The Politics of Culture in the Shadow of Capital

“[T]he volume raises interesting and important questions. It could provide the basis of some lively debates in a graduate course on postmodern forms of struggle as well as for discussions of the role of culture in the struggle for a new utopia.” - Michael Woost, American Anthropologist

“Arresting and illuminating essays. . . . Lowe and Lloyd tell us that the book aims to show how the contradictions of transnational capitalism are expressed in cultural conflicts. They . . . deploy a neo-Marxian perspective in which the cultural differences of the modern world are viewed as manifestations of the economic and political contradictions of capitalism. They repudiate any narrowly class-based analysis of contemporary capitalism and attack the theory that it is producing a thoroughly homogenized and commodified global culture. . . . The purpose of The Politics of Culture in the Shadow of Capital is to assemble evidence of these struggles and show how they embody singular responses to common dilemmas.” - John Gray, TLS

“The essays in this volume . . . are of a consistent quality rare in collaborative volumes. They contribute to the wider movement in academia highlighting the limitations and implications of linear, traditional narratives of modernity, development, culture, and democracy.” - William Cummings , Journal of World History

“This important collection of essays marks a turning point for radical cultural theory and its critical applications in the age of global capitalism . . . . [A]ny politically engaged future efforts in cultural theory will first have to look to this collection for innovative models engaging with the alternative modernities being constructed in the ‘shadow’ of global capital.” - Alex Benchimol , Thesis Eleven

“Lowe and Lloyd bring together studies on contemporary histories and cultures from all over the world to show where and how they defy or escape prevailing theories, whether liberal, Marxist, or postmodern. The emphasis on the diverse and the singular is a welcome corrective to the globalizing pretensions of much recent theorization.” - Partha Chatterjee, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta

"This powerful collection renders a most difficult and welcome service: it makes clear the means by which particular culturally-situated struggles remake ‘the global.’ It shows us that the terrain on which economic and political contradictions are fought is culture; that antiracist and feminist struggles remake our understanding of materialist analysis; and that traversing the globe demands theoretical transportation in multiple directions." - Wahneema Lubiano, Duke University