Hi,

so lets start searching for some "living" society with no hierarchical structure, no formal authorities, no gender and age related inequality. Well, any suggestions?

By "living society" I mean some recent society now (in present), we can discuss examples from history later (like anarchist communes in Spanish civil war, Paris commune in 1871,...)

What about Kung Bushmen, Hadza, Mbuti, Piaroa, Trio, Batek, Chewong, East Semai, Palawan, Buid, Paliyan, Nayaka, Sama (Badjao), Inuit (East and Central)...for a start? they are or were until recently "living", very much so.

Thanks!

Kungs seems to be very inspiring for us because of the very small amount of time, which they spend working and getting food. And also because of other aspects like their way of labour division between men and women, altruistic reciprocity,etc (as far as my poor knowledge about them is correct and up to date). I have to admit I have no idea about their social organization. Is it an absolutely egalitarian society or are there also some chefs or "big persons"?. I suppose only the "activity leaders" which should maybe fit quite well into the anarchist term "delegated person".

And not at least, I have to admit that I m more an anarchist than a social anthropologist, so I need now to look on the societies you wrote.

Peter,

thank you for your comments and questions, but I don't want to start a discussion on egalitarian societies. Much has been written on that and there is no way we can start a useful exchange without a great deal of groundwork being done first. All I wanted to know is whether I could find other anthropologists having done research and possibly written and published on the subject of anthropology and anarchy, anthropology of anarchy, anarchist anthropology, or other variants of the same. If you are interested as an anarchist and/or anthropologist, may I suggest you look up my website. Your comments will be appreciated.

It is no so hard to find anarchist anthropologist, you only have to read the articles o books written by the so called Post-modernist.

Interesting really. In what way is postmodernism "anarchist" or proposing a theory of anarchy, or related to anarchist thinking, or advocating anarchistic ideas? Please enlighten me.

It is really interesting to know more on social anthropology and the human involvement in the governance process

They don´t believe in science or in truth or in meaning or in theory, among other things.

Well, then, what do they offer? in your opinion? Anarchist leaning anthropologists I know of, do believe in making sense of things, however partially. They are not self described postmodernists by a long way.

They offer you to work like an author of literature, writing or creating your experiences. Even if the meaning or truth is partially, I still belief in the anthropology as a "soft science".

I seem to agree with you. Social and cultural anthro is a scientific field inasmuch as it is based on observation, critical examination of facts, explicit conceptual construction, systematic cross-cultural comparison and self-examination. There is no experiment but observation (like other natural sciences), no proof but validation. Actually it is a lot of work with no absolute certainty. We do live in an imperfect world, not in postmodernist cuckoo land.

ok, I understand. anyway, thanks for the website.

You want to examine the problem of anarchism is more complicated and complex? Just come to Indonesia, you will gain more case examples. Starting from the problem of religion, culture and economy

Hi Charles

I am a retired prof but not retired anthropologist, with 47 years focus on Cree hunters of James Bay Quebec. I am now learning the anthropology of peace, via two groups. The Canadian Department of Peace Initiative, and Culture of Peace Hamilton. I recently gave a paper "Why we need a mythology of peace" that I would gladly share and discuss.

Richard "Dick" Preston

Hello Sir Charles, I am very much interested and keen to learn about these few aspects you mentioned. I would be great to share information with you.

Regards

hi, i´m searching more about anarchist anthropology, it´s my masters project here in mexico. i´m looking for a proposal for the power item since an anarchist view. i working the literature of Scott, Graeber, Barclay, Clastres, Morris, Roca, and others. i want to know more about this apassionate theme. please enlightme. excuse my english.

Dear Alberto: I strongly believe that "anarchist" anthropology is linked with the so called postmoder anthropology (James Clifford, the second Clifford Geertz, Renato Rosaldo, Michael Taussig, Stephen Tyler, George Marcus, among others.

