Mutual Aid and the (Post)Pandemic Framework – Prof. Nidhi Srinivas

In this webinar of the YSI IUC Web-Seminars in Finance, Law & Economics, Nidhi Srinivas, the Associate Professor of Management at Milano School of Policy, Management, and Environment, will present some insights from his current research regarding mutual aid responses to the pandemic in three different cultural and economic settings (Hyderabad, India; New York City, the United States; and Turin, Italy).

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the global social and political landscape in a variety of ways. Over the past year and a half, these changes have been theorized in terms of rising state authoritarianism (Agamben), necropopulations (Mbembe, Shah & Lerche), infodemics (the Comaroffs), and an enduring crisis of accumulation (McNally and Tyner). The continuing crisis may further uncover new forms of theorizing.

What can these forms of theorizing tell us about solidarities and organizational forms? What would it mean to theorize with a different focus, on questions of agency not solely structural and social failures?

An interesting response in this regard has been the rise of mutual aid groups globally, as people in localities seek to help one another in the midst of a flagging and failing state responses to the pandemic. These mutual aid groups rely on extra-market transactions and socially enriched relations, and frequently comprise people otherwise marginalized or excluded. "Mutual aid" originated as a term in 19th century anarchist traditions. It was a counterpoint to organized forms of capitalism, standing for both an alternative to dominant capitalist organizational forms, and a means to resist capitalism itself. Today its advocates claim mutual aid offers an alternative to abstracted market ties and describes enduring (and endearing) responses to the pandemic: people helping each other out, even through barter, enhancing social engagement by singing together from balconies.

In this webinar, Prof. Srinivas will argue that the term ‘mutual aid’ lacks a precise signifier, and instead reveals different relational configurations in each of these settings, shaped by local histories and power arrangements. His conclusion will consider the political consequence of mutual aid: for instance, it could be argued that such groups ameliorate the pandemic’s consequences, making current capitalist conditions more bearable globally. On the other hand, they may indeed signify a rising organizational alternative to contemporary capitalism, and an alternative that could become even more urgently needed as the current global recession worsens, and the pandemic continues.