Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. What Is Elite Capture?
2. Reading the Room
3. Being in the Room
4. Building a New House
5. The Point Is to Change It
Notes
Index
Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University. His work draws liberally from the Black radical tradition, anti-colonial thought, German transcendental philosophy, contemporary philosophy of language, contemporary social science, and histories of activism and activist thinkers. His public philosophy, including articles exploring intersections of climate justice and colonialism, has been featured in The New Yorker, The Nation, Boston Review, Dissent, The Appeal, Slate, Al Jazeera, The New Republic, Aeon, and Foreign Policy. He is the author of the book Reconsidering Reparations.
‘Worth sitting with and absorbing. While critically examining what
happens when elites hijack our critiques and terminologies for
their own interests, Elite Capture acutely reminds us that building
power globally means we think and build outside of our internal
confines. That is when we have the greatest possibility at
worldmaking’
*Ibram X. Kendi, National Book Award-winning author of ‘How to Be
an Antiracist’*
‘I was waiting for this book without realising I was waiting for
this book'
*Ruth Wilson Gilmore, author of ‘Change Everything: Racial
Capitalism and the Case for Abolition’*
‘Olúfémi O. Táíwò is a thinker on fire. He not only calls out
empire for shrouding its bloodied hands in the cloth of magical
thinking but calls on all of us to do the same. Elite capture,
after all, is about turning oppression and its cure into a
neoliberal commodity exchange where identities become capitalism’s
latest currency rather than the grounds for revolutionary
transformation. The lesson is clear: only when we think for
ourselves and act with each other, together in deep, dynamic, and
difficult solidarity, can we begin to remake the world’
*Robin D. G. Kelley, author of ‘Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical
Imagination’*
‘Coursing with moral urgency and propelled by brilliant prose, this
is more than argument. It's how we build the power needed to
win’
*Naomi Klein, author of ‘This Changes Everything’ (on his previous
book)*
'Offers important new ways to think about political possibilities
in a world increasingly dominated by the ultra-rich'
*Amitav Ghosh, author of the Booker-shortlisted 'Sea of
Poppies'*
'Anyone concerned with both understanding and transforming the
world must read this succinct but mighty book. A invigoratingly
subversive gem'
*Minna Salami, award-winning essayist and author of 'Sensuous
Knowledge'*
‘This book, building on one of the most lucid, powerful, and
important essays I can recall reading in recent years, is, in a
word, brilliant. Read it—and read it twice. Every sentence contains
multitudes.’
*Daniel Denvir, host of The Dig*
‘An indispensable and urgent set of analyses, interventions, and
alternatives to ‘identity politics,’ ‘centering,’ and much more.
The book offers a sober assessment of the state of our racial
politics and a powerful path on how to build the world that we
deserve’
*Derecka Purnell, author of ‘Becoming Abolitionists’*
‘With global breadth, clarity and precision, Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò
dissects the causes and consequences of elite capture and charts an
alternative constructive politics for our time. The result is an
erudite yet accessible book that draws widely on the rich
traditions of black and anticolonial political thought’
*Adom Getachew, author of ‘Worldmaking after Empire: The Rise and
Fall of Self-Determination’*
‘Among the churn of books on ‘wokeness’ and ‘political
correctness,’ philosopher Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò’s Elite Capture clearly
stands out. With calm, clarity, erudition, and authority, Táíwò
walks the reader through the morass, deftly explicating the
distinction between substantive and worthy critique and weaponized
backlash. Understanding the culture wars is essential to US
politics right now, and no one has done it better than Táíwò in
this book.’
*Jason Stanley, author of ‘How Fascism Works’*
‘Olúfẹḿi O. Táíwò is one of the great social theorists of our
generation. Elite Capture is a brilliant, devastating book. Táíwò
deploys his characteristic blend of philosophical rigor,
sociological insight, and political clarity to reset the debate on
identity politics. Táíwò shows how the structure of racial
capitalism, not misguided activism, is today’s prime threat to
egalitarian, anti-racist politics. And Táíwò’s suggested path
forward, a constructive and materialist politics at the radical
edge of the possible, is exactly what we need to escape these
desperate times. Anyone concerned with dismantling inequalities,
and building a better world, needs to read this book.’
*Daniel Aldana Cohen, co-author of ‘A Planet to Win: Why We Need a
Green New Deal’*
‘Táíwò's book is an insightful and fascinating look at how it is
that elites capture and subvert efforts to better society. Anyone
who wants to understand and improve upon the activist movements
shaking our world needs to read this book.’
*Liam Kofi Bright, Assistant Professor at the London School of
Economics*
‘The misuse of identity politics has led to Nancy Pelosi wearing
kente cloth but has done little to address actual inequality.
Táíwò’s project is reclamation’
*Zak Cheney-Rice, ‘New York magazine’*
'One of the most important books I’ve read for cultivating a
dedication to progressive change, and for unscrambling some of the
cultural frustration of capitalism and its digital revolution'
*Eliz Mizon, ‘Chompsky’*
‘A transformational text’
*Emma Dabiri, research associate at SOAS University of London, and
author of ‘What White People Can Do Next: From Allyship to
Coalition’*
‘An emboldening step towards a constructive politics that aims to
collectively free us from the violent overdetermination of our
lives’
*‘ArtReview’*
‘Astonishing … a philosophically, morally and politically thrilling
book’
*Scott Stephens, The Minefield (ABC)*
Ask a Question About this Product More... |