Works in Progress Talk

The Department of English invites you to our WiP talk by Dr. Max Haiven, on Tuesday, March 12 at 1pm 
Zoom link https://lakeheadu.zoom.us/j/96041799112

Max Haiven is a writer and teacher and Canada Research Chair in the Radical Imagination. His most recent books are Palm Oil: The Grease of Empire (2022), Revenge Capitalism: The Ghosts of Empire, the Demons of Capital, and the Settling of Unpayable Debts (2020) and Art after Money, Money after Art: Creative Strategies Against Financialization (2018). Haiven is editor of VAGABONDS, a series of short, radical books from Pluto Press. He teaches at Lakehead University, where he directs the ReImagining Value Action Lab  (RiVAL).

The Player and the Played: Financialization, Gamification and (anti-)Fascism

For most people, life in our moment of neoliberal, financialized capitalism feels like being trapped in an unwinnable but compulsory game. No wonder the popularity of blockbusters like Squid Game, The Hunger Games, Fortnite and more that depict the battle-royale, the war of all against all. In volatile times, when we have all crafted our selves to speculate and compete in increasingly digital markets, the appeal of fascism takes on a unique 21st century form, mobilized around our infatuation with the cheat. On the one hand, we fear being played and are taught to loathe those who we are told are cheating the system (the poor, migrants, “special interest groups”). On the other, we not only accept but come to admire the players in power (economic, political, etc.) who brag about "breaking the rules" and tell us it is for our own good. Today, anti-fascist strategy is crucial for anyone who cares about a peace, democracy, ecological care and social and economic justice. What can games and play teach us about today’s forms of financialized fascism and the struggle against them?