DOCSLIB.ORG

Peter Kropotkin and Colin Ward Two Ideas of Ecological Urbanism

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Peter Kropotkin and Colin Ward Two Ideas of Ecological Urbanism Peter Kropotkin and Colin Ward Two ideas of ecological urbanism Jere Kuzmanić prof. José Luis Oyon The thesis is dedicated to David Graeber, who died on the 2nd of September, 2020. To his greatness in proving that anarchism is worth intellectual endeavour in the 21st century, as both, academically relevant and widely respected. Goodspeed David! Thank you for the Debt. Máster Universitario en Intervención Sostenible en el Medio Construido MISMEC Escola Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura del Vallès Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya 2019/2020 TFM - Trabajo Final de Máster (defended-September 2020) Alumni: Jere Kuzmanić [email protected] Mentor: prof. José Luis Oyon [email protected] The photo on the cover is made during the eviction of XM squat Bologna, Italy Photo by: Michele Lapini, http://www.michelelapini.net/ The thesis is written and defended in English Peter Kropotkin and Colin Ward; two ideas of ecological urbanism The thesis recapitulates the works of two anarchists, Peter Kropotkin and Colin Ward seeking the continuous thread of development of ecological urbanism as a political and spatial concept. As geographer and architect both imagined, wrote and inspired practices of production of space deeply rooted in ecology and spirit of self-organization. The literature review of primary and secondary resources will entangle the relationship between Kropotkin’s (proto)ecological geography with Colin Ward’s post-war self-management in urbanism. Both conceptions emerging from direct action, mutual aid and cooperation they will be presented through a comparison of their writings and the correlating the examples they inspired (Spanish anti- authoritarianist planning councils, 50s squatters movement, self-help housing communities etc. ) Their similarities and underlying values maintain the idea of an under-presented model of ecological urbanism that could be of significant relevance nowadays (i.e. in the context of urban degrowth, cooperative housing movement, etc.). Keywords: Ecological urbanism, Peter Kropotkin, Colin Ward, history of urbanism, urbanism from below, city-countryside integration, self-organization in urban planning Content 1 Introduction 1.1 What is environmental in anarchist approaches to space? 1.2 ‘The anarchist thread‘ in ecological urbanism(s) – Historical overview 1.3 Two visions of ecological urbanism 1.3.1 Summary of the key lines of comparison 1.3.2 On the continuation of ideas - Comparison of key concepts 2 Kropotkin 2.1 Perodicals and Mutual Aid 2.2 The Conquest of Bread 2.3 Fields, factories and workshops 3 Ward 3.1 Anarchist approach to housing: Housing: An Anarchist approach (1974), Tenants Take Over (1972), Talking Houses (1990) 3.2 An anarchist approach to environment: The Child in the Country (1988), The Child In The City (1978), Talking to architects (1996) 3.3 An anarchist approach to urban planning: Welcome, Thinner City (1989), Do-It- Yourself New Town (1976) 4 The Dialogue 5 Bibilography Two ideas of ecological urbanism “When Franco and his fascist generals attacked the newly elected Republic in July 1936, thousands of industrial workers and peasants responded with militias and also with a massive collectivization of land, factories, transportation systems, and public services. Collectivization encompassed more than one-half of the total land area of Republican Spain, affecting the lives of nearly eight million people. Large cities like Barcelona were transformed into federations of neighborhoods, while in many parts of the Republican held countryside, new irrigation systems and well-organized federations of communes allowed peasants to bring new land under cultivation, expanding and diversifying production. Social landscapes accommodated new educational, cultural, and health facilities. Massive regional exchange networks formed by federations of collectives starting at the local level and working their way up to districts and provinces, linked cities with the countryside for the purposes of distribution and consumption, extending transportation and health services into areas that had never been serviced before. A revolution, which began by creating more communal and egalitarian relationships among people, resulted in the creation of highly efficient and environmentally sensitive new spatial formations.” (Breitbait, 2009) 8 1 Introduction 1.1 What is environmental in anarchist approaches to space? In the 1930s, during the Spanish Republic, the revolution led by industrial workers and peasants was controlling the land on which 8 million people lived, worked and were fed at the time. This large scale social experiment inspired by anarchist ideas had its environmental implications. These implications are well summarized by Breitbart (2009) who concluded that the Republic did not impose on villages and neighbourhoods to become