Association for Economic and Social Analysis (AESA)

The Association for Economic and Social Analysis (AESA), a non-profit educational organization located at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, was started in the late 1970s as a way of bringing together a small group of graduate students and faculty members to engage in discussions and debates concerning Marxian theory and, perhaps eventually, to publish a journal.

Over the years it has grown to over 100 members, located across the United States and around the globe. In 1988 AESA officially launched the publication of Rethinking Marxism a journal of economics, culture, and society. Its activities also now include holding monthly seminars and sponsoring conferences at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and, in conjunction with the editors of RM, organizing large international conferences, such as the recent gala: New Marxian Times.

Ongoing Activities

Rethinking Marxism: a journal of economics, culture and society a quarterly journal, since 1988, sponsored by AESA. Each issue contains full-length scholarly articles, art (including photoessays and fiction), Remarx essays (short, current pieces that intervene in political and theoretical debates), reviews (of books, films, conferences, exhibits, demonstrations, and more), and correspondence. Plus special issues, minisymposia, interviews, and a new series entitled "Globalization Under Interrogation."

International conferences, approximately every 4 years, at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. "Marxism 2000: The Party's Not Over" (2000). "Politics and Languages of Contemporary Marxism" (1996). "Marxism in the New World Order: Crises and Possibilities" (1992). "Marxism Now: Traditions and Difference" (1989). 1500 scholars, students, and activists from around the world attended the most recent conference. No other series of conferences of this size and scope currently exists in which Marxism's international development is the explicit topic. Plenary speakers have included David Harvey, Mike Davis, Gayatri C. Spivak, Angela Davis, Sheila Rowbotham, Ernest Mandel, Judith Butler, Cornel West, and Etienne Balibar.

Occasional mini-conferences, since 1982, at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. "The Returns of Marxism" (1998). "Marxism and the Politics of Antiessentialism" (1995). "Marxism and Its Others" (1993). "Marxian Social Theory" (1992). Speakers have included Fredric Jameson, Martha Rosler, Arturo Escobar, Michael Eric Dyson, Cindy Patton, and Anwar Shaikh.

Summer conferences, since 1980, with paper sessions, roundtables, workshops, and business meetings, for members only.

A book series, Pluto Press.

• Bringing It All Back Home: Class, Gender, and Power in the Modern Household (Harriet Fraad, Stephen Resnick, and Richard Wolff).
• The Falling Rate of Profit: Recasting the Marxian Debate (Stephen Cullenberg).

Books by members:

• Knowledge and Class: A Marxian Critique of Political Economy (Stephen Resnick and Richard Wolff).
• The End of Capitalism (As We Knew It): A Feminist Critique of Political Economy (J. K. Gibson-Graham).
• Global Economy, Global Justice: Theoretical Objections and Policy Alternatives to Neoliberalism (George DeMartino).
• Class and Its Others (J. K. Gibson-Graham, Stephen Resnick, and Richard Wolff).
• Economics: Marxian versus Neoclassical (Stephen Resnick and Richard Wolff).
• Postmodern Materialism and the Future of Marxist Theory: Essays in the Althusserian Tradition (Antonio Callari and David F. Ruccio).
• Marxism in the Postmodern Age: Confronting the New World Order (Antonio Callari, Stephen Cullenberg, and Carole Biewener).
• Re/presenting Class: Essays in Postmodern Political Economy (J. K. Gibson-Graham, Stephen Resnick, and Richard Wolff).

Anonymous contributions:

Amount (US$)