June 2, 2016/ 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

UCLA (6275 Bunche Hall) Los Angeles CA

Basing himself on his new book, The Sublime Perversion of Capital (Duke University Press, 2016), Gavin Walker will examine the Japanese debate about capitalism from the 1920s to 1950s, using it as his point of departure to consider current discussions of uneven development and contemporary topics in Marxist theory and historiography. Walker locates the debate’s culmination in the work of Uno Kozo, whose investigations into the development of capitalism and the commodification of labor power are essential for rethinking Marxism today. Walker’s analysis of the Japanese debate shows how Marxist thought was globalized from the start.

Gavin Walker teaches in History and East Asian Studies at McGill University. He has written extensively on modern Japan, on Marxism, and on contemporary questions of political organization.

Free and open to the public!

Sponsor(s): Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies, The Center for Social Theory and Comparative History