LibGuides: HIST 3692: Anarchism: A Global History (Fall 2023): Background Information

About Anarchism

Anarchism by Benjamin Franks (Editor); Nathan Jun (Editor); Leonard Williams (Editor)
ISBN: 9781138925656
Publication Date: 2018-03-26
Anarchism is by far the least broadly understood ideology and the least studied academically. Though highly influential, both historically and in terms of recent social movements, anarchism is regularly dismissed. Anarchism: A Conceptual Approach is a welcome addition to this growing field, which is widely debated but poorly understood. Occupying a distinctive position in the study of anarchist ideology, this volume ¿ authored by a handpicked group of established and rising scholars ¿ investigates how anarchists often seek to sharpen their message and struggle to determine what ideas and actions are central to their identity. Moving beyond defining anarchism as simply an ideology or political theory, this book examines the meanings of its key concepts, which have been divided into three categories: Core, Adjacent, and Peripheral concepts. Each chapter focuses on one important concept, shows how anarchists have understood the concept, and highlights its relationships to other concepts. Although anarchism is often thought of as a political topic, the interdisciplinary nature of Anarchism: A Conceptual Approach makes it of interest to students and scholars across the social sciences, liberal arts, and the humanities.
Classical Anarchism by George Crowder
ISBN: 9780198277446
Publication Date: 1992-01-23
How can there be order in a modern society without government? In Classical Anarchism, George Crowder considers the presentation of stateless order in the works of writers who epitomized the "classical" tradition of anarchistic thought--Godwin, Proudhon, Kropotkin, and Bakunin. Crowder argues that their theses of stateless order are more coherent and persuasive than usually supposed if considered in their intellectual and historical context. He concentrates on three aspects of anarchist thought which have been previously neglected or misunderstood: the "positive" character of their concept of freedom, the complexity of their responses to Rousseau, and the degree to which they were influenced by contemporary scientism. Crowder closes with an evaluation of classical anarchism from a current perspective and considers prospects for the future of anarchist ideology.
Anarchism by Carissa Honeywell
ISBN: 9781509523900
Publication Date: 2021-01-19
Is it possible to abolish coercion and hierarchy and build a stateless, egalitarian social order based on non-domination? There is one political tradition that answers these questions with a resounding yes: anarchism. In this book, Carissa Honeywell offers an accessible introduction to major anarchist thinkers and principles, from Proudhon to Goldman, non-domination to prefiguration. She helps students understand the nature of anarchism by examining how its core ideas shape important contemporary social movements, thereby demonstrating how anarchist principles are relevant to modern political dilemmas connected to issues of conflict, justice and care. She argues that anarchism can play a central role in tackling our major global problems by helping us rethink the essentially militarist nature of our dominant ideas about human relationships and security. Dynamic, urgent, and engaging, this new introduction to anarchist thought will be of great interest to both students as well as thinkers and activists working to find solutions to the multiple crises of capitalist modernity.
Contemporary Anarchism by Terry M. Perlin
ISBN: 9781351319300
Publication Date: 2017-11-30
Anarchism--literally, a society without government--is less a political philosophy than it is a temperament. Anarchists are defiant people who seek to organize for the purpose of destroying organization. For its adherents, anarchism means a grand struggle against evil, a plea for the "new," a secular crusade against the debasement of self, a fight against the degradation of mankind that organized society seems to represent. Anarchism is anti-politics, anti-economics, anti-authoritarianism in all forms. Anarchism is a mood of perpetual rebellion. The decade of the sixties witnessed a revival in the anarchist temperament, which Perlin finds evident in such diverse efforts as the women's liberation movement, student demonstrations, civil rights marches, free schools, the "back to the land" movement, demands for birth control and other--usually controversial-causes and activities. This new anarchism had few conscious links with the old anarchism. It was instead a response to changed conditions in the social fabric of American and European life, a reflex to the structural, cultural and psychological tensions that made those years turbulent, strife-filled and rebellious. Perlin concludes that while a revolution was not made in the sixties, a revolutionary life-style became a possibility. The spokesmen for the marginal groups whose interests achieved a new kind of legitimacy during the sixties were anarchists or their sympathizers. A representative cross-section of their writings is included in this volume.
Under Three Flags by Benedict Anderson
ISBN: 1844670376
Publication Date: 2006-01-17
Benedict Anderson continues the historical and theoretical project begun in Imagined Communities, his classic work on nationalism, by exploring the radical politics and culture of the world in the late nineteenth century. Here, he contrasts two young anti-imperialist nationalists from the then remote periphery of the Philippines. The great political novelist Jose Rizal, executed by the Spanish colonial regime when he was only 35, was the first person fully to imagine the Philippine nation, and to pave the way for anti-colonial revolution in his country. The pioneering folklorist Isabelo de los Reyes, imprisoned in Manila after the violent uprisings of 1896, was later incarcerated together with Catalan anarchists in the torture-ridden prison fortress of Montjuich in Barcelona. On his return to the Philippines, now occupied by the Americans, he formed the first militant trade unions under the influence of Malatesta and Kropotkin.
Black Flags and Social Movements by Dana M. Williams
ISBN: 9781526105547
Publication Date: 2017-11-02
Anarchism may be the most misunderstood political ideology of the modern era, and one of the least studied social movements by English-speaking scholars. Black flags and social movements addresses this deficit with an in-depth analysis of contemporary anarchist movements as interpreted by social movement theories and political sociology. Using unique data gathered by anarchists themselves, Williams presents longitudinal and international analyses that focus upon who anarchists are, and where they may be found. Social movement ideas including political opportunity, new social movements, and social capital theory, are relevant and adaptable to understanding anarchist movements. Due to their sometimes limited numbers and identities as radical anti-authoritarians, anarchists often find themselves collaborating with numerous other social movements, bringing along their values, ideas and tactics.
Anarcho-Blackness by Marquis Bey
ISBN: 9781849353755
Publication Date: 2020-08-18
Anarcho-Blackness seeks to define the shape of a Black anarchism. Classical anarchism tended to avoid questions of race - specifically Blackness - as well as the intersections of race and gender. Bey addresses this lack, not by constructing a new cannon of Black anarchists but by outlining how anarchism and Blackness already share a certain subjective relationship to power, a way of understanding and inhabiting the world. Through the lens of Black feminist and transgender theory, he explores what we can learn by making this kinship explicit, including how anarchism itself is transformed by the encounter. If the state is predicated on a racialised and gendered capitalism, its undoing can only be imagined and undertaken by a political theory that takes race and gender seriously.