Gustavo: no estoy de acuerdo. me parece que la propuesta de Greaber se aleja de los postmodernos en gran medida porque se leja de una visión academicista, y da cabida a una pocisión comprometida políticamente y con un sezgo de busqueda de posibles generalizaciones que orienten una teoría que aborde aquellas "entidades políticas que no son estado", una nueva teoría sobre el capital, la fetichización, el trabajo, el derecho a no trabajar; y por otra parte Scott le pone un acento fuerte en el procesualismo y construccionismo de las identidades étnicas y tribales en una relación vis-a-vis con el estado (o estados) y el capital. La antropología anarquista no se queda a nivel de la "trama de significaciones" sino que trata de desenredar, a lado de los sujetos investigados, nunca adelante o afuera, sino desde adentro, contribuyendo en su trabajo como un "don" no una prescripción. Espero tus comentarios acerca de estps dos autores, básicos para la discución. (lamento mi español, jejeje)

Estimado Alberto: en realidad no he leído ni a Graeber ni a Scott,por lo que me resultaría difícil hablar sobre ellos. En relación a los otros autores (a algunos de los cuales conozco personalmente),me parecen que podrían ser calificados de "anarquistas" en la medida en que: 1. Consideran que la antropología no es una actividad que busque el conocimiento o la comprensión,sino cierto esteticismo literario; 2. La verdad y la significación son inalcanzables; 3. El antropólogo o el investigador no es ya un autor; 4. Es imposible la formulación de una gran teoría y debemos contentarnos con los "microrrelatos"; "todo vale",como dijo Feyerabend (incluidos los libros de Castañeda con su Don Juan),entre otras cosas. Hay puntos en los que estos autores parecen tener razón, además para los estudiantes estos planteamientos resultan atractivos o tentadores. A mi me gusta,particularmente, su lucha contra cierto "establishment antropológico",aunque hay que decir que ellos mismos se han convertido en una suerte de "vanguardia" con reglas fijas y muy poco permeable. Yo confieso que,una vez que he renunciado al empirismo exotista imperante y también a este postmodernismo (aun reconociendo algunos de sus méritos), estoy más orientado hacia la búsqueda de un "soft program" para las ciencias sociales en general y,más particularmente, para la antropología. Un saludo fraternal.

• 1-5-11

• Muchas gracias por tu respuesta Gustavo.

Comentarios:

1-Estoy de acuerdo con tu caracterización de los llamados postmodernos en la antropología, pero su "anarquismo" , considero, puede ser un calificativo ocurrente o secundario más que operativo o central en su desarrollo teórico y metodológico. Ellos nunca asumen una posición anarquista o su desarrollo teórico o metodológico no afronta el tema del poder y la economía en relación intrínseca con la cultura, el estado y el capital, desde que consideran a los procesos de la cultura como primigenios y determinante a la cambiante situación socio-política, geográfica y biológica humana. En parte, sus reflexiones dan paso a la posibilidad de una propuesta anarquista, se inscriben en una crítica obvia de la posición de "institucionalización y profesionalización" pero no la nutren en rigor.

1a-Respecto a Feyeraband, su propuesta "anarquista" es más filosófica que metodológica y en especial respecto a la etnografía. El "método" anarquista que presupone deja de lado la acción política y su retroalimentación en el transcurso de la investigación; así como la posibilidad de buscar y revisar entre los trabajos etnográficos ciertas constantes que iluminen el transcurso político de los pueblos, grupos y asociaciones o movimientos que en términos culturales se enfrentan al capital y al estado. Por cierto, los trabajos de Castañeda no me gustan porque desinforman y trivializan las creencias de miles de personas hasta jugar y vivir de ellos.

2.-la propuestas anarquista busca ser antivanguardista (Graeber 2004). Hacer la antropología como "don".

3.- De acuerdo: búsqueda de un "programa suave", accesible, seductor, atractivo, familiar, etc agregaría yo. Operante para, primero, estudiantes de antropología, sociología, geografía, ciencias políticas, comunicaciones, derecho, economía, etc. que deseen participar con los actores colectivos que se desenvuelven dentro de conflictos actuales; y segundo, para estos mismos actores colectivos en la autoafirmación de su memoria de lucha y conformación antagónica, la búsqueda de sus posibilidades de éxito, las descripciones de sus movimientos tácticos y sus fortalezas ancladas en la cultura popular.

4.-Invitación de "entrarle"(diríamos acá en México) a Graeber y Scott:

James C. Scott: Yale, departamento de estudios agrarios del sudeste asiático. Entre su prolífica obra destaco por el momento:

Los dominados y el arte de la resistencia. Era , México, 2000.

The art of not being governed. The anarchist history of the uplands of the southeast asia. Yale, 2009.en línea

Seeing like state. ¿1997? se encuentra en línea.

