Review of "Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else)" by Olúfẹmi O. Táíwò (Haymarket Books / Pluto Press)
The discourse surrounding identity politics has become fraught with misunderstanding and co-optation by forces across the political spectrum. What was once a radical discourse initiated by the queer, Black, and Indigenous feminists of the Combahee River Collective has become a movement defined by in...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cultural Studies Association
2023-05-01
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| Series: | Lateral |
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| Online Access: | https://csalateral.org/reviews/elite-capture-how-powerful-took-over-identity-politics-taiwo-hilinski/ |
| _version_ | 1797802945312456704 |
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| author | Hunter Hilinski |
| author_facet | Hunter Hilinski |
| author_sort | Hunter Hilinski |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The discourse surrounding identity politics has become fraught with misunderstanding and co-optation by forces across the political spectrum. What was once a radical discourse initiated by the queer, Black, and Indigenous feminists of the Combahee River Collective has become a movement defined by incapacity, stigmatization, and misinterpretation. Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò sets out to clarify the nature of the identity politics movement and its relationship to the powerful institutions and individuals which have misappropriated the original radicalism of this idea to serve their own political gains. Through a materialist and narrative approach to identity politics and social critique, Táíwò argues that the problem is not with identity politics as such, but a specific power called “elite capture,” which stifles the potential latent in identity politics and genuine leftist social organizing. He concludes that, rather than deferring responsibility and accepting symbolic gestures of empty representation, we must begin to construct a new politics and a new house altogether. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T05:14:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b970c89793774344ba50f813ddb9c78b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2469-4053 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T05:14:27Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | Cultural Studies Association |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Lateral |
| spelling | doaj.art-b970c89793774344ba50f813ddb9c78b2023-06-16T01:25:23ZengCultural Studies AssociationLateral2469-40532023-05-0112110.25158/L12.1.21Review of "Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else)" by Olúfẹmi O. Táíwò (Haymarket Books / Pluto Press)Hunter Hilinski0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4803-6681University of California, IrvineThe discourse surrounding identity politics has become fraught with misunderstanding and co-optation by forces across the political spectrum. What was once a radical discourse initiated by the queer, Black, and Indigenous feminists of the Combahee River Collective has become a movement defined by incapacity, stigmatization, and misinterpretation. Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò sets out to clarify the nature of the identity politics movement and its relationship to the powerful institutions and individuals which have misappropriated the original radicalism of this idea to serve their own political gains. Through a materialist and narrative approach to identity politics and social critique, Táíwò argues that the problem is not with identity politics as such, but a specific power called “elite capture,” which stifles the potential latent in identity politics and genuine leftist social organizing. He concludes that, rather than deferring responsibility and accepting symbolic gestures of empty representation, we must begin to construct a new politics and a new house altogether.https://csalateral.org/reviews/elite-capture-how-powerful-took-over-identity-politics-taiwo-hilinski/identity politicscapitalismdemocracymaterialismactivismorganizingelites |
| spellingShingle | Hunter Hilinski Review of "Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else)" by Olúfẹmi O. Táíwò (Haymarket Books / Pluto Press) Lateral identity politics capitalism democracy materialism activism organizing elites |
| title | Review of "Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else)" by Olúfẹmi O. Táíwò (Haymarket Books / Pluto Press) |
| title_full | Review of "Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else)" by Olúfẹmi O. Táíwò (Haymarket Books / Pluto Press) |
| title_fullStr | Review of "Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else)" by Olúfẹmi O. Táíwò (Haymarket Books / Pluto Press) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Review of "Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else)" by Olúfẹmi O. Táíwò (Haymarket Books / Pluto Press) |
| title_short | Review of "Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else)" by Olúfẹmi O. Táíwò (Haymarket Books / Pluto Press) |
| title_sort | review of elite capture how the powerful took over identity politics and everything else by olufemi o taiwo haymarket books pluto press |
| topic | identity politics capitalism democracy materialism activism organizing elites |
| url | https://csalateral.org/reviews/elite-capture-how-powerful-took-over-identity-politics-taiwo-hilinski/ |
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