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A review by meanstoakenz
Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation by Silvia Federici
challenging
dark
informative
slow-paced
4.5
On its surface, Caliban and the Witch is either a masterpiece or just shy of one. However, I'm conflicted on the novel - and how to rate it - for a couple reasons. Firstly, the author has shown herself in subsequent releases to be a TERF, and one can see the seeds of that essentialist worldview in the penumbra of Caliban. Secondly, reviews I've seen from academic historians (which Federici is not) have said that many of her most important facts are lacking - the primary examples always being that most estimates say witch hunts killed tens of thousands of people, while Federici relies on the minority historian opinion to arrive at much larger numbers, while also referencing several rumors as truth, such as the existence of prima notca and the etymology of the f-slur - and that she over-relies on sources which supported her initial thesis while dismissing more current historians whose work did not.
All of that said, while I do believe Federici limits the novel's academic value (which is why I'm subtracting half a star) by overstating her case regarding the importance of the witch hunt in the minimizing of "women's work" and women's roles in society during the transition from feudalism to capitalism, I believe the work still holds an important role as a novel. Specifically, the first half of the book goes into detail regarding the historical minimization of women and their legal & social relegation to the service of reproductive labor. Additionally, while witch hunts might not have been the primary tool of social repression, having lived through a couple of a modern-day attempts at reviving the witch hunt in the US, I do not believe the reduction of the victims of witch hunts from a "genocide" to "30,000-50,000 over a couple hundred years" necessitates claiming they had no chilling effect on the social power and lives of women, at least in portions of Europe. Finally, the "Descartes / Foucault Chapter" is one of the more challenging, yet interesting reads I've had in awhile, discussing the societal perception of magic and the body, and how it changed in the transition to capitalism. Therefore, so long as one is willing to read with a skeptical eye, and not valorize the author, there is enough value here to highly recommend.
All of that said, while I do believe Federici limits the novel's academic value (which is why I'm subtracting half a star) by overstating her case regarding the importance of the witch hunt in the minimizing of "women's work" and women's roles in society during the transition from feudalism to capitalism, I believe the work still holds an important role as a novel. Specifically, the first half of the book goes into detail regarding the historical minimization of women and their legal & social relegation to the service of reproductive labor. Additionally, while witch hunts might not have been the primary tool of social repression, having lived through a couple of a modern-day attempts at reviving the witch hunt in the US, I do not believe the reduction of the victims of witch hunts from a "genocide" to "30,000-50,000 over a couple hundred years" necessitates claiming they had no chilling effect on the social power and lives of women, at least in portions of Europe. Finally, the "Descartes / Foucault Chapter" is one of the more challenging, yet interesting reads I've had in awhile, discussing the societal perception of magic and the body, and how it changed in the transition to capitalism. Therefore, so long as one is willing to read with a skeptical eye, and not valorize the author, there is enough value here to highly recommend.