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 ?
