The Structure of World History Audiobook | Kojin Karatani | Audible.com.au

The Structure of World History Audiobook | Kojin Karatani | Audible.com.au

Sample


The Structure of World History
From Modes of Production to Modes of Exchange
By: Kojin Karatani
Narrated by: Bob Dunsworth
Length: 15 hrs and 18 mins
Unabridged Audiobook
Release date: 14-10-2015
Language: English
Publisher: University Press Audiobooks

Whispersync for Voice-ready
Get this Audiobook for the reduced price of $5.99, when you buy the Kindle edition first.Learn more


Non-member price: $36.20

Member price: $14.95 or 1 Credit
Buy Now with 1 Credit
Buy Now for $14.95

OR

Add to Basket
Add to Wish List
Give as a gift

Review

“In place of a singular conception of development, Karatani envisions a truly world-historical perspective. Moreover, his unique approach to world history demonstrates the value of establishing a more constructive dialogue between philosophy, anthropology, sociology, economics and historical studies.”

(Yamoi Pham Journal of World Systems Theory) 

“ The Structure of World History is a must-read for anybody who is interested in a universal master narrative being in search not only for power of resistance against this system but also for possible ways ‘to transcend the capitalist social formation from within’ (p. 291).”

(Steffi Richter H-Asia, H-Net Reviews) 

“Well argued, and with a highly approachable translation by Michael Bourdaghs, this work is both an excellent entry point for those unfamiliar with Karatani’s previous work, and an excellent continuation of the themes he has previously explored. By providing such an ambitious and innovative work, Karatani offers much to the fields of anthropology, sociology and historical study, as well as a starting point for theorists interested in the concept of mode D and the promises it contains.”

(Wesley R. Bishop Capital & Class 2016-02-01)

Review

"Kojin Karatani's monumental and provocative synthesis testifies to a dramatic rebirth of universal history in recent times; but it does so by reuniting traditions—economics, politics, the social imaginary—which have proved increasingly sterile developed separately. His proposal involves a Borromean knot in which the three distinct areas of Capital, the Nation, and the State are both distinguished from each other and structurally recombined in their historical moments. His rereading of the Marxian modes of production (Marx's theory of universal history) in terms of modes of exchange is heretical and revisionist, but also profoundly critical of both the anarchism and the social democracy it would seem to express. His discussion of nation and world empire replaces any number of globalization debates within a transformative or revolutionary framework. His luminous study of Marx's own work and politics then casts a whole new light on Hegel and Kant; and indeed the history of philosophy is as much at stake here as the histories of nationalism or anticapitalist movements. Finally, Karatani's own practical and theoretical experience of the cooperative moment opens up political perspectives which will be politically suggestive and energizing at a moment when left politics seems universally out of breath."

(Fredric Jameson, author of Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism) 

"Kojin Karatani is one of the most creative and important thinkers of the early twenty-first century."

(David Graeber, author of The Democracy Project: A History, a Crisis, a Movement) 

"Kojin Karatani's last great work, Transcritique: On Kant and Marx, set off a chain of theoretical explosions, Slavoj Žižek’s The Parallax View not least among them. This latest book returns to the Borromean knot of Capital-Nation-State from a rotated perspective; privileging modes of exchange over modes of production, it is a revolutionary rethinking of the historical emergence of that triadic structure and its various transformations. The 'Karatani-turn' will no doubt re-start serious debate about the form and future of capitalism."

(Joan Copjec, author of Imagine There's No Woman: Ethics and Sublimation)

Editorial Reviews
"Kojin Karatani is one of the most creative and important thinkers of the early 21st century." (David Graeber, author of The Democracy Project: A History, a Crisis, a Movement)


Publisher's Summary


In this major, paradigm-shifting work, Kojin Karatani systematically re-evaluates Marx's version of world history, shifting the focus of critique from modes of production to modes of exchange.

Karatani seeks to understand both capital-nation-state, the interlocking system that's the dominant form of modern global society, and the possibilities for superseding it. He traces different modes of exchange, including the pooling of resources that characterizes nomadic tribes, the gift exchange systems developed after the adoption of fixed-settlement agriculture, the exchange of obedience for protection that arises with the emergence of the state, the commodity exchanges that characterize capitalism, and, finally, a future mode of exchange based on the return of gift exchange, albeit modified for the contemporary moment. He argues that this final stage - marking the overcoming of capital, nation, and state - is best understood in light of Kant's writings on eternal peace. The Structure of World History is in many ways the capstone of Karatani's brilliant career, yet it also signals new directions in his thought.

The book was published by Duke University Press.
©2014 Duke University Press (P)2015 Redwood Audiobooks



Critic Reviews
"Kojin Karatani's monumental and provocative synthesis testifies to a dramatic rebirth of universal history in recent times; but it does so by reuniting traditions - economics, politics, the social imaginary - which have proved increasingly sterile developed separately.... Karatani's own practical and theoretical experience of the cooperative moment opens up political perspectives, which will be politically suggestive and energizing at a moment when left politics seems universally out of breath." (Fredric Jameson, author of Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism)


More from the same

Narrator
C.O.R.E. Shadow Trilogy
The Fox Effect
Pedal to the Metal

What members say

Audible.com.au reviews
Audible.com reviews

Sort by:


Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
2 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

steve foster
05-03-2016

Work Through It and Be Rewarded In Its Relevance

Would you listen to The Structure of World History again? Why?

I had read the print version previous to listening. I'll refer back to the print version for key points.

What other book might you compare The Structure of World History to and why?

There are a number of "longue duree" (Braudel) examinations of broad historical sweeps out over recent decades, with titles of long centuries (the Long Twentieth Century), 5000 Years of Debt, multivolume sets from studies of the rise of capitalism as world system [Wallerstein] or evolving structures of power [Mann}, global South perspectives on the ubiquitous nature of imperialism of the modern period (Amin). Structure of World History takes a long, broad, multidisciplinary look at human processes of social exchange.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Bob Dunsworth?

It must be someone that has a much better grasp of western intellectual history and associated individuals from that history than the reader of this work. The mispronunciation of names (Kant pronounced Can't), technical philosophical terms (he murdered the term utilitarianism), blending of section headings with narrative text portions; these miscues, though forgivable nevertheless became grating and took away from a certain intellectual authority that is expressed by the author in the text. That is, the lack of precision on the part of the narrator impedes the credibility of the work being read.

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

Karatani's emphasis on modes of exchange for purposes of human connection and the approaches to power and domination, humans over other humans, or human domination over the nonhuman world is not only cogent in looking at history; but, the future projection of that history as call to abandon the modes of exchanges based on plunder, exploitation and capital accumulation to something of our earlier human beginnings.

That is, he sees our need to recapture a life of exchange of pure gift-giving, or exchanges of reciprocity and mutuality, even if this is just an ideal to stretch towards. These alternative modes of exchange from our ancient past are still with us, never having totally left. They must be done because our alternative future based on the modes of exchange based on conquest and capitalism is a potential state of Hobbesian nature of all out war of all against all, the Schopenhauerian end we are already getting our bellies full of in our current life together on our finite planet.

Any additional comments?

This was an appropriate book of intellectual history for narration because of the clear writing style and the author's systematic return to his themes in circular and repetitions fashion. Please keep offering recordings of newer more academic works-regardless of the previous review that lacked exposure to understand the work. Some of us like to listen to works that we've read, or will read, to help give a different way approach and interpret the text.