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Work #1213 · Late

Brutalism

Achille Mbembe
2020 (French), 2024 (English) · French
Political-philosophical essay · Postcolonial theory / Africana philosophy / Critical theory

Mbembe's 2020 study — brutalism as the late-modern political-philosophical form of capitalist-technological-extractivist governance

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute Brutalism (Late)
Time · Extent Finite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Finite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Non-Local
Matter · Extent Finite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Variable
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Non-Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Partial
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Partial
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Active
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency None
Observer · Moral Authority Community
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Finite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Variable
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Variable
Information · Personal Conservation Variable
Information · Granularity Discrete

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

Brutalism

The 2020 COVID-pandemic-and-aftermath moment; the late-modern global-historical setting.

Space

Brutalism

The global setting of contemporary capitalism, technology, race, and climate.

Matter

Brutalism

The embodied global community whose conditions the brutalist analysis addresses.

Observer

Brutalism

Mbembe as proper-Africana-philosophical critical theorist.

Energy

Brutalism

The political-theoretical-philosophical energies of contemporary Africana-critical theory.

Information

Brutalism

The integral-critical-theoretical content of the analysis.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

Brutalism

Brutalism has been variously assessed — defenders see major contemporary critical-philosophical synthesis, sceptics worry about the rhetorical and conceptual integration of multiple distinct political-historical phenomena under a single label.