Passages from Marxism to Postcolonialism: A Comment on Vivek Chibber’s Postcolonial Theory and the Specter of Capital

Abstract

The 2013 publication of Vivek Chibber’s book Postcolonial Theory and the Specter of Capital has reignited debates over the relative merits and demerits of Marxism and postcolonialism. This article reviews the debate and raises some critical questions about Chibber’s engagement with questions pertaining to universalism and capitalist development. Focusing on Chibber’s critique of Dipesh Chakrabarty’s Provincializing Europe, the article contends that whereas Chibber is right in arguing for a concept of universal history, the approach he offers towards this end pushes in the direction of Eurocentrism. As an alternative, the article proposes the possibility of crafting passages from Marxism to postcolonialism in order to move beyond Eurocentrism in the historical-sociological study of capitalist development.

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“…Por lo tanto, continuando con la argumentación de este autor, el concepto de hegemonía interdependiente implica un proceso dialéctico de mutuo desafío, restricción mutua, necesidad mutua y acomodación mutua. Este axioma corrobora "la modernidad colonial, [que] viene a caracterizarse por una pluralización de las formas de poder, una bifurcación de los dominios de la política en distintas esferas de élite y subalternos, y el fracaso del nacionalismo anticolonial para articular un proyecto emancipatorio" (Nilsen, 2015: 3).…”

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“…et al examined Marxism in international law, analyzed in depth the contribution of Marxism to the international legal section, and excavated the embodiment of Marxist theories of international law in the writings of the jurists [16]. Nilsen, A. G. proposed the possibility of moving from Marxism to postcolonialism, hypothesizing the whole process of evolution of Marxism to postcolonialism [17].…”

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“…6 In 1 Chibber 2013. 2 See, inter alia , Vanaik 2013;Chatterjee 2013;Levien 2013;Watson 2013;Murphet 2014;Brennan 2014 [inserted into bibliography -MC]; Jani 2014;Ahmed 2014;Spivak 2014;Journal of World-Systems Research 2014;Nilsen 2015;Lazarus 2016. 3 For an illuminating discussion of the distinct intellectual lineages of postcolonialism and Subaltern Studies, see Lazarus 2016, pp.…”

“…9 Cf. Brennan 2014;Murphet 2014;Nilsen 2015;Lazarus 2016;Parry 2017 [no such reference in bibliography -MC]. For useful overviews of postcolonialism's relationship to the Marxist tradition, see Chakrabarty 2005;Young 2001;and Lazarus and Varma 2008. Brennan suggests that the more interesting divide -unrecognised by either Chibber or most of his interlocutors -is one within Marxism itself: 'the internal bifurcation of humanist and social-scientific interpretations of Marxism '.…”