We will say of pure immanence that it is A LIFE, and nothing else. It is not immanence to life, but the immanent that is in nothing is itself a life. A life is the immanence of immanence, absolute immanence: it is complete power, complete bliss. (Gilles Deleuze, Pure Immanence: A Life, 27) University of Alberta “What Drives Your Own Desiring Machines?” Early Twenty-First Century Corporatism in Deleuze-Guattarian Theory, Corporate Practice, Contemporary Literature, and Locavore Alternatives by Margrit Talpalaru A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English Department of English and Film Studies ©Margrit Talpalaru Spring 2011 Edmonton, Alberta Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission. For Adrian and Eria Abstract This dissertation identifies and investigates the characteristics of the early 21st-century social, economic, and political situation as intrinsically connected and grouped under the concept of corporatism. Starting from Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s schizoanalysis of capitalism, this thesis argues that corporatism or corporate capitalism is immanent: an interconnected, networked, rhizomatic system that has been successful at overtaking biopower – life in all its forms, human and otherwise – and managing it, or even making it its business. Methodologically, this dissertation aims to move beyond negative into creative critique, whose role is the uncovering of imagined or real alternatives to the problems of corporatism. Consequently, this dissertation is divided into four chapters that attempt to bring this methodology to life. Chapter 1 presents the theoretical basis of corporatism, modeled on the theories of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. Chapter 2 begins to exemplify corporatism by investigating three corporate examples. This chapter sheds light on the real-life functioning of three corporations, Hudson’s Bay Company, Walmart, and Unilever, while also connecting them to the theoretical genealogy of human social systems described by Deleuze and Guattari. Chapter 3 turns to literature as both a diagnostician of the contemporary corporatism, as well as an imaginative solution-provider. While not instrumentalizing literature, this chapter rather looks to three novels for both descriptions of the corporatist social machine and prescriptions on how to attempt to change it. The novels featured in this chapter are aligned with the creative critique methodology: from the negative and even reactionary critique of William Gibson’s Pattern Recognition, through the problems with the contemporary episteme illustrated by Margaret Atwood’s dystopic Oryx and Crake, to the alternative outlined by Scarlett Thomas in PopCo. Chapter 4 investigates real-life experiments in order to assess their viability in altering the present conditions of life. To this end, the last chapter couples theoretical Deleuze-Guattarian alternatives with two locavore books: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver, with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver, and The 100-Mile Diet by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon. Keywords: immanence, corporatism, capitalism, corporation, globalization, neoliberalism, negative critique, creative critique, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, rhizome, schizoanalysis, desiring-production, line of flight, body without organs, deterritorialization, axiomatic, becoming, haecceity, minoritarian, feminism, social machine, nation, state, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Great Recession, Hudson’s Bay Company, Canada, Walmart, Unilever, Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, North West Company, corporate subject, corporate culture, corporate story, Canadian literature, William Gibson, Margaret Atwood, Scarlett Thomas, Michel Foucault, genealogy, episteme, locavore, local food, slow food, 100-mile diet, Alisa Smith, J. B. MacKinnon, Barbara Kingsolver. Acknowledgements There are many people, institutions, and circumstances I am grateful to for helping me in the course of writing this dissertation. Firstly among those, I have to thank Heather Zwicker for her constant and continuous academic, intellectual, professional, and personal support. Heather’s supervision has surpassed the most optimistic dreams I might have imagined by always giving me the impression I was the only one of her professional priorities. Equally, my thanks can only fall short of the contributions that Mark Simpson, whose style of challenging and always pointed questions I try to imagine whenever I write, and Catherine Kellogg, whose different perspective has so much enriched my own, have brought to this project and my entire way of thinking in and of cultural studies. All three members of my committee have modeled for me a professional stance and a personal generosity that I can only hope to be able to pay forward. This dissertation has benefitted from the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research at the University of Alberta, and the Department of English and Film Studies, whose wonderful staff helped me navigate the many administrative conundrums of teaching and the graduate degree. Dawnalyn Bruin, Leilei Chen, Geordan Patterson, and Robin Wallace have encouraged me to continue on the path that at times seemed unending. Melissa Rogers-Keeping has taken such exceptional care of my daughter that I could focus on beginning to actually write this dissertation. My brother, Sebastian Talpalaru, and my sister-in-law, Teodora Talpalaru, have always sustained me both emotionally and personally, always listened to me, and always been there for me. My parents, Ruth and Seryl Talpalaru, raised me to think I could do anything, and then allowed me to follow my own path in spite of their uncertainty towards it. Finally, this dissertation is dedicated to my partner, Adrian Dabija, and our daughter, Eria Dabija. Table of Contents Introduction………………………………………………………………… 1 Can the vicious cycle be broken? From Immanent Corporatism to Alternatives Chapter 1………………………………………………………………….. 43 Corporatism in Theory: Creative Critique and the Immanence of Corporatism Chapter 2………………………………………………………………….. 93 Corporatism in Practice: HBC’s Corporate Nationalism, Walmart’s Corporate Subjectivity, and Unilever’s Corporate Social Activism Chapter 3………………………………………………………………….. 158 Corporatism in Literature: William Gibson’s Pattern Recognition, Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, and Scarlet Thomas’ PopCo Chapter 4…………………………………………………………………… 218 “Lines of Flight”: Does the Locavore Movement Offer an Alternative to Corporatism? Conclusion………………………………………………………………….. 261 Epilogue: Where Do We Go from Here? Works Cited………………………………………………………………… 268 Talpalaru 1 “Buy this car to drive to work Drive to work to pay for this car” (Metric, “Handshakes,” Live It Out) Introduction Can the vicious cycle be broken? From Immanent Corporatism to Alternatives The Event: The Global Financial Crisis of 2008, a.k.a. The Great Recession “We are witnessing the deepest, broadest, and most dangerous financial crisis since the 1930s.” (Martin Wolf, Financial Times, 9 March 2009) Under the burden of countless sub-prime mortgages1 packaged and sold numerous times among financial investment corporations, the U.S. financial 1 Richard P. Nielsen, professor of business ethics explains the sub-prime mortgage process that led to the crisis thus: Starting as early as 1980 and growing until 2008, many subprime mortgage leverage values had risen to over 20 from previous norms of 5 to 10. That is, while borrowers had previously invested 10% to 20% downpayments while borrowing the remaining 80% to 90%, they now were able to invest 5% or less while borrowing 95% and even 100% of the property purchase price. The proportion of subprime, undocumented, first-time home buyer mortgages rose to 44% by 2006 (Ferguson, 2008). In addition, mortgage brokers and lenders offered below-market rates of interest for the first few months to two years of the life of the mortgage. After that initial period of below-market rates, interest rates and required mortgage payments rose to market and above-market levels that many borrowers did not have the income to support. (305-306) The loaning banks then “package[d] the high-risk loans into securities (SIVs; and collateralized loan obligations, CLOs) that are then resold, often within a year, to other banks and investors” (307) within the framework of “the ‘musical chairs’ model of pass the bad and/or very high-risk debts on to someone else (while retaining large fees, commission, and bonuses) before the music stops” (307). The music finally stopped when “the housing bubble burst” (306), i.e., when “when initial low mortgage interest rates were reset to high rates and the borrowers could neither meet the increased interest payments nor resell the properties” (306). Talpalaru 2 market