Tomat0 reviewed Re-Enchanting the World by Silvia Federici
Disappointing
2 stars
I was rather excited to read this given how it discusses a lot of topics that I have a lot of interest in, especially given how much I liked the Wages Against Housework essay, but was left feeling rather disappointed. Federici makes a lot of broad claims which are left without any real backing or elaboration, especially when it comes to matters of what occurs internationally. I left this book with a vague sense of something going on between "Africa" and the World Bank, but not much past that. If someone were to ask me how the World Bank engages in enclosure, I am not at all confident I can explain that given what I've gotten from this book.
The essays keep retreading a lot of ground, but somehow the arguments still are really spread thin since what's getting repeated is the broad claims. The picture painted of a lot …
I was rather excited to read this given how it discusses a lot of topics that I have a lot of interest in, especially given how much I liked the Wages Against Housework essay, but was left feeling rather disappointed. Federici makes a lot of broad claims which are left without any real backing or elaboration, especially when it comes to matters of what occurs internationally. I left this book with a vague sense of something going on between "Africa" and the World Bank, but not much past that. If someone were to ask me how the World Bank engages in enclosure, I am not at all confident I can explain that given what I've gotten from this book.
The essays keep retreading a lot of ground, but somehow the arguments still are really spread thin since what's getting repeated is the broad claims. The picture painted of a lot of the various societies and movements she cites seems rather one-sided/romanticized, but I don't want to harp on this too strongly since history is far from my strong-suit, so I really cannot testify to the accuracy of her claims one way or another.
But as I got on later into the book, the arguments started to get more specific and coherent, and I quite like that. As it stands though, I really do not feel like I can comfortably cite this without running the risk of basing my arguments on misinformation.