Kathi Weeks: Feminism and the Problem with Work

What is “the problem with work”? What has feminism been, and what might it become? Why is abolition of the family, historically speaking, “the infamous proposal of the feminists”? In this course, we will explore these questions (and more) by focusing on the writings of one of the major radical philosophers of our times, Kathi Weeks. From her first book Constituting Feminist Subjects to her magnum opus The Problem with Work, to her more recent work on scale, sex work, and utopian thinking, Weeks has substantially shaped the conversation surrounding such topics as Universal Basic Income (UBI), the work ethic, and the family. 

Through a study of Weeks’ work, we gain invaluable insight into the writings of canonical philosophers (such as Beauvoir and Nietzsche) as well as the keywords of our times, such as a “post-Fordism,” “affective labor,” and “family abolition.” How can Weeks help us rethink work and re-imagine “postwork” possibilities? How do antiwork politics relate to questions of care, social reproduction, and family abolition?

Our deep dive into the oeuvre of Kathi Weeks will combine video and audio clips, book chapters, scholarly articles and journalistic essays, as well as reference to Weeks’s influences and interlocutors (for instance: Karl Marx, Shulamith Firestone, Ernst Bloch, Wages for Housework, Donna Haraway, Michael Hardt, and Fredric Jameson), students, and/or fellow travelers (Sarah Jaffe, Helen Hester, Heather Berg, Melissa Gira Grant, and more).