The Dialectics of Dependency Reading Group

Theories of dependency emerged in the 1960s and 1970s as a political response to problems of development and the persistence of underdevelopment experienced especially by countries located in the Latin American peripheries or semi-peripheries of the unevenly developing world capitalist economy. Two particularly influential groups that pioneered dependency theories were formed with striking contributions from radical Brazilian intellectuals in the context of the military dictatorship (1964-1985) that devastated their country. One of the most important and rigorous thinkers of the Marxist branch of dependency theory, Ruy Mauro Marini, wrote the recently translated The Dialectics of Dependency (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2022 [1973]) while in exile in Mexico and in contact with various intellectuals from the so-called Third World.

The coordinators of this reading group led by Professor César Simoni (Professor of the Department of Geography, University of São Paulo; currently Bousfield Distinguished Visitor in the Program in Planning, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto; and Urban Studies Foundation International Fellow in 2023) offer to introduce and discuss Marini's classic work on dependency, to advance our understanding of the theoretical basis and the political project of The Dialectics of Dependency.

Coordinators

César Simoni Santos, Alan Walks and Kanishka Goonewardena

Reading/Discussion 1: May 24, 2023, 3 — 6 pm, SSH 5017

Ruy Mauro Marini, 'The Dialectics of Dependency' in The Dialectics of Dependency, eds. Amanda Latimer and Jaime Osorio, trans. Amanda Latimer (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2022), 113-153.

Reading/Discussion 2: May 26, 2023, 3 — 6 pm, SSH 5017

Ruy Mauro Marini, 'On the Dialectics of Dependency: A Postscript' in The Dialectics of Dependency, eds. Amanda Latimer and Jaime Osorio, trans. Amanda Latimer (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2023), 154-168.

Jaime Osorio, 'Dialectics, Super-Exploitation, and Dependency: Notes on The Dialectic of Dependency in The Dialectics of Dependency, eds. Amanda Latimer and Jaime Osorio, trans. Amanda Latimer (New York:
Monthly Review Press, 2023), 169-191.

Kindly RSVP by May 9th to events@geog.utoronto.ca to confirm your attendance. Readings will be emailed to you.