Brutalism

by Achille Mbembe

Overview

In Brutalism, eminent social and critical theorist Achille Mbembe invokes the architectural aesthetic of brutalism to describe our moment, caught up in the pathos of demolition and production on a planetary scale. Just as brutalist architecture creates an affect of overwhelming weight and destruction, Mbembe contends that contemporary capitalism crushes and dominates all spheres of existence. In our digital, technologically focused era, capitalism has produced a becoming-artificial of humanity and the becoming-human of machines. This blurring of the natural and artificial presents a planetary existential threat in which contemporary society’s goal is to precipitate the mutation of the human species into a condition that is at once plastic and synthetic. Mbembe argues that Afro-diasporic thought presents the only solution for breaking the totalizing logic of contemporary capitalism: repairing that which is broken, developing a new planetary consciousness, and reforming a community of humans in solidarity with all living things.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781478027720
Publisher:	Duke University Press
Publication date:	12/08/2023
Series:	Theory in Forms
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	200
File size:	571 KB

About the Author

Achille Mbembe is Research Professor in History and Politics at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He is author of Necropolitics and Critique of Black Reason and coeditor of Johannesburg: The Elusive Metropolis, all also published by Duke University Press.

Table of Contents

Preface  xi
Acknowledgments  xvii
Introduction  1
1. Universal Domination  9
2. Fracturing  27
3. Animism and Viscerality  40
4. Virilism  58
5. Border-Bodies  78
6. Circulations  91
7. The Community of Captives  105
8. Potential Humanity and the Politics of the Living  125
Conclusion  147
Notes  151
Index  179

Editorial Reviews

In an argument both elegant and urgent, Achille Mbembe focuses our attention on the African continent, which is not only where the forms of domination and deprivation that increasingly affect the entire globe are most fully deployed but also where the forms of reparation necessary for a future world can be glimpsed.”—Michael Hardt, author of, The Subversive Seventies

“This is a fantastic translation of a vital text. The poetry, intensity, complexity, and subtlety that we have come to expect from Achille Mbembe’s work are all here in Brutalism.”—Laurent Dubois, translator of, Critique of Black Reason

"Brutalism offers some experimental analyses but is, on the whole, something quite different: a poetico-political vision, or a 'panoramic fresco,' as he promises in the introduction: a suggestive image painted in broad strokes of dark, vital, earthy colours—and accents of hopeful green."
 —Anders Dunker, Modern Times Review

"This book will be of interest to those working in Africana thought, global development, political theory, and philosophy and, more particularly, to anyone with an interest in ecology, migration, or innovations in technology. Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty."—Choice

“Mbembe writes rhapsodic, delirious, poetic prose to make difficult, unassailable arguments in this book.”

—Atreyee Majumder, Philosophy in Review

“Achille Mbembe’s Brutalism is a thought-provoking and timely work that challenges readers to rethink the future of humanity in the face of rampant capitalism and technological advancement. Its relevance extends beyond academic circles, offering valuable insights for policymakers, activists, and anyone interested in the intersections of technology, ecology, and social justice. Mbembe’s vision for a new planetary consciousness, rooted in solidarity and repair, is not just an intellectual exercise but a practical call for transformative action.”
 —Adeniyi Awoyemi, African Affairs

"[Brutalism's] strengths lie in the ideas that it provokes and the insights that it presents. Mbembe is an animateur des idées, and this book might be read as a letter to humanity."—Gabriel O. Apata, Theory, Culture, and Society

"Mbembe reveals a deep concern with the humanitarian and ecological disasters capitalism has unleashed. . . . Like the raw and masculine aesthetic of the architectural style, political and metaphysical brutalism reduces everything to matter. Brutalism in the 21st century is a product of Western technical reason: it’s the way ‘the wretched of the earth’ experience Black reason in the neoliberal age."—Kevin Okoth, London Review of Books

From the Publisher

"This book will be of interest to those working in Africana thought, global development, political theory, and philosophy and, more particularly, to anyone with an interest in ecology, migration, or innovations in technology. Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty."

Choice

"[Brutalism's] strengths lie in the ideas that it provokes and the insights that it presents. Mbembe is an animateur des idées, and this book might be read as a letter to humanity."

Theory, Culture, and Society - Gabriel O. Apata

This is a fantastic translation of a vital text. The poetry, intensity, complexity, and subtlety that we have come to expect from Achille Mbembe’s work are all here in Brutalism.

Critique of Black Reason - Laurent Dubois

"Brutalism offers some experimental analyses but is, on the whole, something quite different: a poetico-political vision, or a 'panoramic fresco,' as he promises in the introduction: a suggestive image painted in broad strokes of dark, vital, earthy colours—and accents of hopeful green."
 

Modern Times Review - Anders Dunker

Mbembe writes rhapsodic, delirious, poetic prose to make difficult, unassailable arguments in this book.”

Philosophy in Review - Atreyee Majumder

In an argument both elegant and urgent, Achille Mbembe focuses our attention on the African continent, which is not only where the forms of domination and deprivation that increasingly affect the entire globe are most fully deployed but also where the forms of reparation necessary for a future world can be glimpsed.

The Subversive Seventies - Michael Hardt

Achille Mbembe’s Brutalism is a thought-provoking and timely work that challenges readers to rethink the future of humanity in the face of rampant capitalism and technological advancement. Its relevance extends beyond academic circles, offering valuable insights for policymakers, activists, and anyone interested in the intersections of technology, ecology, and social justice. Mbembe’s vision for a new planetary consciousness, rooted in solidarity and repair, is not just an intellectual exercise but a practical call for transformative action.”
 

Adeniyi Awoyemi

"Brutalism offers some experimental analyses but is, on the whole, something quite different: a poetico-political vision, or a 'panoramic fresco,' as he promises in the introduction: a suggestive image painted in broad strokes of dark, vital, earthy colours—and accents of hopeful green."
 

Modern Times Review - Anders Dunke