David Graeber: Goldsmith School Londres. Uno de los más jovenes doctores en dar la catedra Malinowsky y con problemas políticos en estados unidos (jejeje):

Fragments of an anarchist anthropology. Paradgym 2004. en línea

Towardas an a value theory. en línea

espero tu opinión de estos autores.

salud y comunismo libertario!

fraterno saludo

Beto

look at the Edmund Leach work about highland Burma. There are the kachin groups gumlao-gumsa. Gumlao are the cultural features of egalitarian fashion and gumsa are authoritarian ways, both are like pendular in the develope of their activity.

Hi All,

I was absent from this site (that I started!) and was not aware of the exciting new messages and info posted by Richard, Gustavo, Alberto, Ricardo et al. Sorry. I just sent a message in response to Alberto's queries and hope this will rekindle the interest in our topic. However I don't see my message. It is somewhere in our cyberspace probably.

Richard's interest in peace anthropology is very close to the core of the matter. Bob Dentan sees peaceability as essential to anarchy. I have my doubts by I continue searching and I am a member of the Nonkilling Society. More later. Cheers,

Charles

Two quick comments on Alberto's link between anarchist anthro and postmodernism. The way I define anarchist anthro is somewhat the opposite of postmodernism. But we discussed that before.

As for Leach's PSHB of course the gumsa/gumlao, reminds one immediately of the hierarchy/anarchy binary and this is what it is most probably. Anarchic upland groups adopting a hierarchical style through the circulating connubium system and then rejecting it because their egalitarian bend does not enable them to sustain it.

Anyway, and this is Scott's merit to have shown it, upland areas are refuges and places where anarchy flourishes.

i agree with Charles, theres is not a lineal corespondance between anarchysm and anthropology at the level of the postmodern writers. there is a a lot of contact points in different discussions and controversies related with the political, economical and cultural anthropology or the classic ethnologuist, and by the time Graeber, Barklay, Morris, Roca, or Macdonald.

Hi charles...I am new to this network and feeling happy to join anthronians . i am about to complete my M PHIL in anthropology. I find myself interested in exploring the link between informal/customary laws and identity.it can be called something like "Sense of shared identity induced by customary laws and informal patterns of human organisation

Hi

charles

I am an Indian anthropologist who is trying to understand the definition of culture with the dimension of globalization and industrialization because the conventional definition of culture given by Taylor in his book Primitive culture in 1871 is no more significant............and it wants more dimension which will cover by your anarchist anthropology

Hi there Alok and Kamran,

Good to have you around. A couple quick thoughts in partial response to your interesting queries.

1. Identity. Always thought the term has been abused in modern anthropology, but anyway there is a very strong link between infromal rules of behavior and sense of personal and collective self. Think of etiquette for instance, or good manners, use of personal names, fashion, etc. etc.

2. Culture, another notion that we both need and are incapable of defining exactly. Just to be candid with you, when I was a student I always looked askance at the Brithish school's distinction between society and culture (society= hard rules, bottom line, basics, and culture=cosmetics, the dressing; whether you do or don't cover your head when entering a place of worship is cultural, whether you worship a supreme god in a special place is social). I have been drawn back to this distinction in later years. Looking at social versus gregarious/anarchic behavior I see variations in culture as secondary, optional, and more arbitrary than I saw them before.

Let'skeep looking

Charles

PS: Taylor's definition of culture is all-inclusive though:: “Culture, or civilization, taken in its broad, ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.”[7]

Well, I think the best way to know about anarchism is reading anarchism autors: you could try with Kropotkin or Ricardo Flores Magón. I Have some material if you want to...!

(-A-)

Muhingo Rweymamu

I am a journalist specializing in political journalism. Very much interested in dealing with anachism anthropology because this is the political order in Africa

Much interested myself in political order in Africa and anarchism, but must confess ignorance. Please say more and instruct me.

Charles

PS: of course you have heard about "Occupy Wall Street" movement. It is inspired by anarchist thinkers and one among them is a colleague and fellow anthropologist, His name is David Graeber.

David Graeber has put it correctly that anarchism is both idea and a project. It is a project of creating institutions of a new society within the old institution. One thing is that it should undermine the domination of existing system. In Africa, and in the Arab world, there are so many movements of the people coming out of dormination of the regimes. New societies are formed sometime within the system. There is a tug of war in my country Tanzania about the formation of a new constitution. The country is experiencing something new. The government is saying this, and the mass is saying the different thing. This is happening in Uganda were people have decided to opt going to work place by walking instead of taking public or private transport. Liby, Tunisia, Egypt, things errupted and I think we have a new system. I am not sure if I am getting right the concept of anarchism anthropology.

