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Imagining Anarchist Futures: Possibilities and Potentials
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Imagining Anarchist Futures: Possibilities and Potentials

A special issue of Philosophies (ISSN 2409-9287).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 January 2024) | Viewed by 20832

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Abraham P. DeLeon

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA
Interests: curriculum studies; cultural studies; utopian studies; French social theory; nonhuman animals; archival research; representation; space and place; anarchist theory; critical pedagogy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is with great enthusiasm that the guest editor announces a CFP for an upcoming Special Issue on “Imagining Anarchist Futures: Possibilities and Potentials” to appear in the Open-Access journal Philosophies. Emerging from the pandemic and with an uncertain future appearing on the horizon, this Special Issue seeks to solicit paper submissions that imagine and engage with different kinds of possibilities, those built from, and inspired by, a radical vision for our collective future and for radical political organizing. Anarchist theory, over the past decade, has seen a resurgence as a theoretical framework and ways to rethink political organizing and radical subjectivities. With its commitments to challenging hierarchical organizations and its staunchly anti-capitalist stance, anarchism offers us distinct ways in which to rethink power, agency, organizing and dated forms of political identities.

The guest editor welcomes submissions from across the intellectual spectrum and academic disciplines, such as education, sociology, cultural studies, literary theory, justice studies, and the humanities, broadly defined that want to engage with anarchism in creative and novel ways. The guest editor seeks intellectually daring, creative pieces that incorporate not only a unique anarchist ethic, but also to imagine a different kind of future influenced by radical, imaginative visions that challenge prevailing social, political, and economic realities.

Some possible questions to address are:

  • What productive theoretical generations occur when anarchist theory meets other critical theories? What can be imagined for our collective future by such an engagement?
  • What are the creative spaces that exist between anarchism and other radical traditions in the academy? For a specific example, what does trans* theory have to offer anarchism to deepen its engagement with radical political organizing?
  • What does a creatively inspired vision of our collective future look like when engaged with anarchism and other radical potentials?
  • What are the connections that occur when an alternative future is imagined within a decolonial and postcolonial engagement with anarchist theory?

The guest editor welcomes papers that push the limits of anarchist theory and offer wholly imaginative pieces that might not be welcomed in other traditional, academic venues. Please contact the guest editor with any potential inquiries and/or paper ideas.

Dr. Abraham P. DeLeon
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Philosophies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • anarchist theories
  • cultural studies
  • critical pedagogies
  • critical social theories
  • disability studies
  • queer theories
  • trans* studies
  • postcolonialism
  • feminist theories
  • critical race theories
  • literary theories
  • eco-critical theories
  • justice studies
  • animal liberation

