my man olufemi reads the social, intellectual, and economic elite for filth in this treatise on how identity politics (originally conceptualized as a means of bringing marginalized people together to organize and resist authoritarian hegemony) has been co-opted by said authoritarian hegemony to render marginalized people powerless and misdirect conversations we have about resistance to center "marginalized" elites as representatives resulting in a whole lot of talk and pretty much no action (as well as some historical alternatives)
should be required readings for undergrads, twitter posters, "dinner with jay-z" proponents, and pretty much anyone who has ever asked "what the fuck is going on and why"
Related Recs
a treatise on the attention economy - checked it out on libby and got through it over the course of a work day, a lot of really interesting social and cultural explorations about how time itself is the final frontier of hypercapitalism and what decommodification of our attention and time should look like
the book starts with a story about the oldest redwood tree in oakland and how the only reason it’s still standing is bc it’s unmillable, and how being uncommercializable is essential to our survival. it ends with an exploration of alt social media platforms (mostly p2p ones) and what keeping the good parts of the social internet and rejecting the bad ones should look like
all in all a super valuable read; my only nitpick with the book is that odell isn’t just charting the attention economy but also attempting to “solve” it and relate it back to broader concepts about labor and social organizing, but her background is in the arts which leads to some really wonderful references to drive the points home while also missing some critical racial + socioeconomic analyses that one would expect (or at least really appreciate) from the book she promises to deliver in the introduction. but this does also make the book easier to read which is good because everyone should definitely engage with what she has to say
will definitely be revisiting
Mar 25, 2024
What can I say about this that hasn’t already been said?
Having grown up on Twitter and seeing first hand the rise of the right wing conspiracy theory movement, to the point the app became miserable and unusable, understanding the specifics of how this happened was fascinating and I couldn’t put it down.
The chapters on Israel/Palestine and the history of the “Jewish question” was really important to read and I haven’t been able to stop discussing it with people at every opportunity. Naomi’s account of her time in Palestine, dealing with the IDF is really shocking if ultimately unsurprising.
I really feel like this is one of the most essential reads of the 21st century.
Sep 10, 2024
đź“š
i see you are reading machiavelli and i expect others can/will recommend you other classical political theory so i will recommend a mix of things that are not! those works can be useful but definitely should be read alongside a variety of other voices and perspectives
books:
- A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn - solid history book that intentionally avoids the nationalist lens in mainstream depictions of US history
- Our History Has Always Been Contraband ed. by Colin Kaepernick, Robin D. G. Kelley, and Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor - great intro to Black social & political thought and the history of Black Studies
- Normal Life by Dean Spade - very dense, a critique of the gay rights movement by a trans lawyer
- Mutual Aid by Dean Spade & The Care Manifesto by The Care Collective - accessible, short books that criticize contemporary social services and div of labor in care work
- Elite Capture by OlĂşfĂ©mi O TáĂwò - critique of identity politics
- Transgender History by Susan Stryker - very accessible book on the history of trans politics and culture
- The Souls of Black Folk by WEB Du Bois - foundational text for critical race theory
a few books on my tbr list i see freq recommended that you may find useful:
- A People’s Guide to Capitalism by Hadas Thier - more accessible than Marx etc
- Abolition. Feminism. Now. by Angela Davis, Gina Dent et al. - the overlap of feminism and prison abolition
- The Case for Open Borders by John Washington - self-explanatory
- An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz - self-explanatory
- The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan - of its time but foundational 2nd wave feminist text
- The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein - self-explanatory
- Except for Palestine: The Limits of Progressive Politics by Marc Lamont Hill and Mitchell Plitnick - criticism of progressive left-wing politics inability to be consistent on Palestine
some other misc media:
- Democracy Now news station/podcast - far better than most mainstream media IMO
- 5-4 podcast - fun, accessible critical analyses of supreme court cases
- Southlake podcast - case study on modern right-wing school board politics in the US
- Amended podcast (i have not finished yet) - more nuanced history of women’s fight for equality
- The 1619 Project essay collection - uses a critical lens to analyze American historical figures and events
- Working Class History & Making Gay History podcasts - self-explanatory
- 13th documentary dir. by Ava DuVernay - looks at the US prison system and the central role of racism in its construction/maintenance
- Crip Camp documentary dir by James LeBrecht and Nicole Newnhan - follows part of the disability rights movement
Jun 17, 2024
Top Recs from @alaiyo
Mar 23, 2024
a treatise on the attention economy - checked it out on libby and got through it over the course of a work day, a lot of really interesting social and cultural explorations about how time itself is the final frontier of hypercapitalism and what decommodification of our attention and time should look like
the book starts with a story about the oldest redwood tree in oakland and how the only reason it’s still standing is bc it’s unmillable, and how being uncommercializable is essential to our survival. it ends with an exploration of alt social media platforms (mostly p2p ones) and what keeping the good parts of the social internet and rejecting the bad ones should look like
all in all a super valuable read; my only nitpick with the book is that odell isn’t just charting the attention economy but also attempting to “solve” it and relate it back to broader concepts about labor and social organizing, but her background is in the arts which leads to some really wonderful references to drive the points home while also missing some critical racial + socioeconomic analyses that one would expect (or at least really appreciate) from the book she promises to deliver in the introduction. but this does also make the book easier to read which is good because everyone should definitely engage with what she has to say
will definitely be revisiting
Mar 25, 2024