The Anarchist Roots of Geography: Toward Spatial Emancipation

241 Pages·2016·5.74 MB·English

by  Simon Springer

T H E
A N A R C H I S T
R O O T S
O F
G E O G R A P H Y
T O W A R D S P A T I A L
E M A N C I P A T I O N

S I M O N S P R I N G E R
The AnArchisT rooTs of GeoGrAphy

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The Anarchist roots
of Geography
TowArd spATiAl emAncipATion
simon springer

UniversiTy of minnesoTA press
minneapolis · london

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An earlier version of chapter 1 was published as “Anarchism and Geography:
A Brief Genealogy of Anarchist Geographies,” Geography Compass 7, no. 1
(2012): 46– 60. An earlier version of chapter 2 was published as “Anarchism!
What Geography Still Ought to Be,” Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography
44, no. 5 (2012): 1605– 24. Chapter 3 previously appeared as “Why a Radical
Geography Must Be Anarchist,” Dialogues in Human Geography 4, no. 3 (2014):
249– 70; doi:10.1177/2043820614540851. Portions of chapter 4 were published as
“Public Space as Emancipation: Meditations on Anarchism, Radical Democracy,
Neoliberalism, and Violence,” Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography 43, no. 2
(2011): 525– 62. Portions of chapter 5 were published as “War and Pieces,” Space
and Polity 18, no. 1 (2014): 85– 96. An earlier version of chapter 6 was published
as “Human Geography without Hierarchy,” Progress in Human Geography 38, no. 3
(2014): 402– 19; doi:10.1177/0309132513508208.
Copyright 2016 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press
111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290
Minneapolis, MN 55401- 2520
http://www.upress.umn.edu
Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper
The University of Minnesota is an equal- opportunity educator and employer.
21 20 19 18 17 16 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Springer, Simon, author.
Title: The anarchist roots of geography : toward spatial emancipation /
Simon Springer.
Description: Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, 2016. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015036892 | ISBN 978-0-8166-9772-4 (hc) |
ISBN 978-0-8166-9773-1 (pb)
Subjects: LCSH: Human geography—Political aspects. | Anarchism. |
Globalization—Political aspects.
Classification: LCC GF50 .S67 2016 | DDC 304.2—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015036892

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For Marni
beauty came to me in the form of your love

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The old order, supported by the police, the magistrates, the
gendarmes and the soldiers, appeared unshakable, like the old
fortress of the Bastille, which also appeared impregnable to the
eyes of the unarmed people gathered beneath its high walls
equipped with loaded cannon. But soon it became apparent
that the established order has not the force one had supposed.
One courageous act has sufficed to upset in a few days the
entire governmental machinery, to make the colossus tremble.
—p eter Kropotkin, The Spirit of Revolt

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contents
Introduction. Becoming Beautiful:
To Make the Colossus Tremble 1
1. A Brief Genealogy of Anarchist Geographies 25
2. What Geography Still Ought to Be 43
3. Returning to Geography’s Radical Roots 65
4. Emancipatory Space 97
5. Integral Anarchism 131
6. The Anarchist Horizon 155
Acknowledgments 179
Notes 181
Bibliography 185
Index 219

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