Skip navigation

Tag Archives: Returns of Capitalism

Historical Materialism Conference New York: Returns of Capital

Marx's Grave

Marx’s Grave

HISTORICAL MATERIALISM CONFERENCE NEW YORK: RETURNS OF CAPITAL

New York University, April 24-26, 2015

http://hmny.org/

Capitalism is “back,” in more ways than one.  Since the crisis of 2008, academics and commentators beyond the usual confines of the Marxist left have once again begun discussing capitalism as a system.  Debates about class, exploitation, and inequality have assumed a prominence they have not seen in decades, exemplified in the media event surrounding the publication of Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century.  Prompting these discussions is a capitalism that has “returned to form”. Austerity, casualization and precarity, and naked class aggression—attributes of capitalism proper rather than merely its neoliberal variant—have intensified. The years since the crisis have suggested that neoliberalism was no mere interlude, but rather a prelude to the “new normal.” But how “new” is this normalcy? Aspects of capitalism in the Victorian era are back—and for now, here to stay. Although this is in no way unprecedented, they represent new challenges to Marxist inquiry.

HMNY 2015 seeks to examine these twin returns.  What are the analytic  challenges of these returns within capitalism?  What have been the costs of the absence of Marxist answers?  In what ways has capitalism returned to form, while continuing to present novel problems?  And what does all of this mean for movements contesting capital?

The conference is part of an international project tied to the Historical Materialism journal and book series, published by Brill. The journal also sponsors conferences that take place in London, Toronto, Delhi, Rome and Australia. Please note: the HM conference is not a conventional academic conference, but rather a space for discussion, debate and the launching of collective projects. We strongly encourage speakers to participate in the whole of the conference.

For questions about submission policy and process, logistics, or anything else related to the conference, please email hmnewyork2014@gmail.com.

Abstracts may be submitted at http://hmny.org/ (Click on “CFP HMNY 2015”). Abstracts should be approximately 200 words, and the deadline for proposals is January 15, 2015. We especially welcome submissions and, in particular, panel proposals,  around the following conference themes:

TRACKS

  • Contemporary class formation
  • Capitalism, Ecology and Alternatives
  • New Research on the Socialist and Communist Tradition
  • Philosophical Foundations of Marxism
  • Politics and Philosophy of Gender
  • Circulation and Logistics
  • Revolution and Counterrevolution in the Middle East
  • The Economic and Political Logic of Austerity
  • Race, the State, and Capital
  • Marxism and Aesthetics
  • Capital and Sexuality
  • Debt and Finance in the Political Economy of Capitalism
  • Theories of Crisis
  • State Violence and Mass Incarceration
  • Social Protests: Riots, Revolt, Organization
  • Echoes of the Long 1970s: Wildcats and Rank and File Rebellion
  • Makings of the World Working Class
  • Revolution and Reform in Latin America

 

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ ResearchGate: http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Rikowski?ev=hdr_xprf

Online Publications at The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com