Organizer Report-back from the Inaugural North American Studies Network Conference

Jesse Cohn, Luis Fernandez, Nathan Jun, Deric Shannon, Abbey Willis

November 21st and 22nd marked the dates of the Inaugural North American Anarchist Studies Network Conference in Hartford, Connecticut. We came together to organize this conference in order to begin the development of this larger project–the network–which we hope will serve as a space for the development of intellectual work on and within anarchism. Further, in the organizing committee, the conference, and the network we have consciously included academics as well as grassroots scholars. As anarchists, we feel that academic institutions should not have a privileged role in the production of knowledge and hope that the network can serve as a point of rupture with the notion that intellectual work is limited to academic institutions.

The conference drew around 300-350 participants over the course of the two days of the conference. The numbers of panels, workshops, and paper presentations were well beyond our expectations and this cannot be stressed enough in conference attendance (we expected somewhere between 80-120 people). Since the conference, through the email list, we have seen the development of two working groups: one centered around anarchist cultural studies and another on archiving anarchist work. The website for the network is being developed through the current blog site and members of the network have started an initiative for popular education (to be announced).

It was decided in the session for network development that the conference site and organizers would rotate from year to year. This report back, then, is the conference organizers’ attempt to reflect on some of the successes and failures of the initial conference. It is our hope that this can be of use to future conference organizers, as well as be an item of interest for people who could not attend the conference but might want to read about its internal workings and the way things played out on the ground. As anarchists, we believe in a self-reflexive process that requires thinking about what we’ve done, how we’ve done it, why we’ve done it, and how it manifests itself “on the ground” in order to refine our theory and improve our practice (forming that nexus often referred to as “praxis”). What follows, then, are some of our reflections on the conference (in no particular order):

1. First and foremost, to have a “North American” network, we need to include Mexico. Due to a lack of resources and time, the organizing committee was not able to get translators for talks (neither French nor Spanish). Further, we could have reached out to folks in Mexico to join us. In the future, we would all like to see the network be more inclusive in this regard, though representation from the US and Canada was fairly good.

2. Similarly, along these lines, the conference should have been much more racially diverse. Anarchist conferences are often white-dominated spaces, and this conference was no exception. Reflecting on our process, we believe that we could expand future calls for papers/workshops/etc. in ways that address this issue. We might, for example, include within the call suggestions for topics of relevance to communities of color. We could also place the call in places outside of commonly-known “anarchist” spaces, used as hubs by scholars of color–both grassroots and “academics” (and those that blur the lines between the two). This was despite one excellent panel organized on anarchist perspectives on environmental justice, which was well organized and well received at the conference.

3. The conference ran well, in part, because of strict time limits and principled debate. We would encourage future organizers to stress an open intellectual environment, open to debate, but free of personal attacks and ad hominem. Further, strict time limits allowed the conference to be accessible to people with constraints on their time in ways that many anarchist events, unfortunately, do not.

4. That said, some of the panels (particularly the “What is Anarchist Studies?” panel) meandered from their stated purpose and, at times, the time limits did seem to be too tight. Better moderation and a larger time allotment for some discussions might address this.

5. Stressing an informal presentation environment and not just reading papers fostered good discussions all around. It also made the presentations more engaging than simple paper-reading sessions.

6. There was a lot of energy in the space, as well, which also contributed to a high level of discussion at times.

7. There was too much concentration of organizer duties in this conference. Most of the planning and structuring were done by Abbey and Deric, due to the fact that they lived near the conference space and knew it well. This led to a process that was less participatory than desired and could be addressed by having the organizing committee all local to the area where the conference is being held. This is not to erase the efforts of the other organizers, all of which had a hand in fashioning this event.

8. In the future, it might make sense to provide space for unplanned “guerilla” sessions. This would allow necessary discussions to continue that are cut off due to time constraints. It would also allow space for presentations that might not have made deadlines or concerns that come out of specific sessions.

9. The network development discussion should have taken place much earlier in the conference instead of being tacked on at the end. This led to less people participating due to other obligations. As well, the session could have been moderated better, in addition to the break out sessions that followed.

