Anarchism After Deleuze and Guattari: Fabulating Futures

Description

Deleuze and Guattari never identified as anarchists, nor do they seem to know much about its historical development or continued praxis. Yet their individual and collective work belies this apparent and wilful oversight through a steady consideration of revolutionary subjectivity and active political experimentation. Chantelle Gray argues that while we cannot - and should not - attempt to call them anarchists, their work resonates with core anarchist principles such as prefiguration, careful experimentation and emergent strategies aimed at creating a feeling that life is worth living. This involves paying attention to both joyous affects and sad passions, which necessitates the affirmation of all of chance and, from that, fabulating new modes of existence. By bringing together the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari with the theory and practices of anarchism, this book demonstrates that fabulating the future is nothing short of a noetic act, making reasonable something which initially was senseless.

Chantelle Gray is Professor in the School of Philosophy at North-West University, South Africa. She is the editor of Deleuze and Anarchism, co-edited with Aragorn Eloff.

With a potent mix of ideas, Gray artfully ruptures the dogmatic belief in authoritarian solutions to our dismal capitalist present. And in turn, Deleuze and Guattari lucidly emerge waving a black flag and joining in the chorus of Black, indigenous, feminist, and hacktivist anarchists that have long sung its song. * Andrew Culp, Professor of Critical Studies, California Institute of the Arts, USA * This is the most ambitious synthesis of anarchist theory I have read to date. Chantelle Gray expertly leads readers through the history of anarchist philosophy, Deleuze and Guattari's anarchism, and into contemporary anarchist politics posing many crucial questions along the way. Anarchism After Deleuze and Guattari is a well-written and researched gem for anyone trying to get a handle on the history and future of anarchist theory. * Thomas Nail, Professor of Philosophy, University of Denver, USA * It's hard to live through this time and not feel besieged by nihilism -- by the feeling that we've had it, that the beautiful revolutionary possibilities of the last century have disappeared into a miasma of hatreds while the sea levels rise. Chantelle Gray goes in search of "reasons to believe in this world," "a feeling that life is worth living"; in so doing, she not only rereads the anarchist tradition through Deleuze and Guattari and vice versa, she also brings all three into this troubled century, making them come to grips with the new and terrifying forms of oppression. Readers numb from doomscrolling can find funds of hope and wisdom here. * Jesse Cohn, Associate Professor of English, Purdue University Northwest, USA *