Fantasy Machine: Philanthrocapitalism as an Ideological Formation

Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gyfnodolynErthygladolygiad gan gymheiriaid

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Fantasy Machine: Philanthrocapitalism as an Ideological Formation. / Wilson, Japhy.
Yn: Third World Quarterly, Cyfrol 35, Rhif 7, 30.10.2014, t. 1144-1161.

Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gyfnodolynErthygladolygiad gan gymheiriaid

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Wilson J. Fantasy Machine: Philanthrocapitalism as an Ideological Formation. Third World Quarterly. 2014 Hyd 30;35(7):1144-1161. Epub 2014 Hyd 2. doi: 10.1080/01436597.2014.926102

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Wilson, Japhy. / Fantasy Machine: Philanthrocapitalism as an Ideological Formation. Yn: Third World Quarterly. 2014 ; Cyfrol 35, Rhif 7. tt. 1144-1161.

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Fantasy Machine: Philanthrocapitalism as an Ideological Formation

AU - Wilson, Japhy

PY - 2014/10/30

Y1 - 2014/10/30

N2 - Philanthrocapitalism is promoted as a form of development funding that infuses philanthropy with the dynamism and innovation of capitalist enterprise. Millennium Promise is a philanthrocapitalist organisation based in New York, which finances the Millennium Villages Project (mvp) across 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. At the level of its discursive articulation Millennium Promise appears as a Foucauldian ‘anti-politics machine’: a mechanism of transnational governmentality devoted to the biopolitical production of entrepreneurial subjects organised in self-disciplining communities. Drawing on psychoanalytic theory and field research conducted in Uganda, I argue that philanthrocapitalism is better understood as an ideological formation, which mobilises a disavowed enjoyment of global inequality. In the case of Millennium Promise this enjoyment is structured by specific social fantasies: cause-related marketing campaigns invite Western consumers to enjoy their imagined distance from ‘African’ suffering; the mvp functions as a narcissistic mirror, which offers a reflection of capitalist society cleansed of its class antagonism; and, through the staging of messianic rituals, the mvp mobilises a shared enjoyment of pseudo-colonial relations of domination. I conclude that philanthrocapitalism is not an anti-politics machine but a fantasy machine, which demonstrates the limitations of Foucauldian critique, and forces us to confront our own relations to enjoyment.

AB - Philanthrocapitalism is promoted as a form of development funding that infuses philanthropy with the dynamism and innovation of capitalist enterprise. Millennium Promise is a philanthrocapitalist organisation based in New York, which finances the Millennium Villages Project (mvp) across 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. At the level of its discursive articulation Millennium Promise appears as a Foucauldian ‘anti-politics machine’: a mechanism of transnational governmentality devoted to the biopolitical production of entrepreneurial subjects organised in self-disciplining communities. Drawing on psychoanalytic theory and field research conducted in Uganda, I argue that philanthrocapitalism is better understood as an ideological formation, which mobilises a disavowed enjoyment of global inequality. In the case of Millennium Promise this enjoyment is structured by specific social fantasies: cause-related marketing campaigns invite Western consumers to enjoy their imagined distance from ‘African’ suffering; the mvp functions as a narcissistic mirror, which offers a reflection of capitalist society cleansed of its class antagonism; and, through the staging of messianic rituals, the mvp mobilises a shared enjoyment of pseudo-colonial relations of domination. I conclude that philanthrocapitalism is not an anti-politics machine but a fantasy machine, which demonstrates the limitations of Foucauldian critique, and forces us to confront our own relations to enjoyment.

U2 - 10.1080/01436597.2014.926102

DO - 10.1080/01436597.2014.926102

M3 - Article

VL - 35

SP - 1144

EP - 1161

JO - Third World Quarterly

JF - Third World Quarterly

IS - 7

ER -