10. The constant university-affiliation identification made breaking down the divide between professional academics and grassroots scholars problematic. Nevertheless, discussions around the nature of the Academy in anarchist work are necessary in a space like this. This is a tension we are unsure how to address.

11. With some of the occupations and exciting student activism taking place in university campuses in North America, we would like to see a greater degree of student involvement in the network and conference planning. The organizing committee this year consisted of three professors, one graduate student, and one working member (a secretary for a non-profit). This could be further diversified in the future to facilitate the involvement of students–especially undergraduates–and, as we’ve mentioned before, folks who are not connected to the Academy.

12. The play (a local group did a production of Howard Zinn’s “Emma”) and movie were good breaks in discussion at night. We would encourage future organizers to include an element of cultural production and entertainment in their conference.

13. In the future, a space at conferences for report backs might be helpful in facilitating project development for the network.

This network was initially inspired by the Anarchist Studies Network in Britain, though it is being developed independently of it. We hope to be able to work together on future endeavors. Likewise, we hope that the network will continue to work collectively on the development of network projects based on affinity and desire. We have seen the start of this in the creation of the various working groups, and hope that this trend can provide some use for the creation of a new world free of domination. Likewise, we hope this brief report will be helpful for future organizing committees for the annual conference.

If anyone would like to be added to the NAASN listserv, to participate in discussions, working groups, propose shared projects, or just hear about what we’re up to, please email Abbey with your requests (abbeydotcom@gmail.com).

Yours in struggle,

Jesse Cohn
Luis Fernandez
Nathan Jun
Deric Shannon
Abbey Willis

http://www.youtube.com/user/Chomskyan

http://authoritysmashers.wordpress.com

SATURDAY, November 21st

8:30am–Doors open

9am–Opening Talk in Space1: “Anarchism and Anarchy: a historical perspective” Barry Pateman

10-11:15–Block A

Space1: Panel “Anarchism and Philosophy”–Nathan Jun, Jesse Cohn, Mitch Verter, Moderator–Matt Mclaughlin

Space2: Report back from the Anti-Authoritarian Movement in Greece–Andrej Grubacic and Chris Spannos

11:15-11:30–Break

11:30-12:45–Block B

Space1: Panel “Challenging Anarchist Perspectives on Environmental Justice”– Senia Barragan, Gina Rodríguez-Drix, Julian Rodríguez-Drix, Members from Toxic Soil Busters and Youth in Charge, Stina Soderling

Space2: Workshop “Queering Anarchism”–Jason Lydon, Jerimarie Liesegang, Abbey Willis, and others

Space3: Paper Presentations–Religion and Anarchism:
A. “Anarca-Islam”–Mohamed Jean Veneuse
B. “Red Emma, Judaism, and Anarchism”–Donna Berman
C. “Anarchisms, Religious Studies, and Sociology”–Christian Greer
Moderator: Jesse Cohn

12:45- 1:45: Lunch (Lunch Provided by NAASN Organizing Committee)

1:45-3–Block C

Space1: Panel “What is Anarchist Studies?”–Luis Fernandez, Cindy Milstein, Deric Shannon, Nathan Jun (discussant)
Moderator: Geert Dhondt

Space2: “Another way of researching is possible: Collective participatory action-research in Montreal anti-authoritarian organizing networks.”— CRAC (Collective de recherche sur l’autonomie collectif)
Moderator: Matt Mclaughlin

3-3:15–Break

3:15-4:30–Block D

Space1: Panel “Anarchist(s) (in) Political Organizations”–Members of Bring the Ruckus, Worker’s Solidarity Alliance (WSA), Northeast Federation of Anarchist Communists (NEFAC), Boston Anarchist Black Cross, Boston Anti-Authoritarian Movement (BAAM), Northeast Anarchist Network (NEAN), and Four Star Anarchist Organization
Moderator: Luis Fernandez

