Gramsci
From MarxWiki
Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) was an organic intellectual, Italian socialist, political theorist, and activist. His early life was marked by poverty, illness and struggle. Despite his great academic potential he became an active member of the Italian Socialist Party and undertook a career in journalism, becoming one of the most widely read, respected, and feared critical voices in Italy.
In 1926 he was sentenced to 20 years in prison along with other Italian Communist leaders. In accordance with `Exceptional Laws` enacted by the fascist-dominated Italian legislature he was imprisoned in solitary confinement for the last 10 years of his life. He died of a stroke which was the culmination of a number of illnesses that were denied medical attention in prison.
During those 10 years he was capable of the profound intellectual achievement of the Prison Notebooks not only because of his prodigious memory, but with the help of colleagues and family who wrote him letters, brought him medicines, food, clothing, books and periodicals. Much of the terminology used in the Prison Notebooks became household words in the left after their discovery and publishing after WWII. The most important of these concepts was hegemony which he developed (/radically changed) in order to explain the failures and successes of socialism on a global scale, and also as a means to realize a socialist vision within what he believed to be the real conditions prevailing in the world.
Gramsci relocates ideology within a more complex dialogue where consent is negotiated rather than enforced. He notes the differences between the war of position and the war of maneuver.
In `Gramsci's Relevance for the Study of Race and Ethnicity` Stuart Hall lays out his interpretation of Gramsci's writings, then uses Gramsci's theorizations to analyize how we think about race and racism. Some of the concepts he analyzes include:
