On Cowboys and Indians: Double Alienation & the Construction of Whiteness in the American Southwest
02 February 2024, 5:30 pm–7:30 pm
Marxism in Culture seminar with Anthony Faramelli (Goldsmiths)
This event is free.
Event Information
Open to
- All | UCL staff | UCL students
Cost
- Free
Organiser
-
Institute of Advanced Studies
Location
-
IAS ForumG17, ground floor, South WingUCL, Gower St, LondonWC1E 6BT
In the United States the Southwest (Arizona and New Mexico) is a region marked by a violent and brutal history of settler colonialism that has led to a present-day uneasy relationship between white and indigenous populations. These spaces are demarcated by geopolitical borders between cities and reservations. The region nevertheless aesthetically identifies itself through the appropriation of indigenous cultural symbols, creating a kitsch aesthetic regime. This aesthetic has since been exported (marketed) throughout the world, often by so-called “new age” cultures and insidious ‘festival clothes,’ manifesting a white cultural fantasy of indigenous culture.
In this semi-autobiographical paper, I will activate the psychoanalytic-Marxist concept of double alienation to map the construction of whiteness via the creation of the metonymic figure of the ‘good Indian’. This fantasy, however, becomes untenable when confronted with the realities of the reservation system. Beyond the problematic discourses on recognition, I will argue that American and European cultures need to confront the history of genocide and reject the Southwestern aesthetics marketed around the globe.
The Marxism in Culture seminar series was conceived in 2002 to provide a forum for those committed to the continuing relevance of Marxism for cultural analysis. Both ‘Marxism’ and ‘culture’ are conceived here in a broad sense. We understand Marxism as an ongoing self-critical tradition, and correspondingly the critique of Marxism's own history and premises is part of the agenda. ‘Culture’ is intended to comprehend not only the traditional fine arts, but also aspects of popular culture such as film, popular music and fashion.
Image credit: David Mabb
About the Speaker
Dr Anthony Faramelli
Psychosocial researcher and practitioner
Anthony lectures in Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London where he is the co-head of the Centre for Institutional Analysis. Anthony is also on the Executive Board of the Association for Psychosocial Studies and a member of the Transversal Institutional Analysis Network. Anthony’s research draws on the theories and practices of Institutional Psychotherapy, with a particular focus on the contributions made by Fanon and Guattari. He is the author of Resistance, Revolution and Fascism: Zapatismo and Assemblage Politics and, with Rob White and David Hancock, an editor of Spaces of Crisis and Critique: Heterotopias Beyond Foucault. He is currently writing a monograph provisionally titled The Mass Psychology of Fascism in the Age of Machines.
More about Dr Anthony Faramelli