self-sufficient entities, neither in terms of goods and trade, neither in food, housing and other essential provisions. Instead, the councils anticipated a developed and complex spatial relations framed by the economy of everyday consumption and production that propelled regional exchange and local cooperation. In these relationships the city became interrelated with the rural towns and villages, large scale collectivization attempted to integrate industrial and agricultural production. At the same time, the peasant and citizen are seen as active subjects of the integration – both contributing to progress with their manual and intellectual labour in gardens, workshops and local councils. This historical example is one of many everyday lived practices in which environment, politics and urbanism converged into an alternative experience in (re)production of space as inherent to Nature. These experiences are part of the history of ecological urbanism that continuously seeks to oppose expanding urbanization with holistic and integrated visions of human and non-human life embedded in sustainable urban processes. Many of these experiences were inspired, observed and documented within the community of anarchist geographers and urbanists. Until now not that many dialogues on ecological urbanism took into consideration the history of anarchist inputs to the idea. This particular work attempts to bring two points in this direction: a) ‘conscious practices of anarchism’ (as Malatesta defines the history of anarchism) share a common environmental approach and b) there is a continuous thread of decentralist inputs to ecological urbanism that flows between the pre- and post- World War Two period. Both points aim to illustrate the from-below approaches to ecological urbanism as methodologically and practically relevant for the future of the field. Methodology The works of two prominent figures of anarchism and (urban) geography, Peter Kropotkin and Colin Ward are compared to build the argument presented in the previous chapter. Instead of entering the complex study of historical practices or attempting to give an overview of anarchism shaped work on ecological urbanism, the thesis uses the observations of two giants of decentralist thought and their observations on people´s relation to the environment. One geographer and one architect, dedicated significant volumes of work and time to observing the practices of production of urban space, describing and speculating about them from the anarchist perspective. The methodological hypothesis is that literature written by both authors is sufficiently intertwined to be read as a) time-wise continuous thread of socio-political thought on ecological urbanism and are b) material that inspired concrete practices relevant to an ecological urbanism. 9 Two ideas of ecological urbanism These two figures have a pivotal role, not in defining what ‘anarchist’ means in the context of ecological urbanism or how anarchist paradigms relate to ‘environment’, since, as Ferretti (2019) recognizes, there is no just one uniform ‘anarchist’ approach to anything, including space and ecology. Instead, their work interconnects the lived experiences, utopian speculations and critiques of the State and capitalism and as a result, is fixing together a distinct reading of (urban) space. These two authors also connect two centuries of what we call ‘modern’ anarchism, the same period in which the urbanism increasingly acknowledged the urgencies of negative environmental impact – to which it responded with a quest for the ecological urbanism and rethinking the (urban) economy around resource management (Springer, 2013)⁠. The temporal coincidence of the two movement makes the distinct anarchist vision for ecological urbanism worth considering. It is interesting to consider how - mutual aid, cooperation, do-it-yourself and direct action ethics, and non-hierarchical emancipatory tools – work when incorporated in the framework of urban planning. The thesis uses primary sources from both authors, their books, articles in periodicals and secondary researches of interpretation as sources for qualitative comparison of two authors and their contribution to this discussion. The comparison of the literature extracts on the first level similarities in their conceptions and observations concerning the ecological urbanism. On the second level method draws the differences between the authors and contextualises them. The third level uses the literature review to relate conceptual work by authors to cases in which it was put in practice and examples to which they refer. The presentation of results takes the form of printable publication. It is based on three parts: 1) Introduction
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Conquest of Bread
