Undoing Human Supremacy: Anarchist Political Ecology in the Face of Anthroparchy

by Simon Springer (Editor), Jennifer Mateer University of British Columbia (Editor), Martin Locret-Collet University of Birmingham (Editor), Maleea Acker University of Victoria (Editor)

Overview

The Earth is in crisis. We know this. We have known this for a long time. In the throes of the unfolding nightmare we call “capitalism” it is not hard to see and hear the violence that is being enacted against the planet. If we are to move beyond the idea that humanity is tasked with expressing our dominion over nature and towards a renewed integral understanding of humanity as firmly located within the biosphere, as an anarchist political ecology demands, then we have to start interrogating the privileges, hierarchies, and human centric frames that guide our ways of knowing and being in the world.

This volume centers around the idea that anarchism, as a conceptual framework, encourages us to contend with the multiple lines of difference, the various iterations of privilege, and the manifold set of archies that undergird our understandings of the world, and crucially, our place within it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538161791
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	08/15/2023
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.02(w) x 9.08(h) x 0.77(d)

About the Author

Simon Springer is Professor of Human Geography, Head of Discipline for Geography and Environmental Studies, and Director of the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies at the University of Newcastle, Australia.

Jennifer Mateer is Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of British Columbia in the Department of Geography, while also lecturing in the Department of Geography at the University of Victoria, Canada.

Martin Locret-Collet is Postdoctoral Researcher at University of Birmingham and works as a Research Associate for the Liveable Cities Project.

Maleea Acker is Lecturer in the Department of Geography at the University of Victoria, Canada.

Table of Contents

Preface: An Anarchist Political Ecology, John P. Clark Introduction: The Political Ecology of Human Supremacy, Simon Springer, Jennifer Mateer, and Martin Locret-Collet Chapter 1. Animals in Anarchist Political Ecology, Friederike Schmitz Chapter 2. Political Ecology and Animal Liberation, Patrik Gažo Chapter 3. Anarchism, Feminism and Veganism: A Convergence of Struggles, Ophélie Véron and Richard J. White Chapter 4. Vegan Capitalism and Animal Sanctuaries on Stolen Land: Re-imagining Animal Liberation as an Anti-Colonial Praxis, Anonymous Chapter 5. Whose Environment? Epistemic-Political Disputes over a Concept and its Uses, Marcelo Lopes de Souza Chapter 6. A Future Eco-Anarchic Society and the Means to Achieving It, Shane McDonnell Chapter 7. Beyond the Anthropocene, Toward the Anarchocene? Notes on the Emergence of the Next Epoch, Randall Amster Chapter 8. Chtuluccene Compacts: An Anarchist Guide to Multispecies Troublemaking, Benjamin O’Heran Chapter 9. “Street Dogs” of Istanbul: An Exemplary Case for the Construction and Contestation of Human Domination over Urban Animals, Ali Bilgin and Kiraz Özdoğan Chapter 10. Total Liberation Ecology: Integral Anarchism, Anthroparchy, and the Violence of Indifference, Simon Springer

Editorial Reviews

Anarchist scholars, thinkers, and activists often focus on the state. Springer, Mateer, Locret-Collet, and Acker assemble works that challenge readers to recognize—and undo—the dominion all humans claim over Earth.... Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students and faculty. General readers.

Choice Reviews

Anarchist scholars, thinkers, and activists often focus on the state. Springer, Mateer, Locret-Collet, and Acker assemble works that challenge readers to recognize—and undo—the dominion all humans claim over Earth. Across ten essays, contributing authors explore the thought of Peter Kropotkin, Élisée Reclus, Murray Bookchin, and others to redress humanity's relationship with fellow species. Several notable themes emerge, including the inextricability of speciesism from other forms of oppression, the place of human supremacy in Marxist thought and its influence on the study of political ecology, and the power of naming in the stories people tell about the world and their place in it. Among contributions replete with these ideas and more, highlights include Randall Amster's provocative essay on the prospect of an "Anarchocene" epoch, Ali Bilgin and Kiraz Özdoğan's incisive and accessible account of human supremacy and the use of power in the lives of Istanbul's street dogs, and the concise primer in anarchist thought offered in the editors' introduction. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students and faculty. General readers.

Choice