Space2: Paper Presentations–Brownbag Session 1:
A. “On the Road Against”—Lynn Owens
B. “French Anarchism and the National Liberation Revolution in Algeria”—David Porter
C. “Teaching About Anarchism Outside of Political Theory Courses”—Jon Bekken
D. “Confessions of a “Zig-Zag” (impure, unorthodox) Anarchist”—Len Krimerman
Moderator: Matt Mclaughlin

Space3: Paper Presentations: Anarchist Historical Investigations:
A. “The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia”—Jim Scott
B. “Hidden Histories and Material Culture”—Andrew Hoyt
C. “An overview of American anarchism in the first half of the nineteenth century”—Crispin Sartwell
D. “Peruvian Anarchism, 1890-1930: Transnational and Translocal Perspectives”– Steven Hirsch
Moderator: Jesse Cohn

4:30-5–Social and clean up

7pm: Production of “Emma”, a play by Howard Zinn about the life of Emma Goldman

9:30-????: Light social/”Emma” afterparty

Sunday, November 22nd

9:30am Doors open

10-11:15 Block E

Space1: Panel “An ethics of affinity and aversion: friendship, trauma, and ‘unbridgeable chasms’”– Mohamed Jean Veneuse, Jobb Arnold, Karl Hardy
Moderator: Luis Fernandez

Space2: Paper Presentations–Anarchism, Women, and Feminism:
A. “Riot Grrrls: A Study in Subverting Both the Imperialistic State and Patriarchy” –-Virginia Howard
B. “Against Patriarchy, Toward Freedom: Undocumented Women and the Struggle to Redefine the Family”– katie fahrenbruch
C. “Social Space in the Late 19th and early 20th Centuries, Anarchism, and Women”– Faron Levesque
Moderator: Abbey Willis

Space3: Paper Presentations: Theoretical Explorations 1:
A. “The Modesty of Anarchy: The Tried, Tested, True Politics of Revolutionary Anarchism”—Jasmin Mujanovic
B. “‘Daily Acts of Life’: Pacifism, Poetry, and the New Anarchism, 1940-1954″—Andrew Cornell
C. “’Les Aspirations de la Masse’: Individualism and Collectivism in the Aesthetic Philosophy of Gerard de Lacaze-Duthiers”—Joseph Peterson
Moderator: Paul Comeau

11:15-11:30 Break

11:30-12:45 Block F

Space1: Paper Presentations–Anarchist Method and Practice:
A. “Dismantling and Not Doing. The state as social practice and how to do something else instead”—Eric Buck
B. “Anarchist Malpractice”–Howard Ehrlich
C. “More than Snapshots: Challenging the Metanarrative of War Through the Photography of Veterans”–Brianna Johnson
Moderator: Nathan Jun

Space2: Panel “An Economy of Sustainability: Anarchist Economics”–John Asimakopoulos, Chris Spannos, Deric Shannon, Joshua Stephens, Caroline Kaltefleiter
Moderator: Anthony Nocella

Space3: Paper Presentations– Brownbag Session 2:
A. “Potsherds, Paving Stones, and Puppets: Towards an Anarchist Archaeology”—James Birmingham
B. “Paul Goodman: Finding an Audience for Anarchism”– Carissa Honeywell
C. “Narratives of Entrance into Anarcho-Punk in Philadelphia”–Ed Avery-Natale
Moderator: Matt McLaughlin

12-1 LUNCH

1-2:15 Block G

Space1: Panel “Visions of Post-anarchism”–Roger Farr, Michael Truscello, Thomas Nail
Moderator: Paul Comeau

Space2: Workshop “Disabling Capitalism”– Liat Ben-Moshe and Anthony Nocella

2:15-2:30 Break

2:30-4:30 Space 2: Developing the NAASN–This time will be used to connect with one another, develop shared projects, and to socialize informally and visit tables. Fifteen minutes will be taken to get proposals for shared projects in Space2. The remainder of the time will be used for people to get together and discuss how those projects might be developed.

4:30-5:30 Social and Clean up

7pm: Screening of the film, “Free Voice of Labor”, about early Jewish anarchism in the US

Greetings and welcome to our first update!

We want to announce some of the confirmed happenings at our inaugural conference, give the address and times of the event(s), as well as pass along some hotel information for people who need to arrange housing.