Encyclopedias and General Reference

Scholarly Encyclopedias

Similar to Wikipedia, these resources provide an overview on a given topic, but the authors are experts in the fields they are covering. Below you will find a few general encyclopedia collections with coverage across a wide variety of fields.

Credo All Titles
Credo is a database of background content. It's full-text and can help you learn the basics of any topic. Start your research here to focus your topic, find keywords and people, and discover more in-depth books and articles.
Gale eBooks
Gale Virtual Reference Library is a database of encyclopedias and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research.
Oxford Reference Library
Brings together digitized entries from Oxford's Dictionaries, Companions and Encyclopedias, spanning multiple subject areas.

Sage Knowledge
A database of ebooks and reference books published by SAGE covering the social sciences and education, including such areas as African American Studies, Aged & Gerontology, Anthropology, Communication and Media Studies, Criminology and Criminal Justice, Economics, Education, Gender & Sexuality Studies, History, Politics, Psychology, Social Issues, Social Work & Social Policy, and Sociology.
The Palgrave Dictionary of Transnational History
Written and edited by many of the world's foremost scholars of transnational history, this Dictionary Contains over 400 entries on transnational subjects such as food, migration and religion, as well as traditional topics such as nationalism and war.

General Reference

On Wikipedia

Wikipedia

Wikipedia is the world's largest encyclopedia, Wikipedia's coverage is vast. It can be useful, but it's important to remember that Wikipedia can be edited by anyone in the world, and some articles are more reliable and accurate than others. As with any source you use, it's important to verify the information you find.

Strengths of Wikipedia

Wikipedia is updated frequently. New information can be, and often is, added to the site within minutes. Due to editorial limitations, scholarly encyclopedias are usually updated annually.
Because Wikipedia crowd sourced, there is the potential for a broader authorship than is found in academic publications.
Citations in Wikipedia offer a wider array of materials, including articles and resources that are available for free and online.

Weaknesses of Wikipedia

Editors on Wikipedia are not necessarily experts. Authorship on Wikipedia is often anonymous or obscured.
Articles are always changing, making them difficult to cite in your research. An article you read today, may look quite different tomorrow.
Articles can be vandalized, providing wildly inaccurate information.

Ways to use Wikipedia

Use Wikipedia to get a general idea about a topic you are interested in.
Wikipedia is great for generating keywords for further searching in CLIO and elsewhere.
Check the citations, recommended resources and external links to guide you to more scholarly work.

Suze Meyers, Feminist Wikipedia, 2016.