You are right. In my opinion the people's wish (and by people I mean almost anybody, here or elsewhere) is to live in a world where immediacy, peaceful and joyous living, sharing, moral commitment to concrete others, equality with deference, and personal autonomy prevail over rigid ranking,over wars and their imbecile ideology, over an exchange system wherein one is forever indebted, over containment in boxes (countries are such boxes), and over obedience to other people's will. These demands and wishes are at the heart of the human condition but are always at odds with the way mankind since the Neolithic (with a few tribal exceptions) has constructed its collective form of life. Whenever people start rebelling against unjust and oppressive political systems, their demands are inherently anarchic if not anarchist. So I see anarchism as the bottom line of any real aspiration for justice and peace. No wonder that Occupy Wall Street and Tahir Square are so close in spirit and so much the same thing. The financial thugs who create the conditions whereby families become homeless while they themselves become super-rich, or the dictators in Syria, Lybia and Tunisia who use the government bureaucracies and armies to enslave the people and indulge in immense luxury and absolute power, are all in the end the same kind of agents against whom the people battle. The extent to which the people involved in rebellion and resistance display incredible courage and bravery is proof of the profound human meaning of the anarchist idea and project and its impossible assimilation with a project of a ranked, unequal, purely market-oriented, consumerist, and warlike society.

Creo que somos muchos los interesados en el tema... quizás no sólo es una cuestión de anarquismo, un movimiento que hoy no se qué tiene de real, cuanto de observar los grupos libertarios y los movimientos sociales de carácter crítico.

Dear Charles M

I am Pakistani Sociologist. In my opinion, It is an idea to create institutions of a new society within the old institution. One thing is that it should undermine the domination of existing system.

Dr. Muhammad Farooq

http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/the-community-gardens-of-taipei/2010/12/04

Anarchist gardeners seem to act as micro-editors, parasites benefiting of the slow circles of the big-scale development. They occupy the not so sexy areas of the city and they jump in the more sleepy parts of the development cycle. For example – the developer buys a whole city block with originally many land-owners. The process is slow because he has to negotiate with all of them. While the process is dragging behind the urban farmers step in and start farming the area. The developer doesn’t want to cause any more fuss and let it happen. It takes 3-5 years before the developer has got all the area to his possession and those same years the site acts as the community garden. When the actual construction starts the gardeners have already occupied a next vacant spot in the city.

hi,

charles thanks for this discussion you started. I find this topic very interesting as an anthropologist, especially after the "Arab spring", european "Indignagos" and U.S. and global "occupy" movement. So, i just wanted to ask you if you can share with us some references on anarchist anthropology, i mean these you think are relevant.

Hi Pafsanias,

Good to hear from you. There are plenty of references in the articles that you can download from my website. https://sites.google.com/site/charlesjhmacdonaldssite/

Anarchist anthropology is still very much underdeveloped but it is taking off, and thanks to our friend David Graeber who has been publicized as an OWS theorist (see articles in the NY times and last issue of the New Yorker)

By the way, one of my articles, the Anthropology of Anarchy, has been translated into Greek and has been published by a Greek anarchist group, I forget their name but if you are interested I'll look for it.

Peace,

Charles

I'd second the recommendation to read David Graeber's work. Start with:

Graeber, David. Direct Action : An Ethnography. Edinburgh; Oakland: AK Press, 2009.

———. Fragments of An Anarchist Anthropology. Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press : Distributed by University of Chicago Press, 2004.

The later is particularly short and easy to read. It is available under a Creative Commons license and can be read in its entirety here:

http://www.prickly-paradigm.com/sites/default/files/Graeber_PPP_14_0.pdf

His staff page is here:

http://www.gold.ac.uk/anthropology/staff/d-graeber/

James C. Scott's recent work on the history of upland southeast asia is an interested and vaguely related attempt to do an 'anarchist history' of an 'anarchist people'. See his "The Art of Not Being Governed" for more.

Charles, Alex,

Thank you both. I know D. Graeber and i have checked some of his writings ("Direct action" is also available online) and i have been following the OWS. I found also the translation in greek of the "anthropology of anarchy".

