International Conference. May 24-26, 2017. Toronto. The Marx Collegium, York University

After the eruption of the international financial crisis in 2008, Marx’s Capital received renewed academic and popular attention. Leading newspapers throughout the world discussed again the contemporary relevance of its pages. Faced with a deep new crisis of capitalism, many are now looking to an author who in the past was often wrongly associated with the «actually existing socialism», and who was too hastily dismissed after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

For many scholars today, Marx’s analyses are arguably resonating even more strongly than they did in his own time. This international conference will bring together several world-renowned sociologists, political theorists, economists, and philosophers, from diverse fields and more than 10 countries with the aim of offering diverse scholarly perspectives and critical insights into the principal contradictions of contemporary capitalism and, in so doing, point to alternative economic and social models.

The conference is structured in nine plenary sessions and around several major themes. Among them there are: new interpretations of Capital in light of ecology, non-European societies and gender; the contemporary relevance of Capital; re-reading Capital as an incomplete project after the new critical edition of Marx’s complete work (MEGA²); and the global dissemination and reception of Capital. The presenters will critically reconsider Marx’s magnum opus as a work that continues to provide an effective framework to understand the nature of capitalism and the transformations of our times.

Conference Participants: Immanuel Wallerstein, Saskia Sassen, Etienne Balibar, John Bellamy Foster, Bob Jessop, Silvia Federici, Richard Wolff, Moishe Postone, Kevin Anderson, Bertell Ollman, Leo Panitch, Ursula Huws, Michael Kraetke, Terrell Carver, Himani Bannerji, Ricardo Antunes, Seongjin Jeong, Alfonso Maurizio Iacono, Mauro Buccheri, Pietro Basso, George Comninel, Paresh Chattopadhyay, Gary Teeple, Kohei Saito, Paula Rauhala, Tomash Dabrowski, Babak Amini, and Marcello Musto.

Conference Program: http://www.marxcollegium.org

Day 1: Wednesday, May 24

Session 1, 16:00 – 18:00
Senate Chamber, Ross Bldg 940 North
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Dissemination and Reception of Capital in the World: A Roundtable

Marcello Musto (York University, Canada)

Michael Kraetke (Lancaster University, UK)

Tomash Dabrowski (Northwestern University, USA)

Babak Amini (London School of Economics, UK)

Seongjin Jeong (Gyeongsang National University, South Korea)

William Clare Roberts (McGill University, Canada)

Day 2: Thursday, May 25

Session 1, 10:30 – 12:30
Senate Chamber, Ross Bldg 940 North

The Politics of Capital

Mauro Buccheri (York Univeristy, Canada), The Persistence of Marx’s Humanism: From the ‘Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844’ to ‘Capital’

George Comninel (York University, Canada), The Political Theory of ‘Capital’: Fetishism of Commoditites

William Clare Roberts (McGill University, Canada), Reading ‘Capital’ as a Political Intervention

Terrell Carver (University of Bristol, UK), Performativity, Parody and Post-Marxism: Reading ‘Capital’ All Over Again

Session 2, 14:00 – 15:45
Vari Hall, Lecture Hall C

Beyond Labour and Capital

Himani Bannerji (York University, Canada), Reading ‘Capital’ for Understanding Violence Against Women in the Era of Neoliberalism

Kevin Anderson (UC Santa Barbara, USA), Multilinearity, Colonialism, and Race in ‘Capital’

Pietro Basso (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy), Had ‘Capital’ Been Written Today

Session 3, 16:00 – 17:30
Vari Hall, Lecture Hall C

New Critical Stances

Leo Panitch (York University, Canada), The Challenge of Transcending ‘Capital’

Moishe Postone (University of Chicago, USA), The Current Crisis and the Anachronism of Value

Session 4, 17:45 – 19:30
Vari Hall, Lecture Hall A

Extending the Critique of CapitaI

Saskia Sassen (Columbia University, USA), When the Material Becomes Invisible: A Conversation with Marx’s Materialities

John Bellamy Foster (University of Oregon, USA), Marx’s ‘Capital’ and the Earth: The Ecological Critique of Political Economy 

Michael Kraetke (Lancaster University, UK), Why and in What Respects is ‘Capital’ Incomplete?

Day 3: Friday, May 26

Session 1, 10:30 – 12:30
Senate Chamber, Ross Bldg 940 North

Elements of Future Society

Marcello Musto (York University, Canada), After Capitalism

Gary Teeple (Simon Fraser University, Canada), The Neglected Chapters on Wages in ‘Capital’

Paresh Chattopadhyay (University of Quebec, Canada), Dialectic of Negativity and the Genesis of Socialism

Alfonso Maurizio Iacono (University of Pisa, Italy), The Ambivalence of Cooperation in Marx’s ‘Capital’

Seongjing Jeong (Gyeongsang National University, South Korea), Marx on Globalization

Session 2, 14:00 – 15:45
Senate Chamber, Ross Bldg 940 North

Capitalism, Past and Present

Etienne Balibar (Paris West University Nanterre La Défense, France), Marx’s Capitalism and Ours

Ursula Huws (University of Hertfordshire, UK), The Household in Marx’s ‘Capital’

Bertell Ollman (New York University, USA), ‘Capital’ vol. 1 in Light of Marx’s Unpublished Works

Session 3, 16:00 – 17:45
Vari Hall, Lecture Hall A

New Grounds of Critique

Silvia Federici (Hofstra University, USA), Marx, Gender and the Reproduction of the Working Class

Bob Jessop (Lancaster University, UK), Marx on the Analysis of Social Formations

Richard Wolff (The New School, USA), Marx’s Economics and Social Movements for Worker Cooperatives

Session 4, 18:00 – 19:30
Vari Hall, Lecture Hall A

Which Marx for Today?

Immanuel Wallerstein (Yale University, USA), The Contemporary Relevance of Marx http://www.marxcollegium.org

ADMISSION TO THIS CONFERENCE IS FREE

Conference Organizer: Marcello Musto, York University

Info: marcello.musto at gmail.com — b.amini86 at gmail.com