American Studies ETDs

Publication Date

Fall 11-23-2020

Abstract

This dissertation examines classical anarchist discourse on gender, race, and sexuality via the lenses of disability justice, reproductive justice, and queer Indigenous feminism. I argue that eugenics was key to how anarchists in the Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM) and their comrades conceived of political collectivity. Popular notions of scarcity and survival of the fittest, imbued with scientific authority, structured thought at the time. Anarchists, like other anticapitalist radicals, advocated for their cause within this framework, frequently asserting how revolution would lead to a stronger society and denigrating those imagined as weak. I attend especially to the contrast between how PLM writers valorized Native peoples as vigorous members of the working class and inspiring figures of resistance in Mexico while characterizing queerness as degenerate bourgeois decadence. In conclusion, I point to utopian dreams of a world where all can thrive as a possible path through the tensions and contradictions.

Language

English

Keywords

Mexican Revolution, Ricardo Flores Magón, Voltairine de Cleyre, Lucy Parsons, Emma Goldman

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

American Studies

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

American Studies

First Committee Member (Chair)

Alyosha Goldstein

Second Committee Member

Amy L. Brandzel

Third Committee Member

Irene Vásquez

Fourth Committee Member

Bárbara O. Reyes

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