2017 Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, Genders and Sexualities

June 01 - 04, 2017

Capital in the Twenty-First Century, the 2014 bestseller by French economist Thomas Piketty, is the most celebrated economic text in recent times. It has earned recognition for its deep data and methodological rigor, allowing Piketty to mount quantitative evidence that capitalism, in and of itself, increases inequality. The book’s historical scope demonstrates the exceptional nature of the “trente glorieuses,” the 30 years known as Fordism, and thus makes a substantive empirical case for government regulation of capital. As such, Capital invites feminist attention. This Birds of a Feather panel will discuss Piketty’s book itself but primarily aims to use the well-known text as grounds for a broader conversation about feminist, queer, and transnational readings of the history of capitalism. Among the questions we might consider are: What of the women? What does population growth as index for economic growth suggest for feminist interpretations? What are the implications of Picketty’s limited European sources and national frame for a transnational, post-colonial reading of capital accumulation: how might material from Asia or Latin America change the historical narrative? How do feminist interpretations of primitive accumulation bear upon an analysis of contemporary inequalities? What would a 21st century feminist Capital do differently? Ideally, participants should have some familiarity with the arguments of Picketty’s text but close reading is not required. An open discussion of Picketty's project has relevance for scholars and advocates interested in economic inequality, feminist political economy, heterodox economics, the history of capitalism, Fordism and Post-Fordism, and critical perspectives on neoliberalism.