Marx relied on anthropology in his logical and historical exposition, and anthropology has long existed in dialectic with Marxism. To study anthropology with Marxist categories or subject Marxism to ethnographic scrutiny, it makes sense to proceed chronologically—the importance of history is something anthropologists and Marxists often agree on. In the process, we consider how philosophical idealism continues to interfere in efforts to build grounded ethnographic theory, yet how ethnography remains a uniquely useful tool to unsettle idealist abstractions that limit Marxist debate itself.
I begin by discussing Marx’s treatment of anthropology in his project to historicize capitalism, then how Marxist theory influenced anthropology: By the middle of the 20th century, the anthropological notion of society was no longer the integrated whole imagined within functionalism, but rather a field characterized by conflict and struggle. Following experiments in material and ecological determinisms, it was feminist and postcolonial revisionings of the “class consciousness” concept that sparked an epistemological debate that informs the politics of ethnography to the present day—insights of the poststructuralist turn may transcend those of Marx, but they also contain them.
I then present my research of anarchist social movements in North America to illustrate the continued utility of anthropology within Marxist theory and practice: In my study of the ethnographic category “good politics”, it becomes clear that people concerned about oppressed identities are not necessarily looking for recognition—as opposed to engaging in “class struggle”, yet insofar as identities are mobilized as property, no amount of intersectionality makes things better for the working class. Insofar as this chapter is staged as an intervention, it is to remind 21st century anthropologists the material importance of knowing their (disciplinary) history, and to challenge the Marxist who still considers identity politics a conundrum to consider applying the materialist method of ethnography.
Lagalisse, Erica. (2022) “Anthropology” in The SAGE Handbook of Marxism (Vol.1-3) edited by Sara Farris, Beverley Skeggs, Alberto Toscano and Svenja Bromberg (London: SAGE)
One of my first peer-reviewed publications, “Marginalizing Magdalena – Intersections of Gender and the Secular in Anarchoindigenist Solidarity Activism” (2011) explores the logical and historical connections between gender and secularism, based on ethnographic research of collaborating Zapatista and anarchist activist collectives in support of indigenous peoples’ movements on Turtle Island. This article is a certain summary of my Masters thesis in anthropology (2007), and also forms part of Chapter 3 of my PhD dissertation (and current manuscript in progress) “Good Politics”: Property, Intersectionality and the Making of the Anarchist Self (2016).
Abstract (from Signs—Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 2011):
Anarchoindigenism—a synthesis of anarchist and indigenist philosophies of egalitarianism—is a popular project among contemporary anarchist activists. This discourse, and the practice of solidarity activism with which it is in dialectical relation, signify promising new conversations and coalitions across difference in the transnational struggle against neoliberalism. However, anarchists’ intentions of horizontal solidarity are troubled by the secularism of the anarchist tradition and by gendered definitions of power and politics. By way of an ethnographic analysis of a speaking tour of two Oaxacan indigenous activists organized by Montreal anarchists, I problematize each of these biases in turn and in their relation: the public/private divide as applied to religion and politics and to the domestic and the public is one and the same. I demonstrate the combination of these dichotomies in their marginalization of Magdalena during her speaking tour, as well as argue their historical articulation. By throwing into relief these correspondences, we may better understand the coimplication of neoliberalism, secularism, and gender, and we can better practice transnational feminist, as well as anarchist, solidarity. Beyond critiquing secularism and androcentrism as a failure to respect others’ identity in anarchist solidarity movements, I suggest that this disenchantment tale contributes to what it describes, reducing vision for radical transformation. Likewise, gender-blind constructions of anarchoindigenism fail not only indigenous women but any anticolonial, anticapitalist movement. These interconnected insights become clearer when resistance movements and critical engagement are grounded in the experiences and analyses of indigenous women. As such, I offer this ethnography as a contribution toward a potential anarchaindigenism.
Magdalena arranges the ofrenda (altar) in honour of fallen comrades of the Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca (APPO) in front of the Mexican consulate in Montreal, Quebec (November 2006); I am found behind her wearing the orange hat, speaking with another member of our collective.
Street art depicting iterations of the Vírgen de Guadelupe, including the “Vírgen de las Barrikadas” popular during the APPO movement. The photos on the left and right were taken in Oaxaca (2010); the middle photograph was taken in San Cristobal de las Casas (2011)—see article for discussion.
