Lynne Farrow wrote in the feminist magazine Aurora in 1974 that “feminism practices what anarchism preaches” by rejecting traditional forms of politics in the fight for genuine liberation and equality. Anarchists have long argued for gender equality and sexual liberation, although their theoretical commitments have sometimes given way to male dominance in practice. Women and LGBTQ radicals have pushed anarchism to live up to its ideals and fight against all forms of oppression and hierarchy. Yet despite the importance of this history to the anarchist tradition, historians often focus on male leaders or a few prominent women like Emma Goldman and Lucy Parsons. How can we more effectively tell the histories of anarchism and feminism? This roundtable discussion offers new historical perspectives exploring the transnational development of anarcha-feminism across the United States and the Caribbean. Panelists will explore how women and others in the anarchist movement critiqued male dominance, linked patriarchy to other forms of hierarchy and oppression, and developed a distinct intersectional anarcha-feminism over the course of the twentieth century.

The roundtable will be organized as an interactive discussion that puts multiple historical traditions in conversation and highlights the development of anarcha-feminist approaches to intersectionality. Panelists argue that women have been key historical actors in anarchist networks and movements. Anarchist women have also critiqued the shortcomings of mainstream feminism and fought to expand its vision. Montse Feu employs feminist and archival theory to analyze the role that anarchist and anti-fascist women in the United States played in the movement to end Fascist Spain. Kirwin Shaffer discusses women’s participation in Caribbean anarchist networks in the early twentieth century, focusing particularly on their writing and cultural organizing. Anna Elena Torres speaks to the heterogeneity of US anarchist views on women’s suffrage and their theorizations and critiques of citizenship in the early twentieth century. Spencer Beswick explores how women in the Love and Rage Revolutionary Anarchist Federation developed an intersectional anarcha-feminism in the late twentieth century that pushed both anarchists and feminists to fight simultaneously against the interlocking systems of patriarchy, capitalism, white supremacy, and the state.

Rather than a series of stand-alone papers, the roundtable will promote a shared discussion guided by questions that put multiple trajectories of anarcha-feminism in conversation. These questions will include: what is anarcha-feminism, and how does the study of feminist practices and experiences both broaden and enrich our understanding of anarchism and its role in the making of just and equitable communities? What does the study of anarcha-feminism reveal about broader histories of feminism and radical intersectionality? What are the advantages of examining anarchist history from an intersectional lens, particularly the relationship between gender, sexuality, race and ethnicity, and class? What are examples of anarcha-feminism/s in your work and how do you measure their success and their limitations in the larger context of labor and social justice movements? The roundtable will leave ample time for audience participation to encourage open dialogue between anarcha-feminism and other radical and feminist traditions.