Call For Papers

Affinities: A Journal of Radical Theory, Culture, and Action

Special Issue #1: "Creating Autonomous Spaces"

From pirate enclaves to utopian communities, from communal republics
to occupied zones, the history of constituted power has always also been the history of radical experiments in spaces that are other
than, alternative to, within and against.

The first issue of Affinities: A Journal of Radical Theory, Culture, and Action is dedicated to a critical discussion of the contemporary manifestations, and future prospects of, autonomous spaces around the world. We are seeking submissions not only from those who "study”
such spaces, but also from those who are actively engaged in their creation.

Recent years have offered us manifold examples of autonomous spaces, including the occupation of old factories in Argentina, the
occupation of rural land by the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement, and spaces or caucuses created by those marginalized within broader radical movements, including Anarchist People of Colour and the
Zapatista Revolutionary Law for Women.

Yet everywhere these experiments are constantly imperiled, suffering repression, recuperation, or simply exhaustion. Furthermore, careful attention to power relations suggests that these spaces themselves are not islands free of oppression, untouched by the micro-practices of domination.Submissions may deal with some of the following areas of inquiry:

· Where can we find innovative and inspiring examples of
autonomous spaces? What can we learn from these experiments? How do we gauge their effectiveness? Are they to be considered outposts,
enclaves, or part of a utopian exodus?

· How are these experiments interacting with radical theoretical traditions?

· How are such experiments conceiving of, and confronting the relationship between, struggles around sexuality, race, gender, class and ability, to name a few?

· Of what importance is the relationship between the physical (or virtual) site and the modes of political organization enacted
within them?

· What communicative strategies are these spaces adopting?

· To what degree can these spaces, and the tactics
characterizing them, be transplanted, and at what cost?

Format and Deadlines

Submissions are requested electronically in .doc or .rtf format as an attachment sent to 2eob --(at)-- qlink.queensu.ca by Friday, April 14, 2006.

Publishing Policy

The journal seeks to work across boundaries through its commitment to challenging the distinction between academic and activist writing. For those who want to have their submissions peer-reviewed, the
journal maintains an editorial board composed of university-based
researchers. For those who do not want or need the trappings of
academic publishing, we offer a parallel stream in which decisions are made by the publishing collective and issue editors. In the
journal itself no formal distinctions are made between these two
streams, and we are particularly interested in articles that would be difficult to classify as belonging solely in either of them.

An Introduction to the Journal

Affinities: A Journal of Radical Theory, Culture, and Action

Editorial Perspective

Affinities is a web-based journal that focuses on groups, movements, and communities that set out to construct sustainable alternatives to the racist, hetero-sexist, system of liberal-capitalist nation-
states. We are interested in questions such as: What kind of
experiments are out there, beyond the state and corporate forms? How are they working, what obstacles are they encountering? What are
people doing to emulate their successes and avoid their failures? How do these experiments relate to various histories of radical struggle? How do we build lasting culture(s) of resistance and (re-)construction?

While it might be argued that the era of single-issue movements has passed, there is still much work to be done to adequately understand the new forms that radical politics is taking today. What are the
common paths shared by groups, movements, communities, and peoples that seek to construct sustainable alternatives to the existing
order? What are the inequalities, prejudices, and forms of oppression (race, gender, sexuality, class, ability) that divide these
formations, both internally and from each other? For it is only
through changes in practice that can result from such a discussion that we can work out ways in which solidarity across these divisions can be strengthened.

Affinities will publish work that comes from perspectives including, but not limited to, anarchism, anti-racism, autonomist marxism,
disability studies, ecology, feminism, indigenous politics,
poststructuralism, postcolonial studies, and queer theory. We do not seek to synthesize or prioritize any of these traditions; rather, we are interested in the ways in which they intersect, in how they can inform and critique one another while retaining their own particular approaches and questions.

Two editorial streams:

Another goal of Affinities is to acknowledge and strengthen the links that exist between academic, activist, and artistic communities, and to aid in the creation of new links wherever possible. We are
committed to publishing both academic and activist writing, as well as other forms of radical cultural production. To this end the
journal will maintain an editorial board that includes activists,
journalists, artists, and university-based researchers. Contributors who want to have their submissions peer-reviewed will have this
option, while those who do not want or need this process need not go through it. We are, of course, also interested in work that would be difficult to classify as belonging solely in either of these streams.

Themed Issues:

To ensure a tight focus, each issue will be oriented to a particular theme that is in keeping with the larger mandate of the journal.
Current issue ideas include:

- Creating and maintaining autonomous spaces (social centres, squats, TAZ/SPAZ/PAZ)

- Anarcho-indigenism

- Feminist 'movements within movements' (e.g. Zapatista women;
Mujeres Creando)

- Organizing across divisions / organizing practices that perpetuate divisions

- Postanarchism and autonomist marxism

- Care of the radical self (how can we enjoy what we do so we can
keep doing it? / how do we avoid individualizing oppressive practices?)

- Solidarity with radical nationalisms (Black, indigenous, queer...)

We are of course open to, indeed are reliant upon, further
suggestions from anyone who would like to see the journal take on a particular topic, and/or would be willing to help edit an issue.

Virtual Home / Reaching Out:

The journal will be hosted on the Affinity Project website
, which is maintained by researchers at
Queen's University, Kingston Ontario. This site is relatively new but quickly expanding, and offers various resources on radical social
movements. Over the past year it has grown in visibility to the point where it receives several hundred hits per week from Google and other major search engines. Of course, we are very happy to trade links
with anyone who has a site that would be relevant, in order to
increase the reach of the journal. We are also considering becoming part of the Public Knowledge Project, a cross-Canada initiative in online scholarly publishing.

An Autonomous Organization:

Academic publishing, like every other practice, has been heavily
colonized by state and corporate interests, to the point that a few multinational corporations now control most 'major' journals.
Affinities is committed to an autonomous model of publishing, i.e. one which relies upon neither state money nor corporate connections

Affinities Journal Editorial Board:

Alfred, Taiaiake (University of Victoria)

Alston, Ashanti (Estaccion Libre APOC)

Angus, Ian (Simon Fraser University)

Balagoon, Kazembe (Estaccion Libre APOC)

Brophy, Enda (Queen's University)

Brown, Bill (Surveillance Camera Players)

Cohn, Jesse (Purdue University)

Day, Richard (Queen's University)

de Peuter, Greig (Simon Fraser University)

Delhi, Kari (OISE)

Graeber, David (Yale)

Grindon, Gavin (University of Manchester)

Grubacic, Andrej (SUNY Binghamton)

Haberle, Sean (Queen's University)

Hearn, Matt (Crank Magazine/Purple Thistle)

Heckert, Jamie (University of Edinburgh)

Hewitt-White, Caitlan (Guelph University)

Jeppesen, Sandra (York University)

Khorasanee, Dina (MTD Solano--Argentina)

Lakoff, Aaron (Solidarity Across Borders)

Mark, Lance (Georgetown University)

May, Todd (Clemson University)

Mookerjea, Sourayan (University of Alberta)

O'Connor, Alan (Trent University Cultural Studies)

Paris, Jeffrey (University of San Francisco)

Srivastava, Sarita (Queen's University)

Sieradski, Dan (Orthodox Anarchist)

Szeman, Imre (McMaster University)