Anarchy in America: From Haymarket to Black Lives Matter
AMST 255
Fall 2020 not offered
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Anarchism as a political philosophy and practice is an important but little-known aspect of American culture and society. This lecture/discussion course will introduce students to select aspects of anarchist political thought and praxis in the United States and the ways that anarchism has been represented positively, vilified, or dismissed. The class will have three parts: histories; philosophies and theories; and activism. In the history section, we will examine key events and periods from the late 19th century to the early 20th century, including the Haymarket affair; the plot to murder American industrialist Henry Clay Frick; the labor-organizing work of Lucy Parsons; the assassination of President William McKinley; the activism, incarceration, and eventual deportation of Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman; and the execution of Ferdinando Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. In the philosophy and theory segment, we will examine anarchist theory as radical critique and review various political traditions including individualist anarchism, socialist anarchism, anarcha-feminism, black anarchism, queer anarchism, indigenous influences and critiques, and other schools of thought. In the activism section, we will examine the diverse ways, including violent and nonviolent means, by which people mobilize and organize for political change through direct social and political action. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS AMST |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (AMST) |
Major Readings:
Required Texts
Colin Ward, ANARCHISM: A VERY SHORT INTRODUCTION
Cindy Milstein, ANARCHISM AND ITS ASPIRATIONS
Andrew Cornell, UNRULY EQUALITY: U.S. ANARCHISM IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Videos
This Is Anarchism (In 10 Minutes)
Anarchism in America: the American Anarchy Movement*
What Is Anarchism? Noam Chomsky on Capitalism, Socialism, Free Markets
The Sacco and Vanzetti Case
Haymarket Martyr ¿ Origin of International Workers Day
Impossibility Now: a trans* politics manifesto by Dean Spade
The course readings will also be from articles and book chapters, which will be available on the course Moodle.
The class will also be expected engage the audio archive of two anarchist radio programs, "Horizontal Power Hour," and "Anarchy on Air" - both produced int he studies of WESU, Middletown, CT.
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Examinations and Assignments:
Assignments include: regular Moodle posts on the assigned readings and radio episodes, separate Moodle assignments on select videos/films, as well as guest speakers and assigned events, two 5-page essays on assigned topics; a mid-term research proposal, and a final research project leading to a 14-16 page political pamphlet. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
This course will be reading and writing-intensive. |
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