalism (the 'dual/triple systems' approach), or by suggesting that patriarchal relations have a foundational and necessary status in the history of capitalist development (which we term the 'origins-subsistence' approach). This paper offers an alternative account of the relationship between capitalism and the transhistorical status of 'patriarchy.' In aid of a 'unitary theory' of Marxist Feminism, we argue that the transhistorical status of patriarchy is better understood through an application of Marx's concepts of formal and real subsumption. A modified version of these concepts can illuminate not only capitalist appropriation of antecedent social and economic forms, but also its capacity to produce new forms of gendered exploitation and oppression.
Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis, 2024
This article elaborates and defends a critique of capitalism which, despite its appearance in var... more This article elaborates and defends a critique of capitalism which, despite its appearance in various bodies of work, has not been named or systematically differentiated. The critique locates a contradiction between production for use-value and production for exchange-value, or a contradiction in what we call “the telos of production.” While maintaining that it has some basis in Marx’s work, we defend this model as preferable to the critique of capitalism based strictly on the exploitation of labor (which we call the “exploitation-exclusive critique”). We attempt to show this by applying the two approaches to the empirical realities of the ecological crisis and ongoing imperialist relations. It is not necessary, however, to abandon the critique of exploitation, or various other criticisms of the capitalist system: we claim that the telos of production critique is the most general diagnosis of capitalism and is capable of incorporating the other major critiques.
In this article, the author argues that anti-colonial Marxism has been obscured and distorted by ... more In this article, the author argues that anti-colonial Marxism has been obscured and distorted by the contemporary post-Cold War imaginary. The author analyzes the historical-political context in which the narrative of Marxism and decolonization develop during and after the Cold War. Focusing on the writings of Frantz Fanon, Amílcar Cabral, Thomas Sankara, and Ernesto "Che" Guevara, the author reconstructs the "principles" of anti-colonial Marxism, attempting to ameliorate the scholarly deficit of theoretical literature on the anti-colonial Marxist tradition. In conclusion, the author argues that the "revolutionary theory" of these thinkers remains relevant to persistent, present-day conditions of neocolonialism and capitalist imperialism, becoming increasingly relevant with the progression of catastrophic climate change. 1. Written in memory of Eden Faelnar, 1993-2020, an anti-colonial Marxist of the most voracious and caring kind.
Rethinking Marxism, 2017
This essay examines Machiavelli's dissonant relationship to the liberal tradition by drawing on t... more This essay examines Machiavelli's dissonant relationship to the liberal tradition by drawing on the interpretations of Althusser and Merleau-Ponty. Reading The Prince following these critics allows us to see that, in an important sense, the ostensibly non- or anti-Machiavellian character of the liberal classics is nevertheless Machiavellian in an inadvertent way. In other words, liberal political theory is Machiavellian in form, even if anti-Machiavellian in content; the distinctive movement of The Prince is to reinscribe the form in the content. The essay begins by describing one plausible perspective on Machiavelli's distinction in the tradition, drawing mostly from Althusser's Machiavelli and Us. Then, after a brief gloss on the standard Marxist critique of liberalism, it uses Merleau-Ponty's “Note on Machiavelli” and Humanism and Terror to develop an understanding of Machiavelli as restoring to political theory what is left out by the liberal canon, revealing that liberalism's disavowal of Machiavellianism is itself a Machiavellian undertaking.
Chiasma: A Site for Thought, 2019
Drawing on the work of Marx, Adorno, and contemporary critical theorists, this paper surveys the ... more Drawing on the work of Marx, Adorno, and contemporary critical theorists, this paper surveys the status of ideology critique with special attention to its function as a kind of 'disenchantment' with the present social order. Rather than tracking disenchantment at the level of the concept, we highlight how the fundamental contradictions of that order warrant disenchantment as the appropriate critical attitude in the face of increasingly pervasive 'socially necessary semblance' (i.e., ideology). Instead of describing a kind of affective or political pessimism, disenchantment should, for the critical theorist, prompt a disillusionment, an occasion to dispel notions of the political present which serve not human ends but only their own reproduction through mystification. • Disenchantment Redux: Marx, the Frankfurt School, and the Critique of Ideology Criticism has plucked the imaginary flowers from the chain, not in order that [humankind] shall bear the chain without caprice or consolation but so that [they] will cast off the chain and pluck the living flower.-Karl Marx, "Introduction to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right," 1843 'Disenchantment' has, for many, described the decisive problematization of such notions as social totality and ideology. In this paper, we will argue that this 'disenchantment' with ideology in the history of philosophy has not exhausted the concept's critical force. Rather, we argue that disenchantment in the form of ideology critique retains the normative force to critique the historical conditions that have produced that very category. We claim, however, that the concept of 'disenchantment' itself can also operate ideologically in such a way that undermines the critical potential of the concept; its ideological appearance is perhaps the most common use of the term today. Contrary to these more recent uses and misreadings of the term, the concept of disenchantment is not antithetical to the notion of social totality. Further, it is precisely this obfuscation of social contradiction as a totality that allows the concept to function ideologically. Drawing on the work of Marx, Adorno, and contemporary critical theorists, we aim to survey the status of ideology critique with special attention to its function as a kind of 'disenchantment' with the present social order. In other words, rather than tracking disenchantment at the level of the concept, we will demonstrate that fundamental contradictions of that order warrant disenchantment.
