Anarchist Essays

Essay #26: Iwona Janicka, ‘Anarchism: Solidarity with Singularity and Mimesis‘

In this essay, Iwona Janicka talks about one of the possible ways to understand contemporary anarchism in practice, that is, through the concept of ‘solidarity with singularity’ in a mimetic framework. This philosophical approach is able to account for the anarchist concerns not only with humans in need of solidarity but also with the nonhumans (plants, animals, the environment).
Iwona Janicka is Assistant Professor and EU Maria Skłodowska-Curie COFUND Fellow at Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, Denmark. She is the author of Theorizing Contemporary Anarchism. Solidarity, Mimesis and Radical Social Change (Bloomsbury Academic, 2017). Currently she is working on the question of world-building in contemporary continental philosophy.
Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group. For more information on the ARG, visit www.lboro.ac.uk/subjects/politics-international-studies/research/arg/ . You can follow us on Twitter @arglboro
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Essay #25: Laney Lenox, ‘Methodology as Political Process‘

In this essay, Laney Lenox discusses working as an anarchist anthropologist and the practical implications of designing methodological tools to reflect this political ethos. Through prioritizing process over outcomes, Lenox describes how research methods become political action.
Laney Lenox, PhD Researcher in School of Applied Policy and Social Sciences, Ulster University, Northern Ireland. Lenox´s most recent publications are "Everyday Anarchism: Temporal Impermanence and Liberation in Everyday Action" and "Slow Journalism."
Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group. For more information on the ARG, visit www.lboro.ac.uk/subjects/politics-international-studies/research/arg/ . You can follow us on Twitter @arglboro
Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Hear more at https://soundcloud.com/user-178917365
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Essay #24: Vittorio Frigerio, ‘Anarchism and Literature in France: A Complex Love Affair‘

In this essay, Vittorio Frigerio explores the often-fraught relationship between anarchism and the literary milieu in France, starting with a discussion of Proudhon’s opinions on literature and the place given to serialized novels in his newspapers, and presenting some of the many publications where writers and militants crossed paths, up until the Second World War.  
Vittorio Frigerio is Emeritus Professor of French at Dalhousie University (Halifax, N.S., Canada). He is the author of the recent book Nous nous reverrons aux barricades. Les feuilletons des journaux de Proudhon (1848-1850) (Grenoble : UGA, 2021), as well as of several others on anarchism and literary creation, including La littérature de l’anarchisme. Anarchistes de lettres et lettrés face à l’anarchie (Grenoble : ELLUG, 2014). Click here for more information on his activities.  Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group. For more information on the ARG, visit www.lboro.ac.uk/subjects/politics-international-studies/research/arg/ . You can follow us on Twitter @arglboro
Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Hear more at https://soundcloud.com/user-178917365
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Essay #23: Hamish Kallin, ‘Anarchism, Marxism, and the Right to the City‘

In this essay, Hamish Kallin muses on the links between Henri Lefebvre’s idea of a right to the city and the politics of anarchism. 
Hamish Kallin is Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Edinburgh. Kallin’s latest publications are on debt and gentrification and the rent gap. He is co-editor (with Giovanna Gioli, Bath Spa University) of Thinking as Anarchists: Selected Writings from Volontà from Edinburgh University Press, releasing in early 2022.
Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group. For more information on the ARG, visit www.lboro.ac.uk/subjects/politics-international-studies/research/arg/ . You can follow us on Twitter @arglboro
Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Hear more at https://soundcloud.com/user-178917365
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Essay #22: Jim Yeoman, ‘Anarchy on Two Wheels‘

In this essay, Jim Yeoman explores the intersection of anarchism and cycling, through the case study of Amsterdam's Provo movement of the mid-1960s. Yeoman focuses on the portrayal of the group's White Bicycle Plan in the British magazine Anarchy, revealing conflicted attitudes to this eclectic example of direct action, with resonances in leftist attitudes to groups such as Critical Mass and Extinction Rebellion. 
Jim Yeoman is an independent researcher, whose previous research has concentrated on the anarchist movement in Spain. His recent publications include his book Print Culture and the Formation of the Anarchist Movement in Spain (Routledge, 2019; soon to be released as a paperback with AK Press), and his introduction and annotation to Slava Faybysh's translation of Leopoldo Bonafulla, The July Revolution: Barcelona 1909 (AK Press, 2021). With Danny Evans, Jim co-hosts the radical history podcast ABC With Danny and Jim.
Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group. For more information on the ARG, visit www.lboro.ac.uk/subjects/politics-international-studies/research/arg/ . You can follow us on Twitter @arglboro
Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Hear more at https://soundcloud.com/user-178917365
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Essay #21: John-Erik Hansson, 'William Godwin as an Anarchist: Reinventing a Canonical Figure'