    1 2 This eBook is the result of a collaborative effort by MPowered and its community of Avid Readers, and is based on a transcription produced for Project Gutenberg. The writing and artwork within are believed to be in the U.S. public domain, and MPowered releases this eBook edition under the terms in the CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. MPowered is an endeavour that produces, promotes, and provides open access to educational, culture-related content and media with the aim of empowering people worldwide. You can download this and other eBooks produced with love for avid readers at mdnss.co/mdash. To contribute with MPowered, please report typos, typography errors, or other necessary corrections on the report errors section. You can also acquire our official merchandise in our store to help us ensure the continuity of this project. 3 P A This eBook edition has been published thanks to the generous support of: M G Would you like to be featured on this page? 4 C Title Page Imprint Acknowledgements The Man The Book Preface THE CONQUEST OF BREAD CHAPTER I: Our Riches I II III CHAPTER II: Well-being For All I II III FOOTNOTE CHAPTER III: Anarchist Communism I II CHAPTER IV: Expropriation I II III FOOTNOTE CHAPTER V: Food I II III IV V 5 VI VII FOOTNOTES CHAPTER VI: Dweallings I II III FOOTNOTE CHAPTER VII: Clothing CHAPTER VIII: Ways and Means I II CHAPTER IX: The Need For Luxury I II III IV V FOOTNOTES CHAPTER X: Agreeable Work AGREEABLE WORK I II FOOTNOTES: CHAPTER XI: Free Agreement I II III CHAPTER XII: Objections I II III IV
    [Show full text]
  • Reassembling the Anarchist Critique of Technology Zachary M
    Potential, Power and Enduring Problems: Reassembling the Anarchist Critique of Technology Zachary M. Loeb* Abstract Within anarchist thought there is a current that treats a critique of technology as a central component of a broader critique of society and modernity. This tendency – which can be traced through the works of Peter Kropotkin, Rudolf Rocker, and Murray Bookchin – treats technologies as being thoroughly nested within sets of powerful social relations. Thus, it is not that technology cannot provide ‘plenty for all’ but that technology is bound up in a system where priorities other than providing plenty win out. This paper will work to reassemble the framework of this current in order to demonstrate the continuing strength of this critique. I. Faith in technological progress has provided a powerful well of optimism from which ideologies as disparate as Marxism and neoliberal capitalism have continually drawn. Indeed, the variety of machines and techniques that are grouped together under the heading “technology” often come to symbolize the tools, both * Zachary Loeb is a writer, activist, librarian, and terrible accordion player. He earned his MSIS from the University of Texas at Austin, and is currently working towards an MA in the Media, Culture, and Communications department at NYU. His research areas include the critique of technology, media refusal and resistance to technology, ethical implications of technology, as well as the intersection of library science with the STS field. 87 literally and figuratively, which a society uses to construct a modern, better, world. That technologically enhanced modern societies remain rife with inequity and oppression, while leaving a trail of toxic e-waste in their wake, is treated as an acceptable tradeoff for progress – while assurances are given that technological solutions will soon appear to solve the aforementioned troubles.
    [Show full text]
  • Middle Ages of the City
    Chapter 5 Merchants and Bowmen: Middle Ages of the City Once past, dreams and memories are the same thing. U. piersanti, L’uomo delle Cesane (1994) It’s a beautiful day in May. We find ourselves in Assisi, the city of saints Francis and Clare. The “Nobilissima parte de sopra” and the “Magnifica parte de sotto” (the Most Noble Upper Part and the Magnificent Lower Part), which represent the districts of the city’s theoretical medieval subdivision, challenge each oth- er to a series of competitions: solemn processions, feats of dexterity, songs, challenges launched in rhyme, stage shows. In this way, it renews the medieval tradition of canti del maggio (May songs), performed in the piazzas and under girls’ balconies by bands of youths wandering the city. A young woman is elect- ed Madonna Primavera (Lady Spring). We celebrate the end of winter, the return of the sun, flowers, and love. This medieval festival, resplendent with parades, flag bearers, ladies, knights, bowmen, and citizen magistrates, re- sounding with songs, tambourines, and trumpets, lasts three days and involves the entire population of Assisi, which finds itself, together with tourists and visitors, immersed in the atmosphere of a time that was. At night, when the fires and darkness move the shadows and the natural odors are strongest, the magic of the illusion of the past reaches its highest pitch: Three nights of May leave their mark on our hearts Fantasy blends with truth among sweet songs And ancient history returns to life once again The mad, ecstatic magic of our feast.1 Attested in the Middle Ages, the Assisan Calendimaggio (First of May) reap- peared in 1927 and was interrupted by the Second World War, only to resume in 1947.
