In Defiance of Boundaries: Anarchism in Latin American History

Choice Outstanding Academic Title “A pioneering collection of essays on the world of anarchists, anarcho-syndicalists and libertarian thinkers in Latin America.”—Barry Carr, coeditor of The New Latin American Left: Cracks in the Empire

“An important contribution to a recent trend which sees anarchism not as derived from a European center but as a genuine Latin American phenomenon.”—Bert Altena, coeditor of Reassessing the Transnational Turn: Scales of Analysis in Anarchist and Syndicalist Studies

“Thoughtful, well-researched, and well-written. As a collection, this goes a long way to furthering our understanding not just of anarchism in Latin America, but of anarchism more generally.”—Mark Leier, author of Bakunin: The Creative Passion.

In this groundbreaking collection of essays, anarchism in Latin America becomes much more than a prelude to populist and socialist movements. The contributors illustrate a much more vast, differentiated, and active anarchist presence in the region that evolved on simultaneous—transnational, national, regional, and local—fronts.

Representing a new wave of transnational scholarship, these essays examine urban and rural movements, indigenous resistance, race, gender, sexuality, and social and educational experimentation. They offer a variety of perspectives on anarchism’s role in shaping ideas about nationalism, identity, organized labor, and counterculture across a wide swath of Latin America.