Following the Threads of Federici
A History of Radical Resistance & Rebellion - achieved by Magickal Means
From the Inquisition to Black Lives Matter
Following the Threads of Federici is both an invitation and exploration to develop the themes outlined by Italian Marxist-Feminist Silvia Federici in her groundbreaking work Caliban and the Witch.
It's a tentative attempt to untangle the complex connections which span out across the Black Atlantic. We travel anti-clockwise: starting with the European Witchcraft Inquisition, moving across the Atlantic to Haiti & the Vodou ceremony at Bwa Kaiyman which kicked off the most successful revolution of enslaved folx in history. Next, we head to New Orleans & the antebellum South examining rebellions of the enslaved, then, to the 1960's looking at the potentials (and pitfalls) of second wave Goddess Feminism, and finally, leading up to the contemporary ‘magical resistance’ in the United States and beyond.
The project investigates the question, how was the persecution and disciplining of women (both economically, politically, racially, sexually, spiritually and socially) fundamental to the introduction of the Capitalist logic? As well as exploring the potentialities of magical praxis to dismantle systems of patriarchal white supremacy, foster networks of care and create new spaces of possibility.
As a scholar of radical social movements, who also self-identifies as a witch, this is also an experiment in moving beyond the purely materialist perspective, infusing Federici’s Marxist narrative with mysticism and mythology, tracing the contours of her thought and revaluing the contribution of practitioners of trance-based and ecstatic spiritualities (and the spirits who support them) as co-conspirators to projects striving towards healing justice and social transformation.
Unfortunately the project still remains unwritten - but you can check out some videos presenting parts of my research below, or listen to the audio on my spotify podcast. (But be warned, my video editing skills back then were still a bit unpolished)