    [Show full text]
  • The Spanish Anarchists: the Heroic Years, 1868-1936
    The Spanish Anarchists THE HEROIC YEARS 1868-1936 the text of this book is printed on 100% recycled paper The Spanish Anarchists THE HEROIC YEARS 1868-1936 s Murray Bookchin HARPER COLOPHON BOOKS Harper & Row, Publishers New York, Hagerstown, San Francisco, London memoria de Russell Blackwell -^i amigo y mi compahero Hafold F. Johnson Library Ceirtef' "ampsliire College Anrteret, Massachusetts 01002 A hardcover edition of this book is published by Rree Life Editions, Inc. It is here reprinted by arrangement. THE SPANISH ANARCHISTS. Copyright © 1977 by Murray Bookchin. AH rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission except in the case ofbrief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address ftee Life Editions, Inc., 41 Union Square West, New York, N.Y. 10003. Published simultaneously in Canada by Fitzhenry & Whiteside Limited, Toronto. First HARPER COLOPHON edition published 1978 ISBN: 0-06-090607-3 78 7980 818210 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21 Contents OTHER BOOKS BY MURRAY BOOKCHIN Introduction ^ Lebensgefahrliche, Lebensmittel (1955) Prologue: Fanelli's Journey ^2 Our Synthetic Environment (1%2) I. The "Idea" and Spain ^7 Crisis in Our Qties (1965) Post-Scarcity Anarchism (1971) BACKGROUND MIKHAIL BAKUNIN 22 The Limits of the Qty (1973) Pour Une Sodete Ecologique (1976) II. The Topography of Revolution 32 III. The Beginning THE INTERNATIONAL IN SPAIN 42 IN PREPARATION THE CONGRESS OF 1870 51 THE LIBERAL FAILURE 60 T'he Ecology of Freedom Urbanization Without Cities IV. The Early Years 67 PROLETARIAN ANARCHISM 67 REBELLION AND REPRESSION 79 V.
    [Show full text]
  • Reading William Morris, Peter Kropotkin, Ursula K. Le Guin, and PM in the Light of Digital Socialism
    tripleC 18(1): 146-186, 2020 http://www.triple-c.at The Utopian Internet, Computing, Communication, and Concrete Utopias: Reading William Morris, Peter Kropotkin, Ursula K. Le Guin, and P.M. in the Light of Digital Socialism Christian Fuchs University of Westminster, London, [email protected], http://fuchs.uti.at Abstract: This paper asks: What can we learn from literary communist utopias for the creation and organisation of communicative and digital socialist society and a utopian Internet? To pro- vide an answer to this question, the article discusses aspects of technology and communica- tion in utopian-communist writings and reads these literary works in the light of questions con- cerning digital technologies and 21st-century communication. The selected authors have writ- ten some of the most influential literary communist utopias. The utopias presented by these authors are the focus of the reading presented in this paper: William Morris’s (1890/1993) News from Nowhere, Peter Kropotkin’s (1892/1995) The Conquest of Bread, Ursula K. Le Guin’s (1974/2002) The Dispossessed, and P.M.’s (1983/2011; 2009; 2012) bolo’bolo and Kartoffeln und Computer (Potatoes and Computers). These works are the focus of the reading presented in this paper and are read in respect to three themes: general communism, technol- ogy and production, communication and culture. The paper recommends features of concrete utopian-communist stories that can inspire contemporary political imagination and socialist consciousness. The themes explored include the role of post-scarcity, decentralised comput- erised planning, wealth and luxury for all, beauty, creativity, education, democracy, the public sphere, everyday life, transportation, dirt, robots, automation, and communist means of com- munication (such as the “ansible”) in digital communism.
