Re-Enchanting the World

I was rather excited to read this given how it discusses a lot of topics that I have a lot of interest in, especially given how much I liked the Wages Against Housework essay, but was left feeling rather disappointed. Federici makes a lot of broad claims which are left without any real backing or elaboration, especially when it comes to matters of what occurs internationally. I left this book with a vague sense of something going on between "Africa" and the World Bank, but not much past that. If someone were to ask me how the World Bank engages in enclosure, I am not at all confident I can explain that given what I've gotten from this book.

The essays keep retreading a lot of ground, but somehow the arguments still are really spread thin since what's getting repeated is the broad claims. The picture painted of a lot of the various societies and movements she cites seems rather one-sided/romanticized, but I don't want to harp on this too strongly since history is far from my strong-suit, so I really cannot testify to the accuracy of her claims one way or another.

But as I got on later into the book, the arguments started to get more specific and coherent, and I quite like that. As it stands though, I really do not feel like I can comfortably cite this without running the risk of basing my arguments on misinformation.

Federici is one of the leading US-based academics working in feminism and Marxism, and her writing has that corrosive edge of someone who has had to fight against a systematic hegemony throughout her career. That serrated edge is welcome, and this book exemplifies that voice. Section One has three essays written more than 20 years ago (freshly edited) that focus on the spread of capitalism into eastern Europe and China. The second section contains more recent papers about the role of women in the workforce, framed around the idea of commons (historically) but that focuses more on Marxist theory than on the historical commons.

Some of the essays are tremendously weighted and meticulously researched. Two favourites were the insightful and in-depth "Women's struggle for land and the common good in Latin America" that uses examples from across the continent of women's use of commons as a mode of resistance, and the broad analytical critique of history and politics in "From Crisis to Commons" which covers reproductive work, some of the paradoxes of capitalist-led feminism, and the practice of everyday life. Unfortunately, as with most anthologies, there are good and bad essays. Some of these are either repetitive of other sections in the book, or (particularly with the older essays) make broad claims that are not fully substantiated within the research. There is also a tendency toward the American type of labelling, using broad terms like "Africa" to substitute for a small section of countries covered. This last point, I suspect, is more of an editorial decision than a writer's one.

As a theoretical book by one of the most outspoken feminist theorists of our time, this would be a good introduction to many high-reaching topics. As a more in-depth study on the commons it falls a little short.