Short Abstract:

This plenary session focuses on understanding the confluence of authoritarian and fascist tendencies under conditions of capitalist socialization. It is the result of discussions between different EASA networks and focuses on researchers and network activities.

Long Abstract:

The plenary draws attention to the contemporary confluence of fascism and authoritarian capitalism. There are numerous examples of how this confluence transforms and radicalises inequality, destruction, extraction and exploitation: from the ebb of the pink tide to the rise of far-right movements and parties across Europe and the world. Anthropologists have written about, with and against such tendencies, and the plenary bears witness to critical engagement in and through anthropology. We see opportunities for critique, the need for debate and the urgency of moderating discussions between anthropologists working from different thematic, regional and political perspectives. The mode of the plenary session is collaborative. In a short roundtable discussion, the plenary invites scholars involved in research or networking activities and we pose the question: How can anthropologists analyse the state of the world in the face of the confluence of capitalisms and fascisms and how can they contribute to change? Following ongoing discussions between different EASA networks, the plenary session invites speakers to reflect on capitalism and fascism in this spirit, with particular attention to network themes such as issues of economic organisation (AOE), labour (AOL), fascism (ANTHROFA), gender and sexuality (ENQA), and racism and ethnicities (ARE). We invite dialogue between the speakers and the audience as we work with different perspectives. This plenary is a space to rethink, reformulate and revise anthropological work on urgent, emergent or dormant situations where authoritarian tendencies in politics meet economic systems of exploitation, extraction and productivism.