    [Show full text]
  • “The Whole World Is Our Homeland”: Anarchist Antimilitarism
    nº 24 - SEPTEMBER 2015 PACIFISTS DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR IN DEPTH “The whole world is our homeland”: Anarchist antimilitarism Dolors Marín Historian Anarchism as a form of human liberation and as a social, cultural and economic al- ternative is an idea born from the European Illustration. It belongs to the rationalism school of thought that believes in the education of the individual as the essential tool for the transformation of society. The anarchists fight for a future society in which there is no place for the State or authoritarianism, because it is a society structured in small, self-sufficient communities with a deep respect for nature, a concept already present among the utopian socialists. A communitarian (though non necessarily an- ti-individualistic) basis that will be strengthened by the revolutionary trade unionism who uses direct action and insurrectional tactics for its vindications. On a political level, the anarchists make no distinction between goals and methods, because they consider that the fight is in itself a goal. In the anarchist denunciation of the modern state’s authoritarianism the concepts of army and war are logically present. This denunciation was ever-present in the years when workers internationalism appeared, due to the growth of modern European na- tionalisms, the independence of former American colonies and the Asian and African context. The urban proletariat and many labourers from around the world become the cannon fodder in these bloodbaths of youth and devastations of large areas of the pla- net. The workers’ protest is hence channelled through its own growing organizations (trade unions, workmen’s clubs, benefit societies, etc), with the support and the louds- peaker of abundant pacifist literature that will soon be published in clandestine book- lets or pamphlets that circulate on a hand-to-hand basis (1).
    [Show full text]
  • 9. Notes and Index.Pdf
    - NOTE rn NoI NOTES ,i I cccnt .rSarrlst i \ t:t tC. i l. cloes Preface l. J:rnres Joll, The Anarchisls,2nd etl , (C)ambridge, Nlass.: H:rn'artl llnivet'sin Press, 'i:tlike 19tt0), p viii. .r .rl istic: 2 Sinr:e the literature on this oeriod of soci:rlis( ernd cornrnunist intertrationalism is i.rlizccl immense, it is possible to rite onlr solne rcprL\r'ntJti\c titles here Julius BtaLnthal's ()eschir.hte der Internationale, 3 r'oirs (Flarlno\er: Dietz, l96l-1971 I has bccornc standarcl ' lllrl)l\ on a ccnturl of internationalisrn, though the emphasis is alrnostexclusivclr uporr politir:al . )|S [O :rnd not trade union intern:rtionalisrn. IIore sper:ifir:rllr, on the Setoncl Internatioral, sce Jarnes Joll, The Second InternatiormL, 1889-1911. rcr ed. (l-rtrrdon ancl Boston: r.hil)s, Routledge ancl Keean Paul, 197'1). On the International Federation of Trade flnions before ,11( )ln1C the rvar arrd on its post-rvar rerival. see Joh:rnn Sasst:nbach, I'inlundzuanzig Ja.lLre internationaLer Geuterksthaf tsbelDegung (Anrstcr(1arn: IrrtcrrraIionalcn C]cterlschaf tsbun- .Li aucl dcs, 1926), and Lervis Lonvin, Lobor and Inlernatiortalisrn (Ncl York: N'Iacrnillan, 1929). iltloIls, C)n the pcrst-war Labour and Socialist International, see John Ptice, Tlrc Intcrttational Labour Llouernent (London: Oxford l-iniversitl Press 19.15) On the so-callecl Trro-ancl- ;, lile, a-Half Internationzrl, scc Andr6 Donneur, Hi.stoire de I'L'nion des Pttrtis SetciaListes (tour I'Action InternationaLe (Lausanue: fl niversit6 de ClenEve, Institu t l-n ir crsi Lairc dcs FIaLrtes :;r otlet n -L,tudes Internat.ionales, 1967).
