Neil's research crosses the areas of political and intellectual history, critical theory, and continental philosophy. He specialises in the history of neoliberalism, critique of capitalism, and the politics of migration and borders.
His first book, Futilitarianism: Neoliberalism and the Production of Uselessness (2021), examined the historical relationship between capitalism and utilitarianism. It explored, in particular, how the neoliberal mutation of capitalism in the late twentieth century transformed the relationship between utility and the common good, trapping individuals in what he calls “the futilitarian condition,” where they are forced to maximise utility in ways that lead to the worsening of collective social and economic conditions. An Italian translation of the book, under the title Vite Rubate, was published in March 2022.
In late 2021, Neil was awarded a two-year Rutherford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship to work on a project on the historical relationship between neoliberalism and migrant incarceration in Aotearoa and beyond. He is also developing several collaborative research projects on topics relating to social reproduction and essential work during the COVID-19 pandemic, the history of migration policy in Aotearoa New Zealand, and the cultural politics of suicide in public.
Neil's research has appeared in academic journals such as Rethinking Marxism, Angelaki, and Poetics Today, he has written for media, including New Internationalist, ROAR, and New Zealand Listener, and he has appeared on several podcasts, such as A World to Win with Grace Blakeley, The Postcapitalism Podcast, and the New Books Network.
Neil is a member of the Centre for Global Migrations at Otago, a researcher for the think tank Economic and Social Research Aotearoa, and a member of the Executive Committee for the Australasian Society for Continental Philosophy.
Areas of Research Supervision
Neil welcomes research proposals on any topics related to Neoliberalism; Capitalism; Marxist and Critical Theory; Borders; Migration; Migrant Detention; Social Reproduction Theory.
Publications
Murtola, A.-M., & Vallelly, N. (2023). Who cares for wellbeing? Corporate wellness, social reproduction and the essential worker. Organization, 30(3), 510-527. doi: 10.1177/13505084221131642
Journal - Research Article
Murtola, A.-M., & Vallelly, N. (2023). Visible and invisible work in the pandemic: Social reproduction and the ambivalent category of the essential worker. Journal of Gender Studies, 2219979. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/09589236.2023.2219979
Journal - Research Article
Vallelly, N. (2023). Editorial: The fictitious university. Counterfutures, 14, 10-18. [Editorial].
Journal - Research Other
Vallelly, N. (2022). The politics of futility. New Internationalist, (March-April), 65-71.
Journal - Professional & Other Non-Research Articles
Vallelly, N. (2022, February). Futilitarianism: Neoliberalism and the production of uselessness: An interview with Neil Vallelly. New Books in Education, New Books Network Podcast, hosted by Thomas Discenna. Retrieved from https://newbooksnetwork.com/futilitarianism
Other Research Output
Vallelly, N. (2022, February). Futilitarianism: Neoliberalism and the production of uselessness. Plastic Pills: Philosophy & Critical Theory podcast. Retrieved from https://open.spotify.com/episode/4LVclNzlsdfLH6hCyhIlrV
Other Research Output
Vallelly, N. (2022, February). Neil Vallelly on precarity, debt, and how to overcome futilitarianism. Postcapitalism podcast. Retrieved from https://postcapitalismpodcast.com/neil-vallelly
Other Research Output
Vallelly, N. (2021). Futilitarianism: Neoliberalism and the production of uselessness. London, UK: Goldsmiths Press.
Authored Book - Research
Vallelly, N. (2021). Human rights against human rights [Review of the book The morals of the market: Human rights and the rise of neoliberalism]. Counterfutures, 11, 142-153. doi: 10.26686/cf.v11.7357
Journal - Research Other
Vallelly, N. (2021). Rejecting the existential futility of neoliberal life. ROAR Magazine, (November 2). Retrieved from https://roarmag.org
Journal - Professional & Other Non-Research Articles
Vallelly, N. (2020). Counting the cost: COVID-19 and the crisis of utilitarianism. In V. Lyon-Callo, Y. M. Madra, C. Özselçuk, J. Randall, M. Safri, C. Sato & B. W. Shear (Eds.), Pandemic and the crisis of capitalism: A rethinking Marxism dossier. (pp. 215-223). Boston, MA: ReMarx Books. Retrieved from http://rethinkingmarxism.org/Dossier2020
Chapter in Book - Research
Vallelly, N. (2020). The border and the pandemic. Social Anthropology / Anthropologie sociale, 28(2), 373-374. doi: 10.1111/1469-8676.12860
Journal - Research Other
Vallelly, N. (2020). The coronavirus decade: Post-capitalist nightmare or socialist awakening? ROAR Magazine, (May 3). Retrieved from https://roarmag.org
Journal - Professional & Other Non-Research Articles
Vallelly, N. (2020). The self-help myth. New Internationalist, (2 June). Retrieved from https://newint.org/features/2020/04/07/feature
Journal - Professional & Other Non-Research Articles
Vallelly, N. (2019). The relationality of disappearance. Angelaki, 24(3), 38-52. doi: 10.1080/0969725X.2019.1620450
Journal - Research Article
Vallelly, N. (2019). "The place was not a place": A critical phenomenology of forced displacement. In E. Champion (Ed.), The phenomenology of real and virtual places. (pp. 204-222). New York, NY: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315106267
Chapter in Book - Research
Vallelly, N. (2019). (Non-)belief in things: Affect theory and a new literary materialism. In S. Ahern (Ed.), Affect theory and literary critical practice: A feel for the text. (pp. 45-63). Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-97268-8_3
Chapter in Book - Research
Vallelly, N. (2019). From the margins of the neoliberal university: Notes toward nomadic literary studies. Poetics Today, 40(1), 59-79. doi: 10.1215/03335372-7259887
Journal - Research Article
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