In this essay, Kirwin Shaffer explores the creation of an anarchist ethnic identity (an anarchist Latinidad) among Spanish-speaking anarchists in the United States in the 1880s and 1890s. This identity united anarchists from Spain and Cuba around a common language and common experiences confronting capitalism and the Cuban War for Independence in the 1890s while rejecting divisive ethnic and nationalist politics centered around the place of one's birth.

Kirwin Shaffer is Professor of Latin American Studies at the Pennsylvania State University - Berks College. His most recent books include A Transnational History of the Modern Caribbean, Anarchists of the Caribbean: Countercultural Politics and Transnational Networks in the Age of US Expansion, and the forthcoming Anarchist Militants in Latin America: Biographies, Historiographies, and Transnational Lives co-edited with Amparo Sánchez Cobos and María Migueláñez Martínez. 

Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Bluesky @anarchismresgroup.bsky.social

Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns).

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In this essay, Robert T.F. Downes examines how the eco-anarchist philosophy of social ecology and the pluriverse of Indigenous political thought come together in anarcho-Indigenous solidarities, from Standing Rock to the Zapatista caracoles, to imagine a “democracy of species” beyond the (neo)liberal rule of law. He asks how these experiments in “living otherwise” challenge anthropocentrism, private property, and the State while sketching participatory, multispecies alternatives to governance, grounded in care, consent, land, more-than-human relations, and mutual aid.

Robert T.F. Downes is a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Connecticut, investigating questions at the intersection of political theory, environmental politics, and law. His most recent publications are "Green Anarchy & Red Praxis: An Anarcho-Indigenous Dialogue Towards a Democracy of Species," Anarchist Studies 33, no. 2 (2025): 6-49 (doi.org/10.3898/AS.33.2.01) and "Constitutional Dictatorship and Enemies Within: A Constitutional and Historical Analysis of the Alien and Sedition Acts from John Adams to Donald Trump," Journal of International Relations, Peace Studies, and Development 10, no. 1 (2025): 1-60 (https://scholarworks.arcadia.edu/agsjournal/vol10/iss1/4/).

Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Bluesky @anarchismresgroup.bsky.social

Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns).

Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Livia K. Stone discusses the origins of the concept of autogestion/self-management, generally associated with anarcho-syndicalism. Often described as emerging from Yugoslavia in the 1950s, Stone argues that the origins of the term actually lie in the Algerian independence movement in the 1960s and represented a defining shift in twentieth century social movements.

Livia K. Stone is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Illinois State University. She is the author of Atenco Lives!: Filmmaking and Popular Struggle in Mexico (2019), and "Autogestion: Correcting the History of Self-Management" (2024)

Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Bluesky @anarchismresgroup.bsky.social

Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns).

Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Juan Carlos Mijangos Noh reflects on an experience of creating a microcosm of an anarchist community in a Yucatecan Maya Village in Mexico. The experience involved women students trained in a neoliberal university who, despite that, were able to perform in an anarchistic fashion.

Juan Carlos Mijangos Noh is a full professor at the Autonomous University of Yucatan, Mexico. His most recent publications are: Creating an Anarchist Community: How can Students from a Neoliberal University Participate?, published by Anarchist Studies (https://journals.lwbooks.co.uk/anarchiststudies/vol-33-issue-2/); and The Canicab Charter: A Mayan Model for Data Governance, published by the International Council of Media Literacy (https://ic4ml.org/journal-article/the-canicab-charter-a-mayan-model-for-data-governance/).

A longer version of this article appeared in Anarchist Studies 33.2 (2025).

For a version of this podcast in Spanish, fast forward to 15.34

Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Bluesky @anarchismresgroup.bsky.social

Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns).

Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Jason Garner, looks at the debate between anarchists in countries on both side of the Atlantic about the need, or not, to revise anarchist tactics in the light of the end of the postwar revolutionary wave in 1923. This is part of an overall project on “Reformism and Cooperation in interwar anarchism. National and transnational debates in a context of decline”.

Jason Garner, former lecturer and teacher in Contemporary and Argentine history though presently freelance historian relocatied to Europe. External member of Gesraiot, Grupo de Estudios sobre Representaciones y Acciones de las Izquierdas y Organizaciones de Trabajadores, IIDyPCa, Rio Negro National University (Argentina).

