In Cannibal Capitalism, Nancy Fraser, a famed critical theorist, and feminist scholar moves us to the contested waters of capitalism’s role in the making, and the unmaking of our planet. In this 165- pager, Fraser has attempted to distil a complex maze of issues seating at the heart of capitalism’s very existence. In this review, I engage the text critically using African perspectives on capitalism as a system. First, I argue that Fraser’s analysis is rich, and quite detailed, and in some cases, context specific. Second, I present some missing pieces where I illustrate where the book could have colonised more territories especially considering African cases.
As mentioned, Fraser’s text takes on an elaborate analysis of how today’s capitalism corrodes the very structural integrity holding democracy, planetary wealth, and its sustainability core. Viewed from this lane, Fraser’s text makes both for a diagnostic tool as well as a rally to confront one of humanity’s most pervasive creations – capitalism. She is honest and sometimes even modest about the claims she makes, their worth, and newness to the human family. As she writes in the preliminary pages captured in the three-pager Preface, ‘readers of this book don’t need me to tell them that we’re in trouble’ (p. xiii). But ‘a deep dive into the source of all these horribles’ Fraser writes, is what the text tries to make clear. Capitalism, she tells us, is not just an exploitative system that hinges on free labour of the less fortunate to accumulate wealth but also a ‘self-cannibalizing serpent’ that feeds on its tail akin to autophagy. Fraser’s metaphoric depiction aptly presents the self-contradicting imagery of the capitalistic core – an infrastructure motivated by an unquestionable focus on profit-making, and growth without foreseeable ends.
The book could not have come at any better moment in human history. The global financial meltdown that nearly razed down the world’s financial systems in 2008, and the devouring nature of the Covid-19 era perhaps embolden if not confirm Fraser’s impassioned plea against this long-standing structural exploitation. Fraser expounds to the read how these various spheres through which capitalism spreads and invades systems far and wide manifest. From the exploitation of labour in the Marxist sense of the word, to the commodification of the care economy and the untiring planetary plunder by the capitalist class, Fraser is resolute, bold, and articulately so, entangling a complex intersection in a very small volume.
A notable strength in Fraser’s text is its deep analysis of the economy of care. ‘If capital feeds on the wealth of racialised populations, it is also a guzzler of care,’ Frazer notes in Chapter 3 of the text. ‘Our social system’ she reveals, is ‘sapping energies needed to tend to families, maintain households, sustain communities, nourish friendships, build political networks, and forge solidarities’ (p. 53). In her view, a marginalised care work predominately women-led not only overlooks the welfare of caregivers but also erodes the very social fabric that sustains democratic integrity and political consciousness of functioning political systems. Again, this presentation illuminates further the internal contradictions of a system that often sings the song of individual liberty.
In its cannibalizing face, capitalism suppresses social reproduction which in turn suppresses other domains in the larger human and natural ecosystems – say the wealth of racialized populations, planetary ill-health as espoused by corporate capital greed, public powers, and political capacities. The result Fraser argues is a ‘general crisis of our entire societal order’ a crisis as Fraser contends, possesses ‘various strands’ that ‘intersect with and exacerbate one another’ (p. 54). Capitalism’s exploitation of care economy argued Fraser is deeply ingrained in our current societal set up which she describes in preceding pages as a ‘financialised capitalism’ where humanity’s worth is monetised by a few capitalist classes but unrewarded.
In a provocative subtitle ‘colonization and housewifization,’ Fraser situates today’s capitalism in the colonial practices rendering women as ‘house materials’ far removed from the everyday life of the male-run national economy. Although precapitalist in a sense, she argues that this period birthed current practices, and ought to also be questioned, and overturned.
Speaking about political consciousness, Fraser’s analysis on capitalism being a threat to democracy also offers further nuances. As she argues, economic inequalities birth political inequalities as the wealthy few can be able to influence political outcomes in their favours with little to no inclusion of the rest. This is true as shown by an Oxfam report on Kenya, ‘only 0.1% of Kenyans own 99.9% of the country’s wealth’ leaving million more in abject deprivation (Oxfam, 2015, p. 3). This widening gap between the rich and the rest provide a space for political and economic capitalists to chart the economic order of the state, and therefore, making decisions in that order. Fraser could not be more correct when she suggests that capitalist interests have a long arm – capturing the state regulatory bodies, and legislative halls. Consequently, policy, and regulatory choices are designed to benefit the wealthy elite at the cost of the wider public. This picture perfectly depicts South Sudan’s current elite behaviour where wealth after the country’s independence has been concentrated in a pocket of the so-called ‘Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) elites’ who, invoking liberation role pre-independence, insist on being allowed to reap what they sowed – the fruits of liberation struggle. Meanwhile, the rest of the society dangles in lack.