By the way, my field is nicosia, cyprus and lately there was an interesting development, following the occupy movement some people from both sides of the island have started an Occupation of the Buffer zone in between of the two sides of the city, today they have the 2 months anniversary. You can check their facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/OccupyBufferZone

Thanks again

Check out Clay and Carole Robarchek's work with the Waorani of Ecuador. The book is called "Waorani: the Contexts of Violence and War."

The had at one point and may still have an acephalous sociiety--no government period. Everyone was equal or should be equal in all things dependent on their own ability to acquire possessions. It's a wonderful book.

The works of Famous English political thinker Son-Father duo James Mill and Jhon Suart Mill are founder of Individualism. Who termed the state a necessary evil. You can find lots of information regarding them on net..

Dear Charles, if you could use ethnography method by referring to certain country, you will find out the data is sourceful and fruitful. I am the anthropology of religion aka ethnography of Chinese Culture in Chinese Community. Cheer.

Anarchism is an inherent quality of human being and he never wants to regulate himself with rules and regulation ..so when we talk about anarchism , we should examine the evolution of man culturally where man traveled from anarchism to civilization and it will make a complete picture of man under anarchism

In Gujarat in the Districts of Tapi, The Dangs and Valsad among the Tribal there is group which is called the Sat-pathi, follow Anarchism and they do not believe in any government, its control or law. They do not believe that the natural resources of forest can be governed and can be kept out of their reach. So they hunt and cut trees at their will. The always come in confrontation with forest guards.

They are wild also and do not other tribal fellows to follow their ideology. Sometimes, Forest officials too are found afraid of entering into the areas under their hold.

Though they are neither terrorist nor Naxalite nor Maoists.

It was because a Saint who preached Anarchism as a religious sermon.

Extremely interesting. Any literature on them?

Very interesting discussion and some very good points have been made. I would shift the discussion to another dimension which is at the cutting edge, I feel, of cultural studies -- using the Taylor definition. This is the study of artificial life and "swarming" behavior.e.g. Levy http://www.amazon.com/Artificial-Life-Frontier-Computers-Biology/dp/0679743898/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326382091&sr=1-1. Anarchy is the absence of formal rules of interaction but more than the causal association a like kinds (e.g. crowds). It is an emergent form of collective association around a purpose that may transcend into a society made up of formal statuses and roles. It can also be the residual form of purposeful association when the formal structure collapses.

Artificial life studies point to a natural process, not full understood, where by units aggregate and form larger units. From an anthropological perspective, I feel, this opens up an opportunity for modelling and experimenting with "social" and "cultural" variable. Such modelling might help us to understand the developmental process that lead from a "crowd" to an empire and back. Shared Purpose seems to be key variable in this process as has been pointed out in references to the Tea Party in the USA, the Occupy Movement, and the Arab Spring. Other areas for studying the process, and I believe it must be studied as a process, not a structural state of being, is the birth of a business, a corporation, or a social movement. These begin with an idea that sets a purpose for an individual or small group. If the idea is worthwhile it proves itself for the founders. The next step is to recruit followers or converts to the idea and it becomes a cause. Then there is the selling of the idea to the population as a whole (commercialization in business terminology). At this stage, formal structures emerge and you have a business, a corporation, or a professional bureaucratic system.

The point is that anarchy can be studied as a cultural process with the context of the natural evolution of a socio-cultural system. In terms of A F C Wallace (Culture and Personality http://www.amazon.com/Culture-Personality-Anthony-F-Wallace/dp/0394308565/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326383634&sr=1-2) and Ward Goodenough (Cooperation in Change http://www.amazon.com/Cooperation-Change-Anthropological-Community-Development/dp/B000H58ZVO/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326383707&sr=1-1) the principle in operation in the anarchy stage of development is the organization of diversity around a common purpose..

Me parece muy oportuno el intercambio de informaciones, ideas, contenidos a respecto de la temática. Al contrario de otras perspectivas, como la marxiana, la perspectiva anarquista de abordaje del mundo social, político y económico es poco desarrollada y activa en la esfera publica en Brasil. Son pocos los interlocutores, aún que exista una fuerte crítica político-cultural al indigenismo de estado y no estatal.

