Alison Phipps's Blog

I’m doing an online talk for the BSA study group on Sociology, Psychoanalysis and the Psychosocial on 7th July (3pm). It focuses on the first chapter of my upcoming book, and is entitled ‘Sexual violence as a strategy of enclosure: an anti-origin story.’

The talk is free but you do need to register, which you can do here. All welcome and do share onwards if you think others would be interested. More details, including abstract, on the webpage.

My article on Gisèle Pelicot and abolition feminism, originally published on the Abolitionist Futures blog, has now been translated into Spanish by the wonderful comrades at Zona de Estrategia. You can read the Spanish version below – please do share onwards to any Spanish speakers/readers you think might be interested.

https://zonaestrategia.net/hace-falta-todo-un-pueblo-para-violar-a-una-mujer-comunidad-modernidad-y-gisele-pelicot/

I recently did a talk and discussion for California State University San Bernardino’s ‘Conversations on Race and Policing‘ series, which is now on YouTube and Spotify (also embedded below). This was based on Chapter Six of my upcoming book – the chapter focuses on how sexual violence functions as a bordering project, and traces what I call the neocoloniality of sexual violence through War on Terror formations, authoritarian populism, anti-trafficking initiatives and racialised mass incarceration. I hope it’s an interesting listen – I found it a really inspiring and interesting session.

I was recently interviewed by Dominic Bowen on The International Risk Podcast, about my new book Sexual Violence in Racial Capitalism. We covered a lot of ground, including: how I frame sexual violence as a tool of racial capitalism; how this changes the way we think about its causes and solutions; how the idea of sexual threat is racialised to serve colonial and capitalist interests; and what a genuinely inclusive, anti-capitalist, anti-racist response to sexual violence looks like in practice.

Listen to the interview at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1544431/episodes/17194875 or on your favourite podcast app.

I have a short article out on the Abolitionist Futures blog called “It takes a village to rape a woman.’ Community, modernity, and Gisèle Pelicot.’ It draws on material from my upcoming book to reflect on what ‘community’ means in racial capitalism and how this relates to sexual violence. You can read it at https://abolitionistfutures.com/latest-news/it-takes-a-village-to-rape-a-woman

The piece is part of the Abolitionist Futures gender-based violence series, which also features contributions from Leah Cowan, molly rosabelle ackhurst, Tina Sikka and Lola Olufemi, with more on the way. The series came out of a co-produced resource focused on abolitionist strategies for tackling gender-based violence, and the articles explore different facets of gender-based violence, carcerality, and abolition.

We hope the series will become a space where people engaging with gender-based violence (organisers, frontline workers, survivors, scholars and others) can share ideas, and it’s open for contributions so get in touch with Abolitionist Futures if you’d like to write a piece. And do share the series widely.

I have created a page on my website to let people know about my new book, Sexual Violence in Racial Capitalism, which is out with Manchester University Press either late this year or early next. The page contains summaries of all the chapters and an overview of what and who the book is for.

New book: Sexual Violence in Racial Capitalism

I’m starting to schedule talks from September onwards – so if you want me to come and speak to your research group, department, organisation or similar about the book, then do send me a message. As subscribers to this blog, you will also be immediately notified when the book is available for pre-order (and there will be a discount code for you, a substantial one I hope).

I am on strike for much of May to protest against compulsory redundancies at my workplace. However, I will answer any messages on non-strike days and will be back to work fully in June (and will hope to keep my job thereafter).

Thanks in advance for your support,

Alison

My book Sexual Violence in Racial Capitalism will be out either later this year or early next, from Manchester University Press. I’ve done a few talks based on the book in the past year or so, but now the first published ‘sneak peek’ is out. I did an interview with the fantastic Aurelien Mondon from the Reactionary Politics Research Network, focused on chapter six of the manuscript.

The interview covers two concepts I set out in the book: the coloniality of sexual violence, and the racial capitalist protection racket. It also focuses on my analysis of sexual violence as a bordering project, looking at how and why authoritarian populism weaponises ideas of the sexually dangerous Other. Read it at the link below and please do share onwards.

Interview: Sexual violence in racial capitalism (Alison Phipps)

Dear all, I wanted to let you know that at Newcastle University we have just launched a new suite of interdisciplinary Gender Master’s programmes. These are: 

• Gender and Sociology

• Gender and Global Sustainable Challenges

• Gender and Public Policy

• Gender and International Relations

Students will do half their credits in Gender and half in their other subject, and the dissertation will combine the two under expert supervision. 

The modules look at key contemporary issues such as conflict and violence, poverty and inequality, reproductive justice, the environment, migration, identity and belonging. Students will engage with cutting edge scholarship and feminist, queer, and trans theory, and learn how to put theory into practice. The programmes are taught by experts who take an intersectional, decolonial, trans- and sex-worker inclusive, engaged, and community-based approach. By the end of their programme, students will be independent researchers equipped for a variety of different careers and – more importantly – with the knowledge and skills to make a difference in the world. The programmes are taught in person.

More information and online application links can be found at our website at https://www.ncl.ac.uk/postgraduate/degrees/4191f/. There is information about scholarships and funding at https://www.ncl.ac.uk/postgraduate/fees-funding/. 

Please share this information widely with your networks and encourage people to apply – this is a very difficult time to get a new degree off the ground but we need Gender Studies more than ever. 

Thanks, Alison

I recently gave a talk for the Department of Educational Research at Lancaster University, based on the final chapter of my forthcoming book Personal Business: Sexual Violence in Racial Capitalism (with Manchester University Press). You can read the abstract and watch the video below.

This talk explores online violence against women, a phenomenon usually situated in a cultural ‘backlash’ frame. It contextualises this violence within a political economy of late (or ‘platform’) capitalism that draws on arguments that we are moving into a neo- or techno-feudal age. I engage Siapera’s understanding of digital violence as a strategy of enclosure that excludes women from technological spaces, arguing that it also enacts a fantasised neofeudal masculinity: this requires the humiliation and abjection of women, but ultimately vents a frustrated desire for power. Crucially, this ressentiment is one side of the neofeudal bargain in which some are offered impunity to perpetrate violence on others, as part of interactions between cyborgian serfs that ultimately generate value for the platforms owned by petty kings.

I have a new open-access paper out with the brilliant Gabriella Mwedzi, called ‘Using Community Power to Tackle Gender-Based Violence: An Intersectional Theorisation.’ The abstract is below, and the paper is completely free to download and share. It’s intended as a friendly critique and perhaps even a first step to taking a more GBV-sensitive and intersectional approach to Community Power. Do share onwards if appropriate and we really hope it’s useful. Download the full paper at https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13607804241252271

What is the role of the community in tackling gender-based violence (GBV)? Could communities succeed in ways that states have failed? What approaches could make this possible? This article presents a theoretical discussion of Community Power, a recently codified and influential paradigm in Britain that focuses on ‘handing power’ to communities to deal with local issues. We are particularly interested in its potential to tackle GBV, a persistent issue with many social determinants relevant to Community Power. Our refractive analysis works on two levels: (1) we explore the possibilities of Community Power in relation to GBV; and (2) we use GBV as a lens on Community Power to illuminate its broader strengths and weaknesses. In doing this, we call for a deeper engagement with the terms ‘community’ and ‘power’, which are under-theorised and flattened in the paradigm of Community Power. Applying intersectional theory to this task, we find that Community Power initiatives risk exacerbating the dynamics that underpin GBV. We make suggestions for creating a more GBV-sensitive approach to Community Power, which might also help to enhance this mode of practice in the round.