AUT: mbm/negri reading

["ROWAN WILSON" <Ajxrw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi
Time for another introduction. My name is Rowan and I'm
studying Critical Theory here at Nottingham, doing a dissertation on
Negri. I've been following the list for some time but never felt I
had enough time to contribute much. My interest in Negri is perhaps a
little more theoretical than many on this list may like, but seeing
as how there are no takers to kick off the MBM discussion, I'll try
something to get us going (hopefully). Despite the apparently
abstract nature of my interest I hope people will still be interested
- it should still have practical ramifications and I welcome a
discussion of these.
    Presently I'm doing a dissertation on Negri. The area which I am
particularly interested in is his understanding of the resisting
subject. Structuralism and post-structuralism have either dismissed
or at least problematised notions of an essential,
voluntarist subject - Foucault, for instance, was particularly
distrustful of what he referred to as humanism, for the notion of the
human that humanism wanted to liberate from a particular regime
of power could end up being just as repressive. However, without some
notion of a subject how do we understand a regime as being
resisted? What hope is there for changing the structure?
As has been noted before on this list Negri's MBM was in answer
to Althusser's dismissal of the subject. Negri re-asserts the
importance of a resistance to capital. My question is, has he taken
into account the post-structuralist critique of the subject in his
formulation (seeing as how he is interested in Foucault and Deleuze
& Guattari) or has he returned to an essentialism? My suspicion is
that the answer may lie in the idea of the subject
simultaneously being constituted by and constituting social relations
but I'm a bit unclear. My reading is still in its early stages so be
gentle with me!
If anyone could point me in the right direction for where to look in
Negri where I might find some clues to this problem I'd be grateful,
but also a discussion of this area could be interesting.

Cheers
Rowan



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