Saludos, Ricardo Verdum

"If you want to save your son for the state, you should keep him farther from the state"(Rozov)..Well, how do you find Momjan's definition of culture: "It's the whole complex of the highest human values"?

hi dears .I am the student of sociology if any one have an idea about sociology so you can share with me.

You guys have already hit on the great ones: Clastres, Scott, Graeber ("There Never Was a West" is one of my favorite articles). Bookchin's work on Civil War era Spain is great. For peace there are some great anarchist-friendly scholars like Galtung, and the work of various scholars on the Iroquoi bear careful examination. I also think Laura Nader's work on harmonization is a valuable read when thinking about peace, conflict and structural inequalities. I agree with Charles and Alberto-- Post-modernism may appear anarchist to statists, but those of us enmeshed in the longer anarchist tradition see a chasm-like difference between pomo and anarchism. They may see themselves as anarchist and even be a type of anarchist, but there are definitely differences between us and them. I think Graeber's introduction to Possibilities explained it best.

While not expressly anarchist, I find Guillermo Bonfil Batalla's conception of conflict and development (in Mexico Profundo, his work on the rebellion in Chiapas) to be a great approach, since it identifies the crux of development-related conflicts as the encroachment of the state and international business on indigenous social-ecological structures.

Thanks Joshua and Barry for your very useful pointers. I was away doing fieldwork and did not look up this page for a while. I am glad to find likeminded scholars seriously researching the topic. Also my appetite is still wetted by what Raj Ratna Goswami has said about the Sat-Pathi.

My latest research was of a more historical nature. I find the Cossacks and the pirates (pirate utopias) two very fascinating and closely linked fields for the anthropology of anarchy. There is more to it than what P. Lambourn Wilson wrote about them pirates, although I am grateful he pointed in the right direction. I have also used Solnit's "Paradise built in Hell" as a reference in contemporary anarchic movements, as well as Niman's "People of the Rainbow". Things are happening also with Scott's 'the Art of not being Governed".

I started reading about the Chiapas and Zapatistas. Some good stories about them in French. Baschet, in "La Rebellion zapatiste", however never pronounces the word "anarchiste", not even once! the word is frightening to most I must admit and I am now trying to use "libertarian"more often. That's how Bakunin and the other major figures of the time called themselves, is it not?

As anthropologist, I am doing a sort of long turn: from anarchism - through tradition and education (the anarchist otherness!) - and then hopefully back... Ivan Illich helps a lot.

anarchism is reflected among Dhankut of District Bahraich of Uttar Pradesh of India who never follow Government rules and regulation in marriage while they are categorized as general category where cross cousin and parallel cousin marriages are prohibited and it is also illegal under Hindu Marriage act 1955 but they practice such marriage to get tribal status by the Government and it is also well documented that such marriages are not customary among them . they manufacture alcohol illegally and many times they face face police resistance and go jail but they don't have fear from government agencies and practice whatever you may sketch under anarchism

Hooray for the Dhankut! However, I don't know what you mean by "whatever you may sketch under anarchism".

I want to say that if you want use this example as anarchism you may use as an expert of anarchism

OK. Any literature on these people? I would be grateful for any reference. Many thanks.

Wow! I look forward to reading more about pirate utopias once your finished, and thanks for mentioning Solnit, I can't wait to read more! And I second Ivan Illich-- really great stuff. As for the 'libertarian' label, I don't know about elsewhere but in the US the term refers to a group of people right of the republican party who accept the military function of the government but desire a free market economy in the most extreme sense, in opposition to American anarchists who seek to organize against the hierarchies of capital perhaps more principally than the hierarchies of the state.

I have spent a lot of time looking at different means of organization, heterarchy vs hierarchy. In examining cultures and societies across time one finds a relationship between inequality and a lack of sustainability as well as instability related also to expansionist states. I summarized this in my 2004 book, Sustainability, Human Ecology and the Collapse of Complex Societies . Currently I have an article on the nature of banking and credit that can be downloaded from this site or the Social Science Research Network. It is an examination of the origins of banking and the cooperative means of extending the surplus.

This is our free newspaper Mensch containing some articles on self organized communities and urban acupuncture: http://issuu.com/ruinacademy/docs/mensch_issuu

thanks to Niccolo and Marco for good references.