In this essay, John-Erik Hansson examines how and why the 18th-century philosopher William Godwin has been portrayed – positively and negatively – as an anarchist by writers in the 20th century. In so doing, it sheds light on the ideological dynamics and possibilities implicit in the formation and circulation of an anarchist theoretical canon.
John-Erik Hansson is Lecturer in British History at the University of Paris. He recently authored two essays on Godwin’s children’s literature, ‘Through the Looking-Glasses: Godwin’s Biographies for Children’ (2021) and ‘William Godwin, Romantic-Era Historiography and the Political Cultures of Infancy’ (2020), in edited volumes. He is also co-editor of the Ideology, Theory, Practice blog.
Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group. For more information on the ARG, visit www.lboro.ac.uk/subjects/politics-international-studies/research/arg/ . You can follow us on Twitter @arglboro
Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Hear more at https://soundcloud.com/user-178917365
Artwork by Sam G: https://www.instagram.com/passerinecreations

Essay #20: Emma Brown Dewhurst, 'Recovering Redemption: Maximus the Confessor, Anarchism, and their Importance for Christian Ethics'

In this essay, Emma Brown Dewhurst discusses the relevance and importance of anarchist theory for reorientating Christian ethics, especially in relation to the theology of St Maximus the Confessor. Love as alleviating suffering, and vice as greed are discussed, along with some reflections on how churches should have more in common with anarchist interests than the oppressive states they have traditionally supported.
Emma Brown Dewhurst is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Ludwig Maximilians Universität München, specialising in Greek Patristic and Byzantine Theology and its relevance for contemporary ethics. Their most recent publications are "The Absence of Sex and Gender in Early Byzantine Theology" and "On the Soul and the Cyberpunk Future: St Macrina, St Gregory of Nyssa and Contemporary Mind/Body Dualism", and on the topic of anarchism and theology: "To Each According to their Needs: Anarchist Praxis as a Resource for Byzantine Theological Ethics". Their twitter handle is @BrownDewhurst and they can also be reached through their personal website.
Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group. For more information on the ARG, visit www.lboro.ac.uk/subjects/politics-international-studies/research/arg/ . You can follow us on Twitter @arglboro
Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Hear more at https://soundcloud.com/user-178917365

Essay #19: Ruth Kinna, 'Peter Kropotkin: Well-Being for All'

In this essay, Ruth Kinna discusses Peter Kropotkin's defence of communism. Exploring his idea of 'well-being for all' she argues that libertarian communism entails re-thinking economic principles and tailoring productive activity to mutual aid.
Ruth Kinna is a founder member of the Anarchism Research Group. She has taught a variety of courses in political theory and the history of ideas, including anarchism, at Loughborough University since 1992. 
Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group. For more information on the ARG, visit www.lboro.ac.uk/subjects/politics-international-studies/research/arg/ . You can follow us on Twitter @arglboro
Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Hear more at https://soundcloud.com/user-178917365
Artwork by Sam G: https://www.instagram.com/passerinecreations

Essay #18: Jon Bigger, 'The Case for an Anarchist Exploration of Dr Who'

In this essay, Jon Bigger sets out the case for an anarchist ‘exploration’ of the BBC TV drama Doctor Who.
Jon tutors in A-Level Government and Politics in the UK, regularly contributes to anarchist newspaper Freedom and can be found on twitter @DrJonBigger or at his website https://jonbigger.uk/
Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group. For more information on the ARG, visit www.lboro.ac.uk/subjects/politics-international-studies/research/arg/ . You can follow us on Twitter @arglboro
Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Hear more at https://soundcloud.com/user-178917365
Artwork by Sam G: https://www.instagram.com/passerinecreations

Essay #17: James Flexner, 'Food Fight: Subsistence and Stable Heterarchies in Vanuatu'

In this essay, about the islands of southern Vanuatu, which presents an alternative to the traditional Western Civilisation narrative, James Flexner explores the ways that a 5,000 year history of domestication, island colonisation, and agricultural practices contributed to the anti-hierarchical nature of Island Melanesian societies. Chiefly status in southern Vanuatu derived from mass gifting of agricultural surpluses during competitive feasting events, which limited possibilities for the establishment of permanent hierarchies.
James Flexner is senior lecturer in historical archaeology at the University of Sydney. He is a member of the Black Trowel Collective group of anarchist archaeologists. His books include Archaeologies of Island Melanesia (co-edited with Mathieu Leclerc, and Community-Led Research: Walking New Pathways Together (co-edited with Victoria Rawlings and Lynette Riley), which are both available as a free download/Open Access.
Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group. For more information on the ARG, visit www.lboro.ac.uk/subjects/politics-international-studies/research/arg/ . You can follow us on Twitter @arglboro
Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns). Hear more at https://soundcloud.com/user-178917365
Artwork by Sam G: https://www.instagram.com/passerinecreations