Recent publications:

Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Bluesky @anarchismresgroup.bsky.social

Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns).

Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Steve Emery and Dai O'Brien discuss the life and politics of a deaf anarchist communist, Leonard A. Motler. Steve and Dai explain his significance to both the anarchist movement in the UK as a visibly deaf signing person and to the deaf community as an openly anarchist radical. A longer version of this article appeared in Anarchist Studies 33:1 (2025). This episode is read by Isobel van Hagen.

Steve Emery is a freelance writer and researcher in the field of Deaf Studies and works as a project manager at the University of Surrey. His most recent publications are: O’Brien, D. and Emery, S. (2025). L.A. Motler: a Deaf Anarchist. Anarchist Studies 33(1) DOI:10.3898/AS.33.1.02X and Emery, S. D., and Iyer, S. (2024). Deaf Migrants in London in Kusters, AMJ, Moriarty, E, le Maire, A, Iyer, S & Emery, S (2024). Deaf Mobility Studies: Exploring International Networks, Tourism, and Migration. Washington DC: Gallaudet University Press, 91-117. DOI:10.1111/jola.70013. <https://gallaudetupress.manifoldapp.org/projects/deaf-mobility-studies>

Isobel van Hagen is a PhD candidate in politics and philosophy at Loughborough University. 

In this essay, Alexandria H., Juan Verala Luz, and Charles W. draw distinctions and connections between two important aspects of social movements: organizing and mutual aid. They argue that practicing mutual aid inside organizing campaigns and the mass organizations that sustain them can prefigure the kinds of social relationships that will truly liberate us.

Full text of the article can be found at: https://www.blackrosefed.org/survival-organized-mutual-aid-2025/

Alexandria H., Juan Verala Luz, and Charles W. are members of Black Rose Anarchist Federation / Federación Anarquista Rosa Negra. You can read more about how they build popular power alongside their coworkers and neighbours at blackrosefed.org.

Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Bluesky @anarchismresgroup.bsky.social

Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns).

Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Josie Holland breaks down key characteristics of queer anarchism and its connection to anarchist principles of prefiguration and revolutionary desire. They conclude with an invitation to develop a critical utopian impulse through anarchist practices more generally. 

Josie Holland is a doctoral student in the English Department at the University of California, Riverside. Their most recent publication is "Leading Towards the Queerest Insurrection: Queer Anarchism and Leadership Studies," available in The Interdisciplinary Journal of Leadership Studies. They also have forthcoming reviews in Extrapolation and Science Fiction Film and Television.

Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Bluesky @anarchismresgroup.bsky.social

Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns).

Artwork by Sam G.

In this reading from Tolstoy’s Search for the Kingdom of God: Gender and Queer Anarchism (2025), Javier Sethness Castro reflects on Leo Tolstoy and the Russo-Ukrainian War. While praising the relevance of Tolstoy’s anti-militarist principles in light of this ongoing conflict, the author also considers not only Tolstoy’s contradictions as a Russian chauvinist, but also the Putin regime’s utilization of his fame to legitimize its genocidal war.

Javier Sethness Castro is a primary-care provider, libertarian socialist, and author or editor of six books, including Queer Tolstoy: A Psychobiography (2023).

Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Bluesky @anarchismresgroup.bsky.social

Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns).

Artwork by Sam G.

In this essay, Theresa Warburton talks about the power of story for building a place-based method in anarchist organizing. Building on their own experiences and the works of Indigenous scholars, Warburton asks how anarchists can make space for the past, present, and future in the work we do together.

Theresa Warburton is an educator and organizer living in Washington State. Their most recent publications are Other Worlds Here: Honoring Indigenous Women's Writing in Contemporary Anarchist Movements and, with Elissa Washuta, Shapes of Native Nonfiction: Collected Essays by Contemporary Writers. She serves on the board of the Institute for Anarchist Studies and the editorial collective for Perspectives on Anarchist Theory.

Anarchist Essays is brought to you by Loughborough University's Anarchism Research Group and the journal Anarchist Studies. Follow us on Bluesky @anarchismresgroup.bsky.social

Our music comes from Them'uns (featuring Yous'uns).

Artwork by Sam G.