In this work, my social movements research informs an autonomist anti-capitalist analysis of marijuana legalization based on multisited ethnography in Quebec, Canada, and California, U.S.A.
A podcast version of my public lecture at the London School of Economics, “Presenting Occult Features of Anarchism – With Attention to the Conspiracy of Kings and the Conspiracy of the Peoples” (2019) is available here.
This lecture took place March 20th, 2019, and was chaired by Mathijs Pelkmans of the Anthropology department.
“Erica Lagalisse explores the relationship of 19th century anarchism with the clandestine fraternity, challenges leftist attachments to atheism, and intervenes in current debates concerning “conspiracy theory”.
In the nineteenth century anarchists were accused of conspiracy by governments afraid of revolution, but in the current century various “conspiracy theories” suggest that anarchists are controlled by government itself. The Illuminati were a network of intellectuals who argued for self-government and against private property, yet the public is now often told that they were (and are) the very group that controls governments and defends private property around the world. Intervening in such misinformation, Lagalisse works with primary and secondary sources in multiple languages to set straight the history of the Left and will illustrate the actual relationship between revolutionism, pantheistic occult philosophy, and the clandestine fraternity.
Exploring hidden correspondences between anarchism, Renaissance magic, and New Age movements, Erica Lagalisse also advances critical scholarship regarding leftist attachments to secular politics. Inspired by anthropological fieldwork within today’s anarchist movements, challenging anarchist atheism insofar as it poses practical challenges for coalition politics in today’s world.
Studying anarchism as a historical object, Lagalisse will show how the development of leftist theory and practice within clandestine masculine public spheres continues to inform contemporary anarchist understandings of the “political,” in which men’s oppression by the state becomes the prototype for power in general, how gender and religion become privatized in radical counterculture, a historical process intimately linked to the privatization of gender and religion by the modern nation-state.
Erica Lagalisse, author of Occult Features of Anarchism, is an anthropologist and Postdoctoral Fellow at the International Inequalities Institute, LSE.
Mathijs Pelkmans is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology, LSE.
The International Inequalities Institute (@LSEInequalities) at LSE brings together experts from many LSE departments and centres to lead critical and cutting edge research to understand why inequalities are escalating in numerous arenas across the world, and to develop critical tools to address these challenges.”
The eulogy I wrote for David Graeber published by The Sociological Review in October 2020 can be found here. One of the most difficult things I have written.
Is it a panel? A play? There’s a lot more going on than first meets the eye in this unique event.
Enjoy the photo montage and full length audio of this performance that Georgia Sagri, David Graeber and I crafted, titled Merry Crisis and Happy New Fear: The Movement Post-Occupy, at Ύλη[matter]HYLE in Athens, Greece, which took place on December 30th 2015.
My eulogy for David Graeber was published in The Sociological Review and can be found here.
One day I will publish the first draft of this essay next to the final one, so that everyone can see just how bad things really are. Until then, enjoy draft six of Caring Labour in the Academy at The Sociological Review (March 2020).
“Gossip as Direct Action” in Contesting Publics: Feminism, Activism, Ethnography (Pluto, 2013) pulls no punches as a ‘personal’ ethnographic account of sexism within contemporary anarchist collectives. In the process I mobilize and develop classic feminist debates regarding the construction of “public” vs. “private” space to suggest that anarchists operate according to state logic more than they may realize.
This piece is based on the ethnographic research of my Masters thesis in anthropology (2007), and also forms part of Chapter 2 in my PhD dissertation and current manuscript in progress, “Good Politics”: Property, Intersectionality, and the Making of the Anarchist Self.
Valérie Lefebvre-Faucher has translated “Gossip as Direct Action” and presented it in compilation with a francophone edition of Occult Features of Anarchism (“Anarchisme Occulte”, Remue Menage, 2022), emphasizing the feminist intervention of this work. (To date Occult Features of Anarchism has received more attention for its treatment of “conspiracy theory” than its feminist critique of the Left.)
Read “The Conspiracy of Kings, Class War and the Coronavirus” by Erica Lagalisse and her alter-ego Spartacus Tonans, Supreme Magus of the Kitchen Garden 007˚ originally published in Dope, Summer 2020, published by Dog Section Press, London, UK.
Listen to the launch of Occult Features of Anarchism – With Attention to the Conspiracy of Kings and the Conspiracy of the Peoples (PM Press, 2019) at Freedom Bookshop in London, UK, which took place on February 7th 2020. The audio is hosted on Youtube (45 min). Note that the recording has been edited to remove audience participation, including the Q&A, to protect anonymity.