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

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9 pages, 210 KiB  
Article
Dangerous and Unprofessional Content: Anarchist Dreams for Alternate Nursing Futures
by Jess Dillard-Wright and Danisha Jenkins
Philosophies 2024, 9(1), 25; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies9010025 - 14 Feb 2024
Viewed by 2161
Abstract
Professionalized nursing and anarchism could not be more at odds. And yet, if nursing wishes to have a future in the precarious times in which we live and die, the discipline must take on the lessons that anarchism has on offer. Part love [...] Read more.
Professionalized nursing and anarchism could not be more at odds. And yet, if nursing wishes to have a future in the precarious times in which we live and die, the discipline must take on the lessons that anarchism has on offer. Part love note to a problematic profession we love and hate, part fever dream of what could be, we set out to think about what nursing and care might look like after it all falls down, because it is all falling down. Drawing on alternate histories, alternate visions of nursing history, we imagine what nursing values would look like, embracing anarchist principles. We consider examples of community survival, mutual aid, and militant joy as strategies to achieve what nursing could be if nurses put an end to their cop shit, shrugging off their shroud of white cisheteropatriarchal femininity that manifests as professionalism and civility. We conclude with a call to action and a plan for skill-building because this can all be different. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Imagining Anarchist Futures: Possibilities and Potentials)
10 pages, 213 KiB  
Article
Anarchism Is the Only Future
by James Martel
Philosophies 2023, 8(6), 113; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies8060113 - 23 Nov 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1924
Abstract
In this paper I argue that archism, a form of political power that is ubiquitous in the world and is based on hierarchy and violence, effectively denies us a future. Archism in invested in continuing the current power dynamics. Accordingly, it projects a [...] Read more.
In this paper I argue that archism, a form of political power that is ubiquitous in the world and is based on hierarchy and violence, effectively denies us a future. Archism in invested in continuing the current power dynamics. Accordingly, it projects a false sense of the future which is actually only a continuation of the present on and on forever. I look at two thinkers, Walter Benjamin and Hannah Arendt, who try to take the future back from archism (my word, not theirs). In doing so, they do not seek to determine the future but on the contrary, to allow it to actually occur in all of its infinite complexity and unpredictability, that is to say, to submit it to anarchist forms of temporality. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Imagining Anarchist Futures: Possibilities and Potentials)
18 pages, 333 KiB  
Article
From “Whither” to “Whence”: A Decolonial Reading of Malabou
by Rachel Cicoria
Philosophies 2023, 8(5), 93; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies8050093 - 28 Sep 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1322
Abstract
A turn from the “whither” to the “whence” of anarchism is at stake in Catherine Malabou’s interpretation of Latin American decolonial theory. This is a turn from a materialist philosophy that seeks to open the space of anarchism within the modern state toward [...] Read more.
A turn from the “whither” to the “whence” of anarchism is at stake in Catherine Malabou’s interpretation of Latin American decolonial theory. This is a turn from a materialist philosophy that seeks to open the space of anarchism within the modern state toward one that discerns anarchism as already operative in the modern state given the social implications of colonial legacies. In tracing this turn, I propose a development of Malabou’s work insofar as I put her in dialogue with María Lugones, who is much closer to Malabou than the more canonical decolonial figures she actively engages, especially in view of anarchism as a form of social–political plasticity. Understanding Lugones’ critique of earlier iterations of decolonial theory helps make explicit an immanent anarchic resistance to domination as an explosive inhabitation of everyday loci of tension. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Imagining Anarchist Futures: Possibilities and Potentials)
8 pages, 216 KiB  
Article
Directions for Anarchist Studies
by Kathy E. Ferguson
Philosophies 2023, 8(5), 88; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies8050088 - 21 Sep 2023
Viewed by 2284
Abstract
Anarchism is a fertile site for nurturing the sorts of encounters that feminists have called intersectionality. Anarchism and intersectionality share the goal of critically examining familiar as well as emergent flows of power and meaning, and understanding their relations to one another. This [...] Read more.
Anarchism is a fertile site for nurturing the sorts of encounters that feminists have called intersectionality. Anarchism and intersectionality share the goal of critically examining familiar as well as emergent flows of power and meaning, and understanding their relations to one another. This paper focuses on three compelling directions for anarchist studies: Indigenous anarchism, anarchism developing with new materialism, and anarchism emergent in radical book arts. Each thread has established roots while also moving in new directions. Anarchist encounters with Indigeneity, new materialism, and book arts resonate with each other: they can foster “a commitment to the particular” through which we can immerse ourselves in rich and dense worlds where specific Indigenous theories and practices, detailed encounters with non-human things, and particular artistic + intellectual productions of materials can emerge. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Imagining Anarchist Futures: Possibilities and Potentials)
23 pages, 338 KiB  
Article
Spiritualizing Anarchism, Making Spiritual Practices Anarchistic
by Mark Losoncz
Philosophies 2023, 8(4), 65; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies8040065 - 21 Jul 2023
Viewed by 3605
Abstract
This article not only mentions spiritual anarchism nominally, as do so many previous articles, but tries to define it as precisely as possible. The definition assumes that the self itself can be a source of unjustifiable authority and a limitation to freedom, and [...] Read more.
This article not only mentions spiritual anarchism nominally, as do so many previous articles, but tries to define it as precisely as possible. The definition assumes that the self itself can be a source of unjustifiable authority and a limitation to freedom, and that spiritual anarchism is nothing more than being open to that which transegoically transcends our narrow perspective. The article critically revisits previous overviews of spiritual anarchism, and itself proposes to take into account traditions that have been neglected. Finally, the article reverses the approach; that is, it considers how some of our spiritual practices can be made more anarchistic, including meditation, the psychedelic experience and the mystical experience. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Imagining Anarchist Futures: Possibilities and Potentials)
15 pages, 264 KiB  
Article
What Is the Future for Post-Structuralist Anarchism?
by R. William Valliere
Philosophies 2023, 8(4), 63; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies8040063 - 20 Jul 2023
Viewed by 1800
Abstract
In this paper, I use insights from post-structuralist anarchism to consider the relationship between a sense of the future, or “futurity”, and the notion of utopia for anarchist movements. At issue is whether anarchism requires a vision or sense of the future at [...] Read more.
In this paper, I use insights from post-structuralist anarchism to consider the relationship between a sense of the future, or “futurity”, and the notion of utopia for anarchist movements. At issue is whether anarchism requires a vision or sense of the future at all and, if so, whether that futurity should be utopian. Drawing from the post-structuralist anarchism of Todd May, Saul Newman, and Lewis Call, I consider the problems with utopia, as well as the potential irrelevance or impossibility of even thinking the future. I then argue for the necessity of both and contend that post-structuralist anarchism does not preclude either futurity or provisional forms of utopia. I conclude by sketching the outlines of a utopia that would be acceptably post-structuralist and acceptably anarchist. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Imagining Anarchist Futures: Possibilities and Potentials)

Other

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12 pages, 269 KiB  
Essay
A Solarpunk Manifesto: Turning Imaginary into Reality
by William Joseph Gillam
Philosophies 2023, 8(4), 73; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies8040073 - 10 Aug 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 6224
Abstract
In the last century, science fiction has become an incredibly powerful tool in depicting alternative social imaginaries, particularly those of the future. Extending beyond their fictious nature is a commentary on the stark realities of modern society. The ‘cyberpunk’ subgenre, for example, offers [...] Read more.
In the last century, science fiction has become an incredibly powerful tool in depicting alternative social imaginaries, particularly those of the future. Extending beyond their fictious nature is a commentary on the stark realities of modern society. The ‘cyberpunk’ subgenre, for example, offers a dystopian critique on the dangers of technological dependence and hypercapitalism. In studying science fiction, future imaginaries can be developed as utopian goals for governance systems to strive for. In contrast to cyberpunk, the subgenre of ‘solarpunk’ depicts a utopian society where humanity lives locally, sustainably, and in harmony with nature. This paper deconstructs solarpunk media to describe three guiding principles of solarpunk: anarchism, ecology, and justice. As an anarchist community, solarpunk strives for a post-scarcity, post-capitalist society devoid of hierarchy and domination. As an ecological community, solarpunk strives for local, self-sufficient, and sustainable living where both the human and non-human flourish. Finally, as a just community, solarpunk strives to rid society of marginalization and celebrate authenticity. These three principles can be used to guide humanity towards a utopian, solarpunk future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Imagining Anarchist Futures: Possibilities and Potentials)
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