Replace Me
Reclaiming collective resistance in a changing world
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Peninsula Press Ltd
Published:4th Nov '21
Should be back in stock very soon
Amber Husain's Replace Me examines the fears of being replaced in work and relationships, advocating for collective resistance and new political possibilities.
In Replace Me, Amber Husain explores the pervasive anxieties surrounding work, desire, and the fear of being replaced in contemporary society. This essay delves into how these fears have infiltrated both our professional and personal lives, shaping our late-capitalist psyche. The author argues that the tech and self-help industries have commodified these anxieties, offering solutions that promote a privatized vision of progress rather than collective resistance. This raises an important question: how can we reclaim our desire for a shared struggle against these overwhelming feelings of expendability?
Husain's work is a powerful critique of the myths surrounding replaceability, suggesting that our fixation on this notion may be a fundamental reason for political stagnation. In Replace Me, she presents a radical and clear-sighted perspective, celebrating the political potential that lies in acknowledging our own replaceability. By examining historical contexts and philosophical ideas, the essay reveals the roots of systemic unhappiness and the nature of desire itself, drawing connections from Karel Čapek to Lauren Berlant.
This essay is both a repudiation of harmful narratives and an invitation to envision new futures. With eloquent prose, Husain captures the complexities of human experience in the face of automation and capitalism. Replace Me is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the changing dynamics of work and relationships, and it offers creative modes of resistance against the dysfunctions of our current reality.
'A close cousin to Franco Berardi, Amber Husain conducts one of the most sweeping assessments to date of neoliberalism's psychic toll. Beginning with the sad fact of her own expendability in entry-level publishing work, she expands on Lauren Berlant's concept of cruel optimism, diving deep into under-investigated histories to understand the roots of systemic unhappiness and the nature of desire itself.' - Chris Kraus; 'Replace Me is a short, searing meditation of the idea of human replaceability ... which ranges from Karel Capek to Maggie Nelson, from Aleksandra Kollontai to Lauren Berlant. It packs an extraordinary range of ideas and inspirations into its brief polemic, managing to be sensitive and yet utterly provocative.' - Juliet Jacques; 'How rare it is to read a book like Amber Husain's Replace Me, a work of criticism that lays bare the horrors of our automated lives with such subtle and sustained beauty. Replace Me is at once wonderfully unsparing in its critique of capitalism's myths and wonderfully humane in its affirmative vision of love's political vitality.' - Merve Emre; 'Amber Husain's pellucid, erudite prose captures the many ways in which the workplace has been changing, further eviscerating any sense of engagement in meaningful labour. Even before automation replaces much human activity, many are forced to mimic the robots moving in to replace them. With verve and originality, Replace Me tracks through time, highlighting social discontents more broadly, before finally suggesting creative modes of coming to terms with, and hence resisting, the chief dysfunctions of the present. Essential reading for anyone in search of different futures.' - Lynne Segal
ISBN: 9781913512064
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
128 pages