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The life of capital over indigenous life: Anna Stanley, ‘Risk management and the logic of elimination’, Journal of Cultural Economy, 2020

20May20

Abstract: This intervention is premised on the observation that differentiated and relational exposure and protection are fundamental to the political economy of settler colonialism in Canada. These orderings map directly onto a value logic that privileges the life of capital above all else, and orchestrates the voluntary and involuntary sacrifice of value to the national economy. Herein, the value of Indigenous life is continually metered out (and in various ways) in relation to the valued life of capital. I argue that ‘risk management’ – by which I mean the variety of techniques and practices that order and organize exposure to (and protection from) harm – is vital to the political economy of settler colonialism in Canada because of how it normalizes colonial violence. To support my argument I make three observations about ‘risk management’ anchored in three ‘exposure scenarios’ drawn from my research in the mining sector: (1) risk management is an intervention analogous to securitization; (2) risk management is powerful because it makes social relations fungible; and (3) risk management is a value logic consistent with settler governmentality and the logic of elimination.


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