In her discussion of the role of corporate elites holding the digital media to achieve capitalist’s aim, one would be interested to see the role of media in political environments operating in difficult settings. Although not clearly spelt in her analysis, digital platforms in places like Sub-Saharan Africa have increasingly been used to satisfy the interest of the wealthy capitalists who are often intrigued by the dynamics in the public discourse. For example, Kenya’s Royal Media declared this interest when it decided to back Raila Odinga’s presidential ambitions although in a more discrete manner (Mutumbo, 2021). In this way, Fraser’s analysis underscores the urgency for democratic rebirth – one that is based on inclusion for the voices from the below, amplifying their ideas rather than being silenced by the political machineries that fulfil the capitalist interests.
Despite its depth, the book’s examples if not the understanding of capitalism, is rather narrow. She focuses a lot on getting the democracy right but does not tell us how this noble goal can be realised in places without democracy in the truest sense of the term. For example, in Chapter 6 (p. 154), Fraser passionately argues for a socialism that ‘de-institutionalises growth imperative hardwired in the capitalist society’ by ensuring that growth is not just a question of the few capitalists but an imperative of the many – decided largely through multi-dimensional political process. This is an important argument; however, we are not told how replicable or even feasible is such in places that have not seen democracy. For example, in Central African Republic, decisions regarding how economy proceeds are decided by warlords who must ensure the constant flow of capital largely for their own ambitions (Accord, 2015). What does Fraser say in this sense? Where would she begin to overthrow such a system? Or should we say that her definition of democracy is not covering territories that are autocratic but capitalists? As implicit in her conceptual approach to socialism, Fraser might never have thought about difficult settings such as Africa in her anti-capitalist rhetoric.
This makes her work inadequate as it joins the rest of critical theories that are provoked by frustrations largely informed by imperfect western functioning, and therefore, offering solutions to address western-style problems. It is regrettable that Fraser has not included at least some few global south examples in the small volume. If there are places where capitalist capture is clearly expressed, Africa occupies a top seat and very vulnerable for that matter – including the question of elicit capital flight that Fraser might have assumed in her financialised capitalism critique but failed to situate more explicitly. Issues such as land grab, resource exploitation, and labour exploitations described by the United Nations as ‘sweatshops’ (International Labour Organization, 2014) largely feature in the global south’s capitalist terrain. If included more explicitly, they would not only enrich Fraser’s critique but would also align with her impassioned call for a more equitable, and sustainable global system. Previous critiques of these manifestations have motivated corporate actors in the global north to move southwards – engaging the very same practices as they harvest policy loopholes and inadequate state monitoring in some of the undeveloped places on earth.
A book against capitalism in the 21st century should have considered being more elaborate if not thoughtful I would argue. As a matter of urgency, the noble struggles presented by indigenous peoples (Mitchell & Yuzdepski, 2019) in many parts of the global south particularly Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, the mineral-rich Eastern DRC, Cocoa-producing regions of Ivory Coast, and the oil-producing Niger Delta of Nigeria to name just a few are a clear symbol of the downsides of a planet that has placed monetary wealth above all else. Fraser’s analysis should have helped us to understand much better how these interventions are being met, and what is working or not working. She has set a battle line that should be everyone’s fight, but lack of contextual presentation might discourage the rest from getting muddled in it. While reading the book, I could only see the United States of America, and sometimes Europe in Fraser’s examples. Capitalism many would agree, extends beyond these geographies.
Further, Fraser’s feminist analysis, though ground-breaking, underscores the inherent biases in Western thought. While her focus on care work is detailed, it tends to reinforce Western feminist ideals. Despite addressing household intersectionality and gender dynamics, she lacks clarity on how these intersections manifest globally. Fraser’s perspective overlooks the experiences of non-Western women, like African women who may not fit her framework. Progressive capitalism, as argued by Cudd (2014), has empowered African women within informal economies, challenging Fraser’s narrative. While capitalism’s influence varies across contexts, its impact cannot be ignored. Fraser’s oversight reflects a broader challenge within feminist analysis, neglecting intersectional dynamics crucial to understanding capitalism’s complexities.
Lastly, I was a little surprised to discover that Fraser only committed four pages in the epilogue, discussing an important expression of capitalism in the 21st century, Covid-19. As critiqued by Katie Morris (2023) in her review of Fraser‘s, the brief discussion about Covid-19 era does not align well with a scholarship aiming at destroying capitalism. Like Morris, I argue that the epilogue should have been a complete chapter where Fraser would engage quite critically with the nuances of capitalism in a Covid-19 era. In fact, I would discuss how capitalism has reinforced old beliefs; states will always look in-wards to protect themselves, and through vaccine-racism, capitalism has reminded us that free movement of good and capitals would not normally occur freely – there is a price to pay. In addition, Fraser’s claims that Covid- 19 was inherently caused by capitalism is rather unsettling if not entirely exaggerated. It’s a radical claim grounded more in the activist side of Fraser than in rigorous scientific evidence. That’s also unfortunate for a good-hearted socialist because I think socialism needs science much as it hates capitalism.
Nonetheless, Fraser’s analysis is intriguing. She has clearly prepared the space for critiques of capitalism that are better grounded, and contextually situated. Her work has managed to tell a complex story of the one of the world’s most evasive, and longstanding systems. And for that, she deserves recognition.
Matai Muon 