Look up for Peter Kropotkin, The difference between collectivist anarchism and anarchist communism is that under the former, a wage system is retained based on the amount of labor performed. Anarchist communism, like collectivist anarchism, also advocates for the socialization of production, but the distribution of goods as well. Instead of 'to each according to his labor', in anarcho-communism the community would supply the subsistence requirements to each member free of charge according to the maxim 'to each according to his needs'

You might want to look at Sam Dolgoff's The Anarchist Collectives: Workers' Self-Management in the Spanish Revolution, Free Life Editions, 1974 by Black Rose Books or Arshinov's History of the Makhnovist Movement 1918-1921, a 1974 translation by Red and Black, Detroit. The Spanish collectives have been criticized by some as being influenced by the huge anarchist labor movement in Spain beginning in the 19th century (the CNT or Confederacion National del Trabajo, estimates of up to 2 million members by 1936, see Hugh Thomas' The Spanish Civil War, Harper Books, 1961) and the FAI (or Federacion Anarquista Iberica). The problem some have is that the lessons learned in earlier struggle and in Russia (see Voline The Unknown Revolution, Red & Black complete translation, 1974 edition) created an organized movement with a central concentration of militants (the FAI) that acted as a "party" or directing center. There is interesting information on this in Abel Paz's Durruti, The People Armed, Black Rose Books, 1977 and Han Magnus Enzensberger's El Corot Verano de la Anarquia, Ediciones Grijalbo, 1977 Barcelona, a translation from the German. I know of no English translation. There is also film taken by Emma Goldman of the communes and their organization and daily life. I tried to make copies in 1976 but the people who had possession would not let me for fear that it might be lost. Too bad, perhaps someone today can do that. The question of self-management is still open, though the real difference is between those who are libertarians and opposed to any rules or limits and those who are councilist. I think that a more indigenous view of what we see in aboriginal conditions (as opposed to Eric Wolf's ideas of Peasants (see his Peasants, Prentice-Hall, 1966) can be referred to as in the work of Herskovits' Primitive Economics, 1940 and 1953 editions.

Sati-Pati movement was launched in 1930 at Songadh by some Bhil |Communities viz., the Gamits and Vasavas.. This spread in Mandavi, Songadh, Dangs and Dharampur region of South Gujarat viz., when the forest rules become wider and more harassing for forest dwellers. The prohibition on hunting games and cutting of wood made the whole of dwellers in India enemy of government. On one hand the mining activities and tree felling by contractors went unchecked poor tribal were prohibited even collecting fire wood. These made Sati Patis more popular as they forcefully broke the regulations and hunt animals and cut trees. In this many times armed conflicts between forest dwellers and guards broke out. Sati-Patis took advantage of it. But as it was an independent movement and had a very little followership, the other tribal preferred the government side which seemed them better and benefitting. Strangely this movement is still live. The followers silently disobey rules. They do not have Ration Cards, no entry in Electoral list and no demand for government help. They just use the forest products unhindered and not bothering for any rule.

This tribal movement in South Gujarat which resists associating itself with the administration, has been enrolled for the first time in the voters’ list and is likely to exercise franchise in the 2012 state assembly polls, officials said. The Sampradaya members have been enrolled in districts like Tapi, Dang, Narmada, Valsad, amongst others, and few have also been issued Electoral Photo Identity Cards enhancing probability of their participation in the elections. The tribal community takes pride in keeping themselves aloof from any of the government’s schemes. Dang, where around 90 per cent population is tribal, is considered to be base of Satipatis, with an estimated population of around 3,000 Satipati people.

In any respect it is a deep rooted habit of forest dwellers for dishonoring every order by political system taking it as a hindrance in their carefree life. They are real anarchists. Not like Maoist or Naxalies, who are part of political jargon of Eastern Indian lawlessness.

Dear All,

I have long been absent from the discussion for a number of reasons and wish to get back to it. Lots of useful posts by Raj, Niccolo, Annabel and others.

My book Order against Harmony (in French "l'ordre contre l'harmonie"") is now being printed (Editions Petra, Paris). Will need to revise a number of things, but well, another step has been made. And anarchism in the social sciences is gaining some momentum.

Dear Charles:

I would argue with Boas that for an anthropologist to be a "believer" in anything is problematic where it is a religion or an ideology. That is why I think the best anthropology was produced by those who were immigrants, people out of place as was Boas and Malinowski. Today, as 100 years ago, there are so many views of what anarchism is, from the Black clad street fighters, the "Berberists" and FAI/CNT romantics to the new council tendencies. As Voline remarked in his experience in Russia before 1917 and after (see his book, the Unknown Revolution) to be an anarchist is diffuse but the lack of order is not a plan or a position.

