Alexander Dunlap: ‘I don’t want your progress! It tries to kill … me!’ Decolonial encounters and the anarchist critique of civilization

Published in Globalizations, 2022.

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Abstract

Where are green anarchist and anti-civilization thoughts in academia? This article offers an encounter between green anarchism and decolonial theory to demonstrate its relevance as an action-oriented practice carried out across the world by groups or individuals rejecting domination and subjugation by state, capital, and other forms of power. This article begins with an anecdote to reveal weak points within academic decolonial theory, specifically readings of non-Western civilizations, political ambiguities, and corresponding engagements with the state–corporate nexus. Next, it revisits anti-civilizational anarchism, highlighting theoretical development, conflictive debates, and insights. The article concludes by encouraging anarchist decolonial perspectives that articulate permanent tensions against divisions of labour, hierarchies, statist-colonial organizational forms, and industrial/digital technologies. These mechanisms necessitate careful attention to avoid reproducing coloniality and extractivism under different names.

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Author

Alexander Antony Dunlap was Postdoctoral Fellow at Centre for Development and the Environment, 2019-2023.

Postdoctoral Fellow Alexander Dunlap
Postdoctoral Fellow Alexander Dunlap

 

Published June 3, 2022 11:46 AM - Last modified May 8, 2023 2:29 PM