In this episode of Conversations on Anarres, we talk with Dr. Helen De Cruz about science fiction, the radical imagination and the power of art to express philosophy.  

She is a philosopher, science fiction/fantasy author, and artist.  Currently, she is the Danforth Chair of Philosophy and Humanities at St. Louis University where she teaches philosophy of religion, experimental philosophy, and philosophy of mind.  

In our interview, we begin by talking about the work she did in the volume "Philosophy Through Science Fiction"--thinking about science fiction as one way to express philosophical wisdom.  We then talk about her new book, "Philosophy Illustrated", which presents a variety of classic philosophical thought experiments along with illustrations done by her.

(cover art is from the illustration of the Original Position. Used by permission of the author)

In this episode of Conversations on Anarres, we sat down with Chuck Morse and Lara Messersmith-Glavin to talk about the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Institute for Anarchist Studies.  The IAS operates as a nonprofit organization that funds artists, writers and organizers to produce materials that explore anarchism as a social and political ideal.    

Chuck Morse founded the Institute for Anarchist Studies in 1996.  His goal was to establish an anarchist think tank, an intellectual hub in which anarchist analyses of the world could be produced and disseminated.  Chuck is a movement author, writing extensively about his formative experiences at the Institute for Social Ecology with Murray Bookchin.  He has translated the classic biography of Buenaventura Durruti: “Durruti in the Spanish Revolution" (AK Press 2007) and "Paradoxes of Utopia:  Anarchist Culture and Politics in Buenos Aires 1889-1910" (AK Press 2010).

Lara Messersmith Glavin is an activist/organizer and current Board member of the Institute for Anarchist Studies.  She has been with the organization for over 10 years and has helped to edit some important collections including "Angels with Dirty Faces", by Walidah Imarisha and "Life During Wartime, Resisting Counterinsurgency".  She regularly teaches reading and writing classes at a community college in Portland, Oregon. Her forthcoming book is "Spirit Things"- a collection of reflections on growing up in Alaska.  For more information about the Institute for Anarchist Studies, check here.

In this episode of Conversations on Anarres, we talk with Dr. Amelia M. Wirts who teaches philosophy at the University of Washington.  

In addition to being a philosopher, she is also a J.D., and has experience as a judicial clerk.  We talk about her research into the idea of police as a kind of systemic oppression in the United States.  Wirts examines different perspectives that try to explain police brutality as the result of a few bad individuals within police forces, or as a problem that can be reformed with a few policy changes.  Instead, she suggests that the mission of police forces in the United States is the problem and that we need to consider seriously the voice of activists calling for defunding and abolition.  You can read Dr. Wirts' argument from the APA Blog here.

On this episode of Conversations on Anarres, we talked with Dr. Randall Milstein. He is the Astronomer in Residence for Oregon’s NASA space Grant consortium, housed at Oregon State University.  He is not a NASA employee, but he works regularly to further NASA’s mission.  

We sat down to talk to him about whether there are any benefits to humanity from the billionaire space race.  Dr. Milstein believes there are some pure scientific benefits that can come from this—though he acknowledges the criticisms that say if these billionaires wanted to spend more money to alleviate problems on earth they certainly have enough money to do so as well as fund space travel.  He doesn’t see it as an either or, and in fact, we talk about what benefits space science has for bettering life on earth.  We also talk about the difference between space exploration and space colonization and here Dr. Milstein thinks that the aspirations for living in space need to be tempered by some reality.  There is no planet B and the hope to escaping a dying planet are pure science fiction fantasy.  So how can we continue to think about space science while acknowledging the very real problems of a deeply inequitable and unjust world?

Star Trek has always portrayed science and technology as positive tools for human progress, contrary to the way they are depicted in many modern science fiction stories.  We're more likely to see technology creating a dystopia in many contemporary films or TV series.  But we also live in an era in which many people are now skeptical of scientific developments and of scientists.  So why does the way that Star Trek portray science matter today?  

In this episode of TrekWars@OSU, Anarres Project co-director Dr. Joseph Orosco interviews Dr. Mohamed Noor.  Dr. Noor is a Professor of Biology at Duke University and uses Star Trek to teach science.  He is the author of "Live Long and Evolve: What Star Trek Can Teach Us About Evolution, Genetics and Life on Other Worlds."  Noor also hosts a popular YouTube series "BioTrekkie Explains" and regularly speaks at Star Trek conventions and comic cons.    

