Caliban and the Witch

Women, The Body, and Primitive Accumulation

by

Paperback, 288 pages

English language

Published Oct. 1, 2004 by Autonomedia.

ISBN:
978-1-57027-059-8
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OCLC Number:
53122730

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(4 reviews)

Caliban and the Witch is a history of the body in the transition to capitalism. Moving from the peasant revolts of the late Middle Ages to the witch-hunts and the rise of mechanical philosophy, Federici investigates the capitalist rationalization of social reproduction. She shows how the battle against the rebel body and the conflict between body and mind are essential conditions for the development of labor power and self-ownership, two central principles of modern social organization.

"It is both a passionate work of memory recovered and a hammer of humanity's agenda." Peter Linebaugh, author of The London Hanged"

1 edition

reviewed Caliban and the Witch by Silvia Federici

Ich bin nicht deine Hexe

„Anders als das Klischee vermuten lässt, waren Hexenjagden nicht allein das Ergebnis päpstlichen Fanatismus und Aberglaubens oder der Machenschaften der römischen Inquisition. Auf dem Höhepunkt ihrer Macht wurden die meisten Prozesse vor säkularen Gerichten geführt (...) Die Hexenjagd in Europa war ein Krieg gegen Frauen; ein Angriff auf den kollektiven Widerstand der Frauen gegen die Ausbreitung kapitalistischer Verhältnisse und die Macht, die Frauen durch ihre Sexualität, ihre Kontrolle über die Fortpflanzung und ihre Fähigkeit zur Heilung erlangt hatten.

Die Hexenjagd trug auch zum Aufbau einer neuen patriarchalischen Ordnung bei, in der der Körper der Frauen, ihre Arbeit, ihre sexuellen und reproduktiven Kräfte der staatlichen Kontrolle unterstellt und in wirtschaftliche Ressourcen umgewandelt wurden" : Die Geburt des Kapitalismus, ein Produkt der Gruppenvergewaltigung

reviewed Caliban and the Witch by Silvia Federici

Fascinating but slightly unsatisfying

Federici brings to life a picture of the early middle ages that smashed a lot of stereotypes I had. She reveals what a rich time it was, but also chock full of peasant uprisings against a (re-)emergent aristocracy. She successfully contrasts it with the "Iron Centuries" where women were further pushed out of the public sphere into a highly gendered, mechanistic world that turned people's reproductive bodies into a new commons to be mastered by the state. She also points to many "heretical" movements that could have possibly been the ecofeminist alternative communities resisting this movement.

Where I felt it falls short is while she investigates several lines of development, it is never combined into an overall narrative that I was hoping she would write. Some claims also seemed a bit thin and were difficult to verify, but definitely have left me curious and wanting to learn more. And it …

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Subjects

  • Cultural studies
  • Social theory
  • Women's studies
  • Women's Studies - History
  • Women - Modern History
  • Social Science
  • Sociology
  • Modern - 16th Century
  • Social History
  • Women's Studies - General
  • Capitalism
  • Economic conditions
  • Europe
  • History
  • Social conditions
  • Women