Nativism and Capitalism: From Colonial Hauntings to Radical Indigenous Futures offers a sweeping reappraisal of nativism as a central force within global capitalism rather than a simple reaction against it. Peter Bloom shows how the figure of the “native”, inherited from colonial rule, continues to shape how capitalist modernity organizes scarcity, hierarchy, and belonging.
From 19th-century empire to today’s far-right populisms, the book traces how contemporary movements convert economic dispossession into racialized narratives of authenticity and exclusion. Bringing together political economy, decolonial thought, and cultural critique, the book reframes indigeneity as a global political horizon rooted in internationalist indigenous politics that challenges both exclusionary nativism and neoliberal globalization. Drawing on indigenous epistemologies, governance practices, ecological perspectives, and transnational movements, Bloom highlights alternative ways of imagining community, reciprocity, and planetary solidarity, while also revealing how colonial legacies persist in shaping the present. The result is a pioneering work which offers new insights into the politics of belonging and outlines pathways towards more just and sustainable futures.
It is essential reading for scholars in political science, sociology, anthropology, economics, and cultural studies, as well as policymakers and activists working on nationalism, migration, global justice, and indigenous rights.
Table of Contents:
1.The Rise of the Global Native 2. Spectral Colonialism: A New Critical Theory of Nativism and Indigenous Resistance 3. Waves of Exclusion: Nativism's Recurring Emergence in Response to Global Capitalism 4. Borderless Capital, Bounded Communities: Neoliberalism's Paradoxical Push Towards Nativism 5. Necropolitics and Nativism: Life, Death, and the Specter of "Colonialism" 6. From Citizens to Tribes: The Resurgence of Ethno.Nationalism in Global Politics 7. Indigenous Futures: Reclaiming Place, Solidarity, and Life Beyond the Necropolitical Order 8. Beyond Nativism: Imagining a Global Indigenous Politics Index
About the Author :
Peter Bloom is Professor of Management at the University of Essex and the Co-Director of the research centre "Commons Organising, Values, Equalities, and Resilience".
Review :
"This is a profoundly important and magisterial study of the relationship between the ascendance of authoritarian nativism and the capitalist moment that we find ourselves in. Bloom paints an enlightening and sobering picture of the grave challenges we face but also shows us glimpses of the other world that is very much possible—if we decide to make it happen."
Priyamvada Gopal, Professor of Postcolonial Studies at the Faculty of English, University of Cambridge and Professorial Fellow, Churchill College