First and foremost, THANK YOU to everyone who submitted papers and/or panels for the conference. The response was overwhelming, to say the least. Right now, we have confirmed panels and workshops on:

-Anarchist Studies
-Anarchist(s) (in) Political Organizations
-Anarchism and Philosophy
-Challenging Anarchist Perspectives on Environmental Justice
-Collective participatory action-research
-”Unbridgeable Chasms”
-Postanarchism
-Queering Anarchism
-Anarchist Economics
-Anarchism and Religion

In addition to these, we have over thirty separate papers and short presentations to organize into brownbag sessions as best we can. Please be patient with us as we put the schedule together over the next week or two!

As well, Saturday night, a local ad hoc, radical theater troupe will be doing a production of “Emma”, the play by Howard Zinn about the life of Emma Goldman. This will be at the conference location at 7pm sharp, so expect the conference to run on time (and, likewise, expect panel and workshop moderators to be strict about time limits!). And on Sunday evening after the development of the network and associated projects (in which everyone is free to participate), we will be showing “The Free Voice of Labor”, a film about Jewish anarchism in the US.

We will be starting things off Saturday morning with a plenary talk by Barry Pateman at 9am, then moving through the conference schedule (which we’re still working out).

So, the hours for the conference are as follows:

November, 21st, Saturday: 9am-5pm
November 22nd, Sunday: 10am-5pm

The location of the conference is:

21 Charter Oak Ave.
Hartford, Connecticut

Vendors and tabling organizations are encouraged to be there one hour early to allow for set up time.

Again, conference attendance is free (though we will ask for donations to cover costs). And, importantly, this is NOT limited to professional scholars and the network is NOT intended to be a professional association of academics (though we hope for the involvement of academics!).

Please remember to leave organizational or individual disputes at home. This should be a safe space for free inquiry and dialogue, as free from sectarianism and personal attacks as we can make it.

Solidarity,

The Conference Organizers

Here is a brief list of hotels in the area and close to the conference site:

Days Inn Hartford–Brainard Road
Phone number: 860-247-3297
Aprox. rates: $70/night
Distance from conference: 2.7 miles

Marriott downtown
Phone number: 860-249-8000
Aprox. rates: $159/night
Distance from conference: .62 miles

Super 8 Hartford
Phone number: 860-246-8888
Aprox. rates: $40-80/night
Distance from conference: .8 miles

Hilton
Phone number: 860-728-5151
Aprox. rates: $109/night
Distance from conference: .8 miles

Crowne Plaza, Hartford Downtown
Phone number: 860-549-2400
Aprox. rates: $104/night
Distance from conference: .87 miles

This conference, then, is not only a place for us to discuss our research, dialogue with one another in panels, and educate ourselves through presentations. It is also a place for discussing the development and future course of the NAASN–so if you would like to be involved, please do so! As well, this provides us with a venue for discussing the role of the theoretician and the researcher in the larger project of dismantling capitalism, the state, and domination in all of its forms.



We are calling for papers, panels, and presentations to be given at the founding conference. Creativity in format and presentation is encouraged, as are submissions from people who may not currently have a university affiliation. As anarchists, we want to disrupt rather than perpetuate the lines drawn between the official academy and the production of knowledge. Papers, panels, and presentations should focus on work on anarchism or topics of interest to the anarchist milieu. Importantly, we see this as an occasion for dialoguing with one another to learn and grow, and would like to avoid sectarianism, personal attacks, and debating-to-win.



Please send proposals and/or abstracts with a brief bio to the conference organizers: Jesse Cohn, Luis Fernandez, Nathan Jun, Deric Shannon, and Abbey Willis at anarchiststudies@hotmail.com . Please keep descriptions and/or abstracts under 500 words. All proposals and abstracts are due by October 10, 2009. Likewise, vendors and organizations may email us at the above address to arrange for table space.



For a new world, free of institutionalized coercion and control! And for a present living and organizing in ways that embody that future as best we can!



The Organizers for the 1st North American Anarchist Studies Network Conference



For up-to-date information, please visit: http://naasn.wordpress.com