    [Show full text]
  • J Ewish Community and Civic Commune In
    Jewish community and civic commune in the high Middle Ages'' CHRISTOPH CLUSE 1. The following observations do not aim to provide a comprehensive phe­ nomenology of the J ewish community during the high and late medieval periods. Rather 1 wish to present the outlines of a model which describes the status of the Jewish community within the medieval town or city, and to ask how the concepts of >inclusion< and >exclusion< can serve to de­ scribe that status. Using a number of selected examples, almost exclusively drawn from the western regions of the medieval German empire, 1 will concentrate, first, on a comparison betweenJewish communities and other corporate bodies (>universitates<) during the high medieval period, and, secondly, on the means by which Jews and Jewish communities were included in the urban civic corporations of the later Middle Ages. To begin with, 1 should point out that the study of the medieval Jewish community and its various historical settings cannot draw on an overly rich tradition in German historical research. 1 The >general <historiography of towns and cities that originated in the nineteenth century accorded only sporadic attention to the J ews. Still, as early as 1866 the legal historian Otto Stobbe had paid attention to the relationship between the Jewish ::- The present article first appeared in a slightly longer German version entitled Die mittelalterliche jüdische Gemeinde als »Sondergemeinde« - eine Skizze. In: J OHANEK, Peter (ed. ): Sondergemeinden und Sonderbezirke in der Stadt der Vormoderne (Städteforschung, ser. A, vol. 52). Köln [et al.] 2005, pp. 29-51. Translations from the German research literature cited are my own.
    [Show full text]
  • Foreword Chapter 1 the Commitments of Ecocriticism
    Notes Foreword 1. “Destroying the world in order to save it,” CNN, May 31, 2004, Ͻhttp://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/Movies/05/31/film.day.after. tomorrow.ap/Ͼ (Accessed June 25, 2004). Sources for the epigraphs are as follows: William Rueckert, “Literature and Ecology: An Experiment in Ecocriticism,” Iowa Review, 9 no. 1 (Winter 1978): 121; and Raymond Williams, What I Came to Say (London: Radius, 1989), 76, 81. 2. “Global warming is real and underway,” Union of Concerned Scientists, n. d., Ͻhttp://www.ucsusa.org/global_environment/global_warming/index.cfmϾ (Accessed June 25, 2004). “Larsen B Ice Shelf Collapses in Antarctica,” National Snow and Ice Data Center, n. d., Ͻhttp://nsidc.org/iceshelves/ larsenb2002/Ͼ (Accessed June 25, 2004). Vandana Shiva, Water Wars (Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2002), 98–99. 3. UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, “Projections of Future Climate Change,” in Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis, Ͻhttp://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg1/339.htmϾ (Accessed June 25, 2004). Shiva, Water Wars, 1. 4. Greg Palast, “Bush Energy Plan: Policy or Payback?” BBC News, May 18, 2001, Ͻhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1336960.stmϾ (Accessed June 25, 2004). Mark Townsend and Paul Harris, “Now the Pentagon tells Bush: Climate Change will Destroy Us,” The Observer, February 22, 2004, Ͻhttp://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1153513,00. htmlϾ (Accessed June 25, 2004). 5. Paul Brown, “Uranium Hazard Prompts Cancer Check on Troops,” The Guardian, April 25, 2003, Ͻhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/uranium/story/ 0,7369,943340,00.htmlϾ (Accessed June 25, 2004).
