Miri Davidson

I work on the history of political thought, with a focus on Marxism and post-Marxism, twentieth-century French thought, and decolonial and anticolonial theory. I am especially interested in examining the intersection and contradictions between Marxism and anticolonial thought. Guided by this theme, my research has two main strands: (1) how ideas about ‘primitive societies’ influenced radical political thought in postwar France and (2) the relationship between anthropology and the far right. I joined PAIS in 2022, having previously taught at Queen Mary University of London, where I did my PhD. I am currently working on a book provisionally titled Primitivism Against Marxism: French Anthropology and Radical Political Thought, 1945–1975, based on my PhD thesis.

Teaching

I am course director for PO201: Political Theory After Hobbes and I also teach on PO301: Issues in Political Theory. I would be interested in supervising students working on continental philosophy and critical theory, Marxism and post-Marxism (including Marxist feminism), anticolonial/decolonial/postcolonial theory, and the far right.

Recent Publications

Miri Davidson, ‘The Primitive’, in Sara R. Farris, Beverly Skeggs, Alberto Toscano and Svenja Bromberg (eds), The SAGE Handbook of Marxism (London: SAGE Publications, 2021).

Musab Younis, Maria Chehonadskih, Layli Uddin, Dilar Dirik and Miri Davidson, ‘The Meanings of Internationalism: A Collective Discussion on Pan-African, Early Soviet, Islamic Socialist and Kurdish Internationalisms across the Twentieth Century’ (forthcoming in Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 2023).

Miri Davidson, ‘Can Difference Decolonise? On the “Pluriverse” in Decolonial Theory, Claude Lévi-Strauss, and the French New Right’ (under review).

Essays & Reviews

Simon Barber and Miri Davidson, ‘Introduction: Gathering in the Deluge’, in Simon Barber and Miri Davidson (eds), Through That Which Separates Us (Auckland: Te Reo Kē and The Physics Room, 2021).

Miri Davidson, ‘Speech Work’, Social Text Online, 2019.

Miri Davidson, ‘Anthropology beginning again’, Radical Philosophy 2.03, 2018.