Also in Italian, see interview with Elisa Lello in Malamente, n.20 (June 2020), “Teorie della cospirazione e critica sociale – Come il complottismo prospera, non sempre a torto, sulle bugie delle élite”, as well as review and discussion with Matteo Lupetti in Vice (November 2020), “Come discutere con una persona che crede alle cospirazioni e dirottarla su problemi reali”.
One of my first academic publications (2010), this ‘Limits of Radical Democracy’ essay concerns gendered power in anarchist collectives. Some of its material regarding the gendered construction of ‘public’ and ‘private’ space was later more fully developed within ‘Gossip as Direct Action’ and ‘Good Politics’, yet keeners may want to read this earlier version as well, as there is some ethnography and discussion in this piece that does not get carried forward.
This article is available in Spanish in regular PDF format and also as a fanzine.
Abstract (from Altérités, 2010):
Drawing on ethnographic research among activist collectives in Montreal, Quebec, this paper illustrates how two contemporary “anarchist” movements are characterized by gendered divisions of labour, voice, and priorities despite a nominal commitment to “radical democracy” and egalitarian values. Contemporary anarchist activism synthesizes critiques of the State drawn from late 19th and early 20th century anarchist movements, with anti-authoritarian organizational forms developed by feminist movements in the 1970s and 1980s (i.e. consensus decision-making, a focus on “means matching ends”). However, the feminist call for a “politics of everyday life” appears to have been fetishized in systems of formal procedures that govern meetings within the public sphere; process-oriented aspects of feminism have been institutionalized in these new movements, while gender relations remain private and un-interrogated. Key words: anarchism, feminism, gender, social movements.
Basé sur une ethnographie de collectifs anarchistes de Montréal, cet article montre comment, malgré un engagement théorique envers la « démocratie radicale » et l’égalitarisme, une division du travail, des discours et des priorités axées sur le genre traversent l’organisation de ces groupes. L’activisme anarchiste contemporain est une synthèse des critiques de l’État formulées par les mouvements anarchistes de la fin du XIXe siècle et du début du XXe siècle et des formes d’organisation anti-autoritaire prônées par les mouvements féministes des années 1970s et 1980s (processus de prise de décisions consensuelles, attention particulière à « l’harmonie entre les moyens et les buts »). Néanmoins, la revendication par les féministes d’une « politique de la vie quotidienne » semble avoir été fétichisée dans les systèmes formels de procédures qui gouvernent les réunions dans la sphère publique. Si certains aspects procéduraux du féminisme ont été institutionnalisés, les relations entre les sexes demeurent de l’ordre du privé et ne sont pas remis en question. Mots-clés: anarchisme, féminisme, « genre », mouvements sociaux.
Erica Michelle Lagalisse es becaria postdoctoral en el Instituto Internacional de Desigualdades (International Inequalities Institute) del London School of Economics (LSE). Bajo la supervisión del Dr. Beverley Skeggs y con el apoyo del Fondo de Investigación de Quebec – Sociedad y Cultura (FRQSC), Erica Lagalisse realiza una investigación etnográfica multilocal sobre la dinámica social que rodea la “teoría de la conspiración” en los movimientos sociales. Su investigación busca problematizar la “teoría de la conspiración” como un objeto académico y como una practica política.
Su tesis doctoral en antropología “Aventuras en Anarcolandia: solidaridad transnacional, relaciones de propiedad y juegos de identidad entre anarquistas[1]”, examina las contradicciones dentro del activismo solidario y el “anarcoindigenismo” en las redes anarquistas entre Québec, Estados Unidos y México. Esta obra está basada en teorías antropológicas, feministas y de la téoria crítica racial (critical race theory) para exponer las contradicciones dentro de las prácticas de izquierdistas angloamericanos. Una de estas contradicciones es la forma como se logra evadir el reto de la “interseccionalidad” planteado por el feminismo negro, pero a su vez se incorpora dentro de la lógica de proyectos individualistas del “yo” burgués y las relaciones de propiedad neoliberales.