In Voice and Phenomenon, Jacques Derrida conducts a critique of Husserlian phenomenology, simulta... more In Voice and Phenomenon, Jacques Derrida conducts a critique of Husserlian phenomenology, simultaneously articulating crucial concepts for a theory of deconstruction in the interstices of Husserl's premises. His critique of Husserl is synecdochic insofar as it works to facilitate a much broader critique of the tradition of Western philosophy itself. In Against Epistemology, Theodor Adorno similarly takes up a critique of Husserlian phenomenology toward a broader critique of the history of philosophy. Several theorists have, on this occasion among others, taken to drawing comparisons between Derrida and Adorno. The occasion of their respective critiques of Husserl forms the basis of my own comparison. These critiques represent a kind of microcosm from which one can extrapolate broader methodological tendencies in deconstruction and critical theory. To address claims about deconstruction and its relation to the future of critical theory, it is worth considering the literature devoted to this comparison and the political implications expressed therein. A review of the primary texts and the relevant literature reveals critical assumptions about what is meant by the term " politics " in contemporary philosophy. in turn, This restricted sense of what is meant by politics reveals presuppositions concerning the nature of philosophy and its relation to social critique. Ultimately, I argue, Derrida is possessed of a certain historical presentism--i.e., "presence of the present"--which results in his method's own boundedness to that which it seeks to subvert. Adorno, however, through his commitment to ideology critique is capable of undermining what Derrida seems to reify.
This paper examines comparaitively the status of ethics and politics in the works of Theodor Ador... more This paper examines comparaitively the status of ethics and politics in the works of Theodor Adorno and Emmanuel Levinas. The central tension of this paper pertains to the role of mediation in their works; specifically, the focal point of this comparative analysis is their respective responses to ethics "after Auschwitz." In short, I read their works as distinct philosophical iterations of post-war anxiety pertaining to the status of philosophical reflection. Ultimately, I argue, Adorno's negative dialectics--over and against Levinas's Levinas's ethics as first philosophy--offers us a critical way forward toward meeting the moral and political imperative "Never again."
Drafts by Eli Portella Perreras
This paper draws on decades-long debates about key aspects of feminist and Marxist critique, name... more This paper draws on decades-long debates about key aspects of feminist and Marxist critique, namely the historical status of patriarchy or male-dominance in relation to capitalism, to assert the possibility of a strategic and theoretical unity between feminism and Marxism, and, by implication, on how best to interpret Marx's historical critique. The paper draws these inquiries together to suggest that not only that such a 'unitary theory' is possible, but that the necessity for such a theory emerges from capitalism's own historically appropriative logic. Thus, rather than viewing the 'transhistorical' status of patriarchy as a source of methodological or strategic fracture between these traditions, the paper reconstructs a feminist adaption of Marx's concepts of formal and real subsumption and what these concepts tell us not only about capitalist appropriation of antecedent social and economic forms but also of its capacity to produce new forms of gendered exploitation and oppression. The emphasizes the totalizing character of capitalism's historical appropriation and insists on the need for a 'unitary theory' between Marxism and feminism in response to the question of 'transhistorical patriarchy'.
This paper is a critical-comparative study which examines the historical and theoretical distinct... more This paper is a critical-comparative study which examines the historical and theoretical distinctions between decolonial/postcolonial thought and the tradition of anti-colonial Marxism. The author argues that anti-colonial Marxism has been obscured and distorted by the contemporary decolonial/postcolonial imaginary. To correct this, the author responds to several objections prevalent in these literatures by clarifying misconceptions about anti-colonial Marxism and demonstrating the limits of the critics' presuppositions. Focusing on the writings of Frantz Fanon, Amílcar Cabral, Thomas Sankara, and Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, the paper reconstructs the 'principles' of anti-colonial Marxism. In conclusion, the author argues that the 'revolutionary theory' of these thinkers remains relevant to present-day global relation and the persistent conditions of neocolonialism and capitalist imperialism.
In spite of the Frankfurt school's emphasis on the 'consumer society' and its relative silence on... more In spite of the Frankfurt school's emphasis on the 'consumer society' and its relative silence on questions of colonialism and imperialism, this paper aims to reconstruct critical resources for the critique of colonialism in the work of Theodor Adorno. Specifically, the paper aims to demonstrate the merits of his conception of 'natural history,' by examining what is shared between this concept and the materialist analyses of anti-colonial critique in the 20th century. The paper distinguishes how 'natural history' has, historically, functioned as an ideological rationalization of colonization and how, critically, it echoes basic aspects of the critical work of Franz Fanon, Walter Rodney, and C.L.R. James. Constructing an unexpected encounter between Adorno and thinkers of African and Caribbean decolonization, the paper advocates for a renewed critical conception of natural history which speaks to not only the false naturalization of racial and geographical hierarchy and the exploitation of natural resources in the colonies, but also to the realities of global inequality and underdevelopment.
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Papers by Eli Portella Perreras
Drafts by Eli Portella Perreras