Orosco and Noor talk about way why Star Trek is useful for teaching science, but also what Star Trek says about human beings and their relationship to science and technology that is important for thinking about progress and the transformation of society for the better.

The political economy of the Star Trek Universe is obviously very different from our current capitalist, free market system.  Is it a communist Utopia? Is the world of the Federation a fantasy or a realistic goal for human beings to work toward building?   

In this episode of TrekWars@OSU, Anarres Project co-director Dr. Joseph Orosco talks with Will Nguyen, the Star Trek Communist, who is both a Star Trek fan and a socialist organizer.  We examine how Will uses the Star Trek Universe as a way to talk to people about the possibilities of socialist politics, and to imagine a future for humanity in which poverty, inequality, and want have been eradicated.  We will also discuss the limitations of the Star Trek universe for informing a radical politics.    

For more information on Will's work, you can find him on Twitter as the Star Trek Communist.  

His political organizations are: the US section of the International Marxist Tendency (IMT): www.socialistrevolution.org 

International website of the IMT: www.marxist.com.

In this episode of Conversations on Anarres, we sat down with dancer and filmmaker Shane Scopatz to talk about his new work "Steps and Strikes".  Shane is a recent graduate of the Master’s Program in Environmental Humanities at Oregon State University. His film hopes to address the provocative question: Why did the environmental movement fail to protect us from ecological crisis?

We sat down with Shane to discuss his answer to this question. We talk about the way in which global capitalism has dispossessed billions of people and created the conditions for climate catastrophe. But we also talk about the ways in which people resist--using the labor movement to build organized people power against corporate control of the environment. The big issue today is: How do we bridge the labor movement and the environmental movement?

An answer to this involves the way Shane has chosen to resist:  that involves dance. Invoking the legacy of a radical dance movement from the 1930s, the Worker’s Dance League, Shane has decided to explore how dance can be a way to expand the radical imagination and get us to think about the ways to build connection between social movements. Art in general, but dance in particular can help to develop emotions like joy and ecstasy and sustain a guiding vision toward a more collective, just, ecologically attuned future.

Please check out Shane's film here.

In this episode of Conversations on Anarres, Dr. Joseph Orosco talks with Fiadh, the organizer of The People's Library ABQ, a radical lending library in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The library's growing collection contains radical history and theory, available for free to whomever wants it.  The People’s Library ABQ describes itself as “a community project of leftist theory anarchist history and radial education.  We have books about queer, feminist, antiracist theory, indigenous resistance, transformative justice, philosophy and revolutionary thought”.  

The People's Library of ABQ's collection of books, e-books, and zines can be browsed here:  https://radicalbooksabq.libib.com/ 

For more information about the project and how to support it, contact:  [email protected]  

Is the Federation in Star Trek really an empire any different from the Klingons, Romulans, or even the Mirror Universe Terran Empire?  

As part of TrekWars@OSU, Anarres Project co-director Dr. Joseph Orosco interviews Dr. Leigh McKagan, who teaches history at Virginia Tech University.  Dr. McKagan completed her dissertation examining the ways in which ST: Voyager repeats certain elements of classic European imperial narratives.  We talk about how Star Trek may keep alive ideas, such as linear progress and the hero's journey, that maintain empire as a political and social system, and how Star Trek may also resist imperial ideology.    

For more information on the Anarres Project for Alternative Futures, check us out on all the socials.

Over the past few months, about a dozen states with Republican majority legislatures have passed laws banning the teaching of Critical Race Theory in public schools.  Anarres Project co-director Dr. Joseph Orosco talked with Dr. Mark Naison to help us unpack what is going on with some of these bans.  

Mark Naison is Professor of History and African American Studies at Fordham University in New York.  His many books and articles cover African American polics, labor history, popular culture, and educational policy.  He is also the founder of the Bronx African American History Project and he is frequent commentator on CNN, Fox, O’Reilly Factor, and Chappelle's Show.    He has written a statement decrying these bans and talks about how we should approach the teaching of race in the US—advising us to focus both on the horrors of white supremacy but also the bravery and joy of communities of color resisting and struggling for human dignity.

For more about the Anarres Project, find us on all our socials.