Erica Lagalisse completó su doctorado en la Universidad McGill en Montreal, Canadá, tiempo durante el cual ocupó un puesto de investigadora visitante en el Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social (CIESAS) en Oaxaca, México. Adicionalmente Erica Lagalisse obtuvo becas de doctorado del Consejo de Investigación de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades de Canadá (SSHRC) y del Fondo de Investigación de Quebec – Sociedad y Cultura (FRQSC), así como una beca Fulbright de EE.UU y Canadá para trabajar en el Instituto de Estudios Latinoamericanos Teresa Lozano Long (LLILAS) de la Universidad de Texas en Austin. Su obra académica más conocida, aparte de su disertación de doctorado, se encuentra en Signs – Journal of Women in Culture and Society (una traducción de este articulo se encuentra abajo), y Contesting Publics: Feminism, Activism, Ethnography en coautoría con Sally Cole, Lynne Phillips y Marie-Eve Carrier-Moisan, publicado por Pluto Press. Su primer libro, Occult Features of Anarchism – With Attention to the Conspiracy of Kings and the Conspiracy of the Peoples, fue lanzado por PM Press en enero 2019. (Una traducción literal de este titulo puede ser “Características ocultas del anarquismo: un énfasis a la conspiración de los reyes y a la conspiración de los pueblos)
En cuanto a las traducciones al español de sus trabajos
Durante su trabajo de campo de doctorado (2010-2014), Erica Lagalisse preparó versiones en español de dos artículos revisados por pares que había publicado previamente en su investigación de maestría (Lagalisse 2010, 2011) para compartir con activistas involucrados en la investigación. De manera similar, ella preparó extractos de su tesis de doctorado en español antes de ser publicada. Los textos a continuación forman parte de esta colección y no han sido publicados en otro lugar.
Para efectos de citación, tenga en cuenta que Lagalisse (2010) y Lagalisse (2011) son traducciones directas de los trabajos en inglés Lagalisse (2010) y Lagalisse (2011). La introducción de su tesis de doctorado también está disponible en español, y se puede citar como una traducción directa del original en inglés (Lagalisse 2016).
A continuación también encontrará: un breve artículo el cual existe solo en español sobre el movimiento “Occupy” en los Estados Unidos (2011-12); una versión del texto que se usó en la presentación de su tesis doctoral en la Ciudad de México (2017) (recomendado como el mejor y más corto resumen hasta la fecha de su disertación en español); y una versión fanzine de Lagalisse (2010), etc. Para una bibliografía completa de sus trabajos publicados en inglés, consulte la sección de “Bibliography” de este sitio web.
Muchas gracias a Gabriel Elías, cuya paciencia y experiencia han hecho posibles estas traducciones.
Por favor, siéntase libre de escribir en español para cualquier pregunta o comunicación: e.lagalisse@lse.ac.uk
[1] El nombre original de su tesis doctoral en inglés es “Good Politics”: Property, Intersectionality, and the Making of the Anarchist Self”, donde “good politics” , se comprende como una expresión etnográfica que no tiene traducción directa, por lo cual la autora decidió proponer el titulo que aquí aparece para su versión en español.
Bibliografía
Lagalisse, Erica. 2017. “Aventuras en Anarcolandia”: solidaridad transnacional, relaciones de propiedad y juegos de identidad entre anarquistas. Presentación de tesis de doctorado, Conferencia NAASN (North American Anarchist Studies Network), 29 de abril, 2017, Biblioteca Social Reconstruir, D.F., México. PDF: Presentación de tesis_NAASN, DF__Lagalisse_2017
______________. 2016. “Aventuras en Anarcolandia”: solidaridad transnacional, relaciones de propiedad y juegos de identidad entre anarquistas. Introducción, Tesis Doctoral en Antropología, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. PDF: Tesis_”Anarcolandia”_Introducción_Lagalisse_2016
______________. 2011. “Marginalizando a Magdalena”: intersecciones de género y secularismo en los movimientos solidarios “anarcoindigenistas” (El texto inicial en íngles se publicó en Signs – Journal of Women in Culture and Society, vol. 36: 3, marzo 2011) PDF: Magdalena_Lagalisse_2011
______________. 2011. Participación e influencias anarquistas en el movimiento “Occupy Wall Street”. Periodico del CNT (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo), nº 383, noviembre. PDF: Participación e influencias anarquistas_Lagalisse_2011
______________. 2010. Los límites de la “Democracia Directa” : un análisis de género de los colectivos activistas “anarquistas” en Montreal (El texto inicial en inglés se publicó en Altérités – Revue d’anthropologie du contemporain, vol.7, no. 1) PDF: Limites_Lagalisse_2010
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