Anarchism and Utopianism

by Laurence, Davis; Ruth, Kinna

• ISBN13: 9780719079344
• ISBN10: 0719079349
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-10-31
• Publisher: Manchester University Press

Summary

This collection of original essays examines the relationship between anarchism and utopianism, exploring the intersections and overlaps between these two fields of study and providing novel perspectives for the analysis of both. The book opens with an historical and philosophical survey of the subject matter and goes on to examine antecedents of the anarchist literary utopia; anti-capitalism and the anarchist utopian literary imagination; free love as an expression of anarchist politics and utopian desire; and revolutionary practice. Contributors explore the creative interchange of anarchism and utopianism in both theory and modern political practice; debunk some widely-held myths about the inherent utopianism of anarchy; uncover the anarchistic influences active in the history of utopian thought; and provide fresh perspectives on contemporary academic and activist debates about ecology, alternatives to capitalism, revolutionary theory and practice, and the politics of art, gender and sexuality.

Author Biography

Laurence Davis is Lecturer in Politics at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. Ruth Kinna is Senior Lecturer in Politics at Loughborough University.

Table of Contents

Notes on contributors	p. ix
Preface	p. xiii
Acknowledgements	p. xvii
Introduction	p. 1
Historical and philosophical overview
Anarchy and the dialectic of utopia	p. 9
Antecedents of the anarchist literary utopia
Daoism as utopian or accommodationist: radical Daoism re-examined in light of the Guodian manuscripts	p. 33
Diderot's Supplément au voyage de Bougainville: steps towards an anarchist utopia	p. 53
Anti-capitalism and the anarchist utopian literary imagination
Everyone an artist: art, labour, anarchy, and utopia	p. 73
Anarchist powers: B. Traven, Pierre Clastres, and the question of utopia	p. 99
Utopia, anarchism and the political implications of emotions	p. 118
Anarchy in the archives: notes from the ruins of Sydney and Melbourne	p. 131
Free love: anarchist politics and utopian desire
Speaking desire: anarchism and free love as utopian performance in fin de siècle Britain	p. 153
Visions of the future: reproduction, revolution, and regeneration in American anarchist utopian fiction	p. 171
Intimate fellows: utopia and chaos in the early post-Stonewall gay liberation manifestos	p. 187
Rethinking revolutionary practice
Anarchism, utopianism and the politics of emancipation	p. 207
Anarchism and the politics of utopia	p. 221
'The space now possible': anarchist education as utopian hope	p. 241
Utopia in contemporary anarchism	p. 260
Index	p. 276
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