At this time, many parts of the world are experiencing an accelerated rise in fascist and other right-wing governments and social movements. In this talk Paola Bacchetta explains some of the epistemic and conceptual implications of her book Co-Motion: Re-Thinking Power, Subjects and Alliances (Duke University Press, 2026) for understanding this situation and what we can do about it. Based in years of theoretical engagement in critiques of right-wing movements, and in critical activism in queer of color movements, in the U.S. France, Italy and India, the book proposes that to account for, confront and work to transform our current conditions will require, among other things, an epistemic revolution. Our current analyses and praxes are not necessarily adequate for our political purposes. Bacchetta will explain some of the main concepts she proposes in Co-Motion that work to contribute to what must be a broader collective effort to understand the brutalities of power and its effect on subjects, and to imagine together, from wherever we are situated, a freedom-exigent world.

Bio note

Paola Bacchetta is Professor in the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies at University of California, Berkeley. Her most recent publications besides Co-Motion include Fatima Mernissi For Our Times (coedited, Syracuse University Press, 2025), a co-edited special issue of the Palestinian and Middle Eastern journal Kohl (2025) on dialogues between materialist feminism and decolonial feminist and queer theory. Besides her many books, including Gender in the Hindu Nation about the Right-Wing in India and the co-edited Right-Wing Women: From Conservatives to Extremist around the World which was the first to address international right-wing movements, gender and sexuality, she has published over 90 professional articles and book chapters. She is also Co-Chair of Decolonizing Sexualities Network  

Activity within the Doctoral Programme International Politics and Conflict Resolution (FEUC/CES)