Mr Chris James Newlove

Research project: How does the concept of civil war help us to understand shifts in the trajectories of Marx, Du Bois and Foucault's work?

Abstract

Canonical accounts of civil war from Thucydides and Aristotle to Thomas Hobbes have meaning argued for theories which prioritise the prevention of civil war. Starting from this vantage point has resulted in approaches that do not adequately explore the dynamics that can sometimes arise within civil wars. Canonical accounts of civil war attempt to reconcile those with opposed interests. This research offers a critical analysis of three thinkers who believed, by contrast, that civil war was in various ways a necessity in certain situations, and in some ways a ‘productive' necessity. Drawing on discussions of civil wars from Ancient Greece to post-May ‘68 France, this research argues that Karl Marx, W.E.B Du Bois and Michel Foucault's development of the concept of civil war is central to understanding important shifts in their work. Contemporary accounts of Marx, Du Bois and Foucault have failed to grasp the importance of the concept of civil war for the thinkers mentioned thus ensuring understandings of their trajectories has been either misleading or partial. This research aims to show that Marx, Du Bois and Foucault conceive civil war as producing two counterposed dynamics; one of polarisation in which oppressed groups can form a ‘false fraternity' (Agamben, 2005) with elites, and an opposing dynamic in which emancipatory projects can assert themselves against elite interests. In some situations, by undermining the foundations of established power, civil wars can create emancipatory potential that would not exist otherwise.

  • Research degree: PhD
  • Title of project: How does the concept of civil war help us to understand shifts in the trajectories of Marx, Du Bois and Foucault's work?

Biography

First Supervisor: Peter Hallward

Second Supervisor: Howard Caygill 

Areas of research interest

  • Frantz Fanon
  • Michel Foucault
  • French Theory
  • Decolonial Marxism
  • Black Marxism
  • Italian Workerism - Operaismo
  • Zapatista
  • Karl Marx
  • Theories of Neoliberalism
  • Fredrich Nietzsche

Qualifications

  • Master's in Philosophy and Contemporary Critical Theory, Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy, Kingston University
  • Bachelor's Degree in Sociology, Teesside University

Publications

Chris James Newlove (2019) The wretched of the earth and strategy: Fanon's ‘Leninist' moment?, Review of African Political Economy, 46:159, 135-142

Chris James Newlove (2018) Black Marxism. Krisis: Journal of contemporary philosophy, Marx at the Margins (2), https://archive.krisis.eu/black-marxism/

Chris James Newlove (2022) Why we needed the Matrix Resurrections, Philosophically. Morocco Bound Review, 3, 21

Conference papers

Upcoming: Newlove, C.J (2023). The last Foucault: In and beyond neoliberal logic. At Historical Materialism, London. 

Newlove, C.J (2023). Foucault's Neoliberalism: civil war as capitalist strategy. At CRMEP graduate conference, London. 

Newlove, C.J. (2022). Foucault's misunderstood Maoist phase: Between Nietzsche and Marx. At Historical Materialism Conference, London.

Newlove, C.J (2019). Black Marxism Vs the Black Radical Tradition. At Historical Materialism Conference, London.

Newlove, C.J. (2018). Frantz Fanon: Black Marxist? At Historical Materialism Conference, London.

Newlove, C.J (2017) Marx the Eurocentrist? Capital Volume 1 and the so-called ‘English Road'. At Historical Materialism Conference, London.