    [Show full text]
  • The Anarchist Collectives Workers’ Self-Management in the Spanish Revolution, 1936–1939
    The Anarchist Collectives Workers’ Self-Management in the Spanish Revolution, 1936–1939 Sam Dolgoff (editor) 1974 Contents Preface 7 Acknowledgements 8 Introductory Essay by Murray Bookchin 9 Part One: Background 28 Chapter 1: The Spanish Revolution 30 The Two Revolutions by Sam Dolgoff ....................................... 30 The Bolshevik Revolution vs The Russian Social Revolution . 35 The Trend Towards Workers’ Self-Management by Sam Dolgoff ....................................... 36 Chapter 2: The Libertarian Tradition 41 Introduction ............................................ 41 The Rural Collectivist Tradition by Sam Dolgoff ....................................... 41 The Anarchist Influence by Sam Dolgoff ....................................... 44 The Political and Economic Organization of Society by Isaac Puente ....................................... 46 Chapter 3: Historical Notes 52 The Prologue to Revolution by Sam Dolgoff ....................................... 52 On Anarchist Communism ................................. 55 On Anarcho-Syndicalism .................................. 55 The Counter-Revolution and the Destruction of the Collectives by Sam Dolgoff ....................................... 56 Chapter 4: The Limitations of the Revolution 63 Introduction ............................................ 63 2 The Limitations of the Revolution by Gaston Leval ....................................... 63 Part Two: The Social Revolution 72 Chapter 5: The Economics of Revolution 74 Introduction ...........................................
    [Show full text]
  • Black Flag White Masks: Anti-Racism and Anarchist Historiography
    Black Flag White Masks: Anti-Racism and Anarchist Historiography Süreyyya Evren1 Abstract Dominant histories of anarchism rely on a historical framework that ill fits anarchism. Mainstream anarchist historiography is not only blind to non-Western elements of historical anarchism, it also misses the very nature of fin de siècle world radicalism and the contexts in which activists and movements flourished. Instead of being interested in the network of (anarchist) radicalism (worldwide), political historiography has built a linear narrative which begins from a particular geographical and cultural framework, driven by the great ideas of a few father figures and marked by decisive moments that subsequently frame the historical compart- mentalization of the past. Today, colonialism/anti-colonialism and imperialism/anti-imperialism both hold a secondary place in contemporary anarchist studies. This is strange considering the importance of these issues in world political history. And the neglect allows us to speculate on the ways in which the priorities might change if Eurocentric anarchist histories were challenged. This piece aims to discuss Eurocentrism imposed upon the anarchist past in the form of histories of anarchism. What would be the consequences of one such attempt, and how can we reimagine the anarchist past after such a critique? Introduction Black Flag White Masks refers to the famous Frantz Fanon book, Black Skin White Masks, a classic in anti-colonial studies, and it also refers to hidden racial issues in the history of the black flag (i.e., anarchism). Could there be hidden ethnic hierarchies in the main logic of anarchism's histories? The huge difference between the anarchist past and the histories of anarchism creates the gap here.
    [Show full text]
  • Geography in Higher Education in the UK NOT to BE CITED WITHOUT
    Geography in Higher Education in the UK J D SIDAWAY* and R J JOHNSTON** 1 * Department of Geography, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE11 3TU, UK ** School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1SS, UK This paper was invited for a special issue of Journal of Geography in Higher Education NOT TO BE CITED WITHOUT THE AUTHORS’ PERMISSION ABSTRACT Geography is firmly established as a separate discipline within British higher education, a position founded on its strength in the country’s school system throughout the twentieth century. This position has enabled the discipline to prosper and it has been at the core of many intellectual developments. With changes in the nature of universities, however, that position has increasingly to be rethought. KEY WORDS: Geography, United Kingdom British geography’s emerging place Geography as a subject has a long history in the UK, but it was only clearly recognised as a separate academic discipline at the end of the nineteenth century. Before that, elements of geography were taught in the country’s universities and there was a short-lived appointment of a Professor at University College London in the 1830s – the decade that also saw the foundation of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS). But it was in the country’s schools that the foundations of the academic discipline were laid. Officers of the RGS identified a need for geography to be taught there, as part of the formation of an educated citizenry, for whom knowledge about the world – and, especially, of Britain’s position at the centre of the largest empire within that world – was deemed necessary.
    [Show full text]