Nissan Seminar: Anarchist Association: Knowledge, Language, and the History of the Modern World

Convener(s): Roger Goodman and Yosuke Buchmeier

Speaker(s): Robert Kramm (LMU Munich)

This seminar analyzes the idea of association as developed among anarchists in imperial Japan during the early twentieth century. In doing so, it proposes anarchist association as both subject and analytical lens to develop a critical approach in global history. It emphasizes viewing the modern world from peripheral positions as well as acknowledging the concept of association as both a socio-political practice and a methodological tool, thus using anarchist traditions to uncover and integrate overlooked actors, archives, and epistemologies. Ultimately, it argues that anarchist association offers a horizon of possibilities for a non-hierarchical, anti-authoritarian, and decentred history of the modern world.