A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things

Patel and Moore explore the concept of “cheap care” and its fundamental role in the formation and perpetuation of capitalism’s world ecology. They contend that the establishment of the modern household and the “domestication” of women were crucial for supplying the unpaid reproductive labor necessary to support the capitalist system. The authors draw upon a wide range of historical examples, from early colonial encounters to the development of property law and the invention of the category of “woman” in colonial contexts, to illustrate how gender, sexuality, and power were interwoven in the creation of capitalism’s ecology.

Patel and Moore commence their analysis by examining early colonial encounters, particularly those of Christopher Columbus, and how the European colonizers imposed their notions of gender, sexuality, and power on Indigenous populations. They emphasize the suppression of Indigenous sexualities, such as the Spanish colonists’ scandalized reactions to Mayan sexual practices, and the enforcement of European norms. The authors also highlight how the language of sex and sexuality was used to describe the acquisition of resources and the conquest of virgin lands, demonstrating how the transformation of the planet under the reign of property was likened to a sexual conquest.