Antonio Negri

In this course

Negri, alongside Michael Hardt, provides a critical framework for understanding global biopolitics and the emergence of immaterial labor under contemporary capitalism, particularly through their concept of "Empire" as a deterritorialized form of sovereignty. The course readings invoke Negri and Hardt's vision of a self-producing multitude as a counterpoint to globalism's erasure of difference, positioning their work as essential for theorizing both the problem of planetary integration and potential forms of collective resistance. Their influence here anchors debates about whether AI and networked systems represent intensifications of Empire's control or new grounds for the autonomous organization of computational and cognitive labor.

Background

Antonio Negri was an Italian political philosopher known as one of the most prominent theorists of autonomism, as well as for his co-authorship of Empire with Michael Hardt. Born in Padua, Italy, Negri became a professor of political philosophy at the University of Padua, where he taught state and constitutional theory. Negri founded the Potere Operaio group in 1969 and was a leading member of Autonomia Operaia, and published highly influential books, including Empire and Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire.

Mentioned in 3 readings