Category Archives: Dialectics

Althusser, Gramsci and Machiavelli – Us and Us

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Teo Ballvé

Debate in the geograsphere. Jon Beasley-Murray published a riff on Louis Althusser’s Machiavelli and Us saying he detects a post-hegemonic streak in Althusser’s take on Machiavelli with an emphasis on the aleatory, contingent, and the conjunctural rather than a “telos of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Antonio Gramsci, Dialectics, Hegemony, Historical Materialism, Marxism, Nation/Nationalism, Niccolo Machiavelli, Power, The State | 6 Comments

The Solitude of Latin America

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Teo Ballvé

Today marks 30 years since Gabriel García Márquez won the Nobel Prize in Literature. His Nobel speech, “The Solitude of Latin America,” is itself a masterpiece. The closing lines (spoiler!) below. Full text English translation is online, but if you read Spanish, … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Dialectics, Media | Comments Off

Territory and Autogestion

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Teo Ballvé

Marina Sitrin, who was part of the original #Occupy foco in Zuccotti Park, wrote a brief essay on “Horizontalism and Territory” drawing from her long-standing engagement with Latin American social movements, particularly those that gained force amid Argentina’s 2001 crash. … Continue reading →

Posted in #Occupy, Dialectics, Everyday Life, Henri Lefebvre, Spatiality, Territory, The State | 2 Comments

Jameson: Representing Capital

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Teo Ballvé

Canadian magazine Rabble has an interview with Frederic Jameson about his new book Representing Capital: A Reading of Volume One. Jameson explains what he means when he writes in the book, “Capital is not a book about politics, and not … Continue reading →

Posted in Critique, Dialectics, Karl Marx, Marxism, Political Economy | Comments Off

¡General Strike! Oakland Walks

Posted on November 2, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Today. A General Strike. Oakland will become liberated territory. I will be in Oakland with many many people. I read a great post this morning on what a “General Strike” actually means. The post draws on Walter Benjamin and Rosa … Continue reading →

Posted in #Occupy, City, Dialectics, Elites, Everyday Life, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Pirates, Power, Violence | Comments Off

Spatiality & Power

Posted on September 14, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

“A stupid despot may constrain his slaves with iron chains; but a true politician binds them even more strongly by the chain of their own ideas… on the soft fibers of the brain is founded the unshakable base of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Antonio Gramsci, Assemblages, Carl Schmitt, Dialectics, Everyday Life, Governmentality, Hegemony, Henri Lefebvre, Illegality, Karl Marx, Law, Michel Foucault, Power, Sovereignty, Spatiality, Territory, The State, Violence | 1 Comment

Violent Entrepreneurs

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Volkov, Vadim. 2002. Violent Entrepreneurs: The Use of Force in the Making of Russian Capitalism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Vadim Volkov’s extremely impressive book details how an entire class of “violent entrepreneurs” became the handmaidens of the Soviet transition … Continue reading →

Posted in Bandits, Critique, Dialectics, Elites, Everyday Life, Illegality, Law, Networks, Power, Sovereignty, The State, Violence | Comments Off

On the Trail of Latin American Bandits

Posted on July 23, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Joseph, Gilbert M. 1990. “On the Trail of Latin American Bandits: A Reexamination of Peasant Resistance,” Latin American Research Review 25(3): 7-53; & Various Authors. 1991. “Debate on Banditry in Latin America,” Latin American Research Review 26(1): 145-174. Gil Joseph … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Bandits, Boundaries, Dialectics, Hegemony, Historical Materialism, Historical-Geographies, Illegality, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Land, Law, Marxism, Nation/Nationalism, Political Ecology, Political Economy, Terror, The State, Violence | Comments Off

Bandits, Peasants, Politics

Posted on July 23, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Sánchez, Gonzálo and Donny Meertens. 2006. Bandoleros, gamonales y campesinos: El caso de la Violencia en Colombia. Bogotá: Alfaguara. Latin America has been the epicenter of banditry studies. After Hobsbawm’s pioneering survey, Gonzálo Sánchez and Donny Meertens’ study of banditry … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Bandits, Boundaries, Dialectics, Frontiers, Illegality, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Land, Law, Nation/Nationalism, Terror, The State, Violence | Comments Off

Culture of Terror, Space of Death

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Taussig, Michael. 1984. “Culture of Terror, Space of Death. Roger Casement’s Putumayo Report and the Explanation of Torture.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 26(3): 467-497. In this essay, Michael Taussig wants to explore “the mediation of the culture of … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Boundaries, Dialectics, Forests, Frontiers, Historical-Geographies, Land, Political Ecology, Political Economy, Post-Colonial, Power, Race & Ethnicity, Spatiality, Spectacle, Terror, Violence | Comments Off