Silvia Federici is a leftist activist whose resume includes teaching around the world, writing several books and countless articles, and organizing in favor of feminism and against the death penalty.
Learn more at MoMA PS1 on Thursday, Jan. 18, at 7 pm, when the firebrand offers War, Social Reproduction, and Anti-Capitalist Feminist Struggle, a presentation that builds on her decades-long research in political philosophy, feminist theory, cultural studies, and economics.
It’s free and open to the public.
Born in Italy in 1942, Federici moved to the United States to obtain a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Buffalo in the 1960s. She then taught at the University of Port Harcourt in Nigeria and Hofstra University, where she’s still an emerita professor and teaching fellow. Over the years, the Park Slope resident also helped found (or simply helped) the International Feminist Collective, the Committee for Academic Freedom in Africa, the Radical Philosophy Association, and the Midnight Notes Collective.
Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation (2004), which expounds on witch hunts, primitive accumulation, capitalism, and Marxism, is probably Federici’s most famous book. Other works include Wages Against Housework (1975), Re-enchanting the World: Feminism and the Politics of the Commons (2018), and Beyond the Periphery of the Skin: Rethinking, Remaking, and Reclaiming the Body in Contemporary Capitalism (2020).
Located at 22-35 Jackson Ave. in Long Island City, MoMA PS1 is accessible via the 7, E, G, and M lines to the Court Sq.-23rd St. and 21st St.-Van Alst subway stations.
Image: MoMA PS1