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The Postcolonial Condition: A Few Notes on the Quality of Historical Time in the Global Present

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Reworking Postcolonialism

Abstract

When the editors of Reworking Postcolonialism invited us to include in their volume our essay ‘The Postcolonial Condition: A Few Notes on the Quality of Historical Time in the Global Present’, we responded positively, not only because the essay has played a crucial role in our long-term collaboration and individual research trajectories, but because the themes of globalization, labour and rights resonated with many of its ideas. The essay was originally written in 2003 as an introduction to a special issue of the Italian journal DeriveApprodi and came out in an extended version in English in 2006 (translation by Matteo Mandarini). It is important to note that DeriveApprodi is not an academic journal. It is, rather, a political and theoretical magazine that since the early 1990s has made a significant contribution to the attempt to rearticulate the operaista tradition1 in Italy through an intense dialogue with activists and social movements. What is currently known as ‘post-operaismo’ was also forged through such lively and ongoing exchanges.

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© 2015 Sandro Mezzadra and Federico Rahola

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Mezzadra, S., Rahola, F. (2015). The Postcolonial Condition: A Few Notes on the Quality of Historical Time in the Global Present. In: Malreddy, P.K., Heidemann, B., Laursen, O.B., Wilson, J. (eds) Reworking Postcolonialism. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137435934_3

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