We live in the context of a great new system of wars of reformation where the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition is splintering and in massive conflict. While I think that new formations of belief and being are in formation, (see my new book, Big Brains and the Human Superorganism: why Special Brains Appear in Social Animals, published in 2017) the framework of a science of man is still much the project Boas drew 100 years ago. And it is a difficult brief indeed.

I agree. If anthropology is a science it cannot be an ideology .there is no such thing as an Anarchist or whatever-ist anthropology.

and yes the framework of a general human science is yet to come.

Anarchism does indeed come under many forms, shapes and Colors but it is an asset to some extent. There is no fixed doctrine and it is being constantly reinvented . It prevents dogmatism

Will look up your book thanks.

Charles

Good point about the changing nature and diffuse nature of anarchism. The Financial Times just had a short article on the new "anarcho-capitalists" of Latin America. Joining the ideology of disruptive technology with the idea of a stateless future they are presented as futurists. I see it as a horror as they believe corporations like Apple, Uber or Facebook are progressive examples!

Dear Charles, will "Order against Harmony" be published in English or in French only? I am looking forward to read it. Regards, Erwin

Quite so, quite so.

The fact that anarchism presents itself both on the extreme right (Tea Party and such) and on the extreme left (Black Block and such) is an indication that under whatever form it rejects the state and any coercive government. Now like you I see extreme-right anarchism as a major threat to society and I see the need to define anarchism not only as anti-state but basically and essentially as pro-community.

Hi Erwin

the book is in French.

I hope it is translated soon, the fate of another anthropologist's book, Atenor Firmin's 1885 critique of de Gobineau's The Inequality of Human Races, was limited by being written in French. It was reviewed by Jacques Barzun in his book Race: A Study in Modern Superstitution (appeared in English in 1937), but Firmin's book did not appear in English translation until 2000. Some have argued that because Firmin was a politician as well as an anthropologist his book was considered of limited use, I for one find it a brilliant and devastating critique of the Supremist Theory.

Dear Denis:

Very interesting and thank you for posting your experiences in Madagascar. I look forward to your write up of this. I often wonder how much about indigenous cosmology was distorted by missionaries recording it. Perhaps the best example is Landa's Mayan "impressions." I hope you write a review of my book, I would be most interested in your thoughts.

Dear Denis,

Excellent observation and insight. My observations confirm yours. Palawan people are in every respect strictly egalitarian. However in their literature (epics) and rituals they live in an imaginary world of pure hierarchy. This holds true for other egalitarian cultures in the Philippines and elsewhere.

Dear Denis:

That is interesting and I look forward to your article on it. Please keep me informed.

Charles Macdonald There is a new moral/political theory called Dual Morality. It proposes that just as our physical senses of sight, smell, and taste evolved to help us navigate our physical world, so too did two distinct "social-senses" evolve to assist us in navigating our social world of people and groups.

These two "social-senses" manifest themselves politically as our "liberal" or "conservative" outlooks, economically as our "socialistic" or "capitalistic" tendencies, and psychologically in our descriptions of "self" in terms of "personality" or "character."

The egalitarian outlook embodies one of these social senses. The other pushes us to seek a just inequality. It pushes us to find or attain superior recognition based on merit. The two outlooks promote rightful equality and rightful inequality.

The two are further distinguished by the notion of competent authority.

With the egalitarian outlook finding competent authority in the individual, while the other of our social senses recognizes competent authority in group leaders.

Hi Charles, Indeed I am interested in those topics. I am Mexican from Oaxaca doing a Ph.D. in Vienna, Austria. What I am doing is looking at interplays between local notions of commonality and media projects in places of self-governmentality, (or rather at the margins of the state) authority elections by assembly consensus, unpaid communitarian labor as forms of communitarian reproduction, that of cargo system in Oaxaca, and so on.

Best

You might want to look at actual communitarian arrangements where people create new relationships based on how they see the world. Good examples of these are in the self-organized squatter cities around the world (see Robert Neuwirth's book Shadow Cities, 2006 or my own book, An Ethnography of the Goodman Building: The Longest Rent Strike, 2019).

Dear Nicolo and Rodrigo

Thank you for your messages and suggestions.I shall follow them up