I like where you went with this and would like to add a dimension to the Marxisit perspective.
In Silvia Federicis excellent book Caliban and the Witch, she prepares a Marxist/Feminist critique within a Foucauldian archaeology of Western European history beginning around the time of the Plague. I can't do it justice in this space and real…
I like where you went with this and would like to add a dimension to the Marxisit perspective.
In Silvia Federicis excellent book Caliban and the Witch, she prepares a Marxist/Feminist critique within a Foucauldian archaeology of Western European history beginning around the time of the Plague. I can't do it justice in this space and really recommend it. In short, after the plague, women's reproductive capacity was subjected to primitive accumulation by the ruling class to ensure the swift repopulation of European workforces. As mercantilism and capitalism emerge (1450-1550), this accumulation becomes even more important to their projects.
The mechanism for this was the development of legal codes around sex work (both prohibiting and legalizing) as well as the subjection of the population (of mostly women) to religio-political witch hunts. The real kind, where people were burned at the stake. Federicis estimate is 100k women in 100 years.
Patriarchy in this case is the leveraging of male dominated structures of power to ensure that the reproductive capacity of women is accumulated and that they are effectively alienated from their labor (making workers). Women who opposed this domination were burned as witches. This served to eliminate the dissenters and push dissent underground.
During the same period, sectarian movements emerged around England and France which sought to open public lands to peasant farming. Here are your anarchists. They were also sought out by the Inquisition and burned at the stake as heretics.
Lower case patriarchy is where power is held and exercised by men and is passed down to their male heirs. Upper case Patriarchy is the system of social, political, and religious domination begun by the Romans / the early Church that we continue to experience today that externalizes all of the historical baggage of its machinations into it's subjects.
That sounds like a fascinating cocktail of insights Eric. I'm a lover of Medieval history so this might be just the ticket for me. I'd be very curious to see what she uncovers. Definitely going on the reading list
I read her book, "Witches, Women, and Witch-Hunting," which is basically a short overview of Caliban. It was very good. I love that the Witch has become a mythogram for feminism. I have written about it as a sort of transitional archetype for the re-emergence of the Divine Feminine as communal modes of being are revalued. It honours the oppression of patriarchy while simultaneously using it as a simple of empowerment. I want to do a deeper dive into the Witch at some point so I'll definitely be returning to Federici for Caliban.
I like where you went with this and would like to add a dimension to the Marxisit perspective.
In Silvia Federicis excellent book Caliban and the Witch, she prepares a Marxist/Feminist critique within a Foucauldian archaeology of Western European history beginning around the time of the Plague. I can't do it justice in this space and really recommend it. In short, after the plague, women's reproductive capacity was subjected to primitive accumulation by the ruling class to ensure the swift repopulation of European workforces. As mercantilism and capitalism emerge (1450-1550), this accumulation becomes even more important to their projects.
The mechanism for this was the development of legal codes around sex work (both prohibiting and legalizing) as well as the subjection of the population (of mostly women) to religio-political witch hunts. The real kind, where people were burned at the stake. Federicis estimate is 100k women in 100 years.
Patriarchy in this case is the leveraging of male dominated structures of power to ensure that the reproductive capacity of women is accumulated and that they are effectively alienated from their labor (making workers). Women who opposed this domination were burned as witches. This served to eliminate the dissenters and push dissent underground.
During the same period, sectarian movements emerged around England and France which sought to open public lands to peasant farming. Here are your anarchists. They were also sought out by the Inquisition and burned at the stake as heretics.
Lower case patriarchy is where power is held and exercised by men and is passed down to their male heirs. Upper case Patriarchy is the system of social, political, and religious domination begun by the Romans / the early Church that we continue to experience today that externalizes all of the historical baggage of its machinations into it's subjects.
It's a really great book. Highly recommend.
That sounds like a fascinating cocktail of insights Eric. I'm a lover of Medieval history so this might be just the ticket for me. I'd be very curious to see what she uncovers. Definitely going on the reading list
I read her book, "Witches, Women, and Witch-Hunting," which is basically a short overview of Caliban. It was very good. I love that the Witch has become a mythogram for feminism. I have written about it as a sort of transitional archetype for the re-emergence of the Divine Feminine as communal modes of being are revalued. It honours the oppression of patriarchy while simultaneously using it as a simple of empowerment. I want to do a deeper dive into the Witch at some point so I'll definitely be returning to Federici for Caliban.