Invitation to the Defense of Miguel González Cabezas

The Examination Panel is made up of: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Carolin Bohlmann (chair),  Univ.-Prof. Dr.Phil. Marina Grzinic Mauhler (supervisor), Prof. Dr. Birgit Sauer (external appraiser).

The defense will take place in English in room M20 at the Academy.

Abstract

This study explores the historical and contemporary co-constitution of nation-states, racialization, and capitalism, analyzing how these structures have evolved in tandem and shape one another. Divided into two main parts, the research first traces the historical emergence of racial difference and colonialism as foundational to capitalism’s global development, drawing significantly on the Black Marxist tradition and necropolitical theory. It emphasizes race as a structural component of capitalism, especially through forced labor, racialized surplus populations, and the continual reproduction of racial hierarchies. The second part investigates how these dynamics persist and adapt under neoliberalism. It examines the transformation of the state into what is termed the "anti-state state"—a formation that minimizes welfare functions while strengthening repressive and securitarian mechanisms. This shift facilitates global capitalist extraction and reinforces nationalist-racist state logics, particularly visible in both European and Global South contexts. Migration is addressed as a key site of these tensions, with migrant populations positioned as both essential to capitalist accumulation and subjected to exclusion and violence. The study concludes by proposing the race-state-capital nexus as central to understanding contemporary political orders.

Key words: nation-state, Black Marxism, “anti-state state,” global capitalism, capitalist accumulation

Short biography

Miguel González Cabezas (1992, Alcalá de Henares, Spain) is an artist and researcher. He completed his Master's degree in Critical Studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in 2018. He previously completed a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts at the University of Salamanca, where he graduated with honors. He has participated in international conferences and exhibitions.

He has also contributed to books, Marina Gržinić (Ed.) Border Thinking. Disassembling Histories of Racialized Violence, Sternberg Press in 2018, and Marina Gržinić and others (Eds.) Intersections of Conviviality: Voices from Communities, Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2025. 

In his work, he explores the contradictory dynamics of global neoliberalism, racial enclosures as mechanisms of material and ideological exclusion, and the idea of the anti-state state as a form of implementation of the neoliberal project. 

For more information: miguelgonzalezcabezas.com