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Call For Papers: “Queering Anarchism”

Radical queer politics and anarchism have much in common. Queer theory argues against traditional identity politics, recognizing the social construction of “sexuality” and identity categories. Anarchism argues against any structured hierarchical arrangement of humanity that allows some members of society to systematically exploit and oppress others. Thus, both projects argue for a need to move beyond hierarchical and naturalized arrangements of socially constructed identities–though, at times, articulating those arguments in different ways. Nevertheless, despite these commonalities, little has been written about the deep connections between anarchism and radical queer politics. This edited volume is an attempt to fill that gap.

With this book, the authors wish to assemble writings that are useful to activists (i.e. not written in obscure academic jargon and relatable to social movement contexts) working in the intersections of queer and anarchist politics. Many anarchists use the term “queer” as shorthand for the LGBT community and have little understanding of what queer theory can provide for a contemporary radical praxis and how it differs from traditional LGBT politics—even some radical strands. Likewise, there are many among the queer community who know little to nothing about anarchism—relying mostly on the sensationalist news medias’ construction of anarchists as terrorists, anti-organizationalists, etc. This volume, then, will be split into three sections (theory, praxis, and personal experience) featuring writing that deals specifically with these intersections.

Interested authors should send a small abstract (just a paragraph explaining exactly what it is you wish to do) along with your name and brief bio (100 words or less, please) by August 15th to propaganarchy@hotmail.com and rogue@riseup.net. Finished pieces will range from 2500 to 5000 words. Below are some suggested questions and issues for each section (feel free to come up with your own fantastic topic too!):

Theory

What can anarchism learn from queer theory? What could queer theory learn from anarchism? How do queer politics relate to class struggle, anti-racism, feminism, post-colonialism, etc.? Can queer theory be meaningful in movements if it remains written in academic jargon? What might “street” queer theory look like and how might it differ from the queer theory that emerges from the university? Should we think of queer as something we are or something we do?

Praxis

What does existing queer anarchist praxis look like? How would we queer current anarchist praxis and what might emerge from that? What challenges have you faced as a result of combining queer political practice with anarchist social movements? What challenges go along with bringing anarchist political practice into existing queer groups?

Personal Experience

Have you had personal experiences of marginalization within the anarchist community for your queer politics? Have you been ignored among the queer community because of your commitment to anarchism? Have you had good experiences combining anarchist and queer activism? What made you feel marginalized or good in those contexts and how can we use those experiences as a catalyst for creating more inclusive movements? How have ideologies of normalcy affected your activism within the anarchist community? How have expectations of ideological normalcy limited the field of politics in queer groups in your experience?

Author Bios

J. Rogue is a queer anarchist-communist feminist who has been organizing in anarchist, feminist and radical queer communities for ten years. Her recent projects have centered around HIV/AIDS and prisons, with the Austin chapter of the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power (ACT UP) as well as the Inside Books Project, which sends free books to Texas prisoners. She has also been involved in transfeminist organizing with Camp Trans, and participated in several radical queer and feminist conferences and projects over the years.

Deric Shannon is a long time social anarchist activist with roots in groups like Anti-Racist Action and Food Not Bombs. He is a part of the editorial collective of the forthcoming volume Contemporary Anarchist Studies (Routledge, Spring ‘09), the entry for “Anarchism, Communism, and Socialism” in the Encyclopedia of Modern Revolutions (James DeFronzo, ed.), and a number of book chapters and journal articles, typically on radical political thought. He currently lives in Connecticut where he works with Hartford Food Not Bombs, ARRGH! (The Area Radical Reading Group of Hartford), and more recently Queers without Borders.