A-Infos (en) UK, AFEd, Organise: Anarchademics Aplenty in Oxford (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

The Anarchist Studies Network Thrives at the Political Studies 
Association Conference 2026 ---- Spring 2026 witnessed the most 
significant anarchist platform presented to-date at a Political Studies 
Association conference (PSA). Hosted this year in Oxford, England, the 
PSA depicts itself as 'a rewarding, and popular event for those 
researching, teaching, studying, or practicing politics, political 
studies, international relations, and related disciplines'. For the 
first time, we, in the U.K. Anarchist Studies Network (ASN), organised 
three distinct sessions at a PSA conference, representing a diverse 
array of political perspectives and practical arguments rooted in 
anarchist politics and actions - rising from single sessions at previous 
iterations in 2023 (Liverpool, England), 2024 (Glasgow, Scotland), and 
2025 (Birmingham, England). Spread across a round table discussion and 
two paper panels, the three events occurred on Tuesday 31st March, this 
space offered a micro anarchist gathering in advance of our 'flagship 
event', the ASN conference - the ninth of which will take place 
in-person at the University of Manchester, England (26th - 28th August 
2026 with a further online day on 31st August) on the theme of More Than 
Human Anarchisms.

With a limited budget made available to our network by the PSA via their 
membership systems - itself quite a challenging approach in what are 
often high-cost academic settings - our co-convenor group supported a 
colleague based in England with transport and conference fees, whilst we 
also contributed towards another 'anarchademic' joining us from Latin 
America. On the day, colleagues engaged in research and / or teaching 
from institutions in England, Scotland, Ireland, the Netherlands, the 
US, Finland, and Brazil shared investigations into historical anarchist 
movements and their relevance from contemporary organising; the 
manifestations of anarchist ideologies in modern popular culture, social 
movements, and faith-based contexts; as well as discourse on what an 
ethical approach to anarchist praxis within capitalist culture might 
actually entail.

Showcasing the second U.K. ASN event at the PSA conference (Photo by Ray)
Though academic settings constitute a multitude of challenges, morally 
as much as practically, the positions many of us hold within educational 
settings afford us highly privileged environments within which we 
integrate, embed, and align our anarchist perspectives. Just as the PSA 
conference permitted those unfamiliar with, intrigued in, or even 
hostile to anarchist and anarchist-adjacent approaches to engage in our 
hosted spaces, our status within these organisations, at times, 
facilitates access to institutional funding, teaching environments where 
we can expose our learners to radical ideas beyond the conventional 
curriculum, and opportunities to engage diverse audiences in critical 
discourse. None of us entered these institutions with any illusions over 
what they represent (profiteering from free-paying students, 
qualifications serving as barriers to entering the types of work our 
learners want to do, etc.). Rather, we're striving to strengthen our own 
networks so that, in our dedicated spaces, we can continue to promote 
solidarity, partnerships, and collaboration within a culture that often 
values the very opposite.

Get in touch: Contact Elke at emf.vdm@gmail.com

Written by the co-convenor team of Dr. Ray Di Marco Campbell, Dr. Elke 
Van dermijnsbrugge, Dr. Shane Little, and Dr. Laurence Davis. With 
thanks to Dr. Rhiannon Firth, Dr. Jim Donaghey, Dr. Jon Bigger, Dr. 
James Willis, Mr. Matti Eskelinen, and Dr. Ivan Thomaz Leite de Oliveira 
for their contributions.

https://organisemagazine.org.uk/2026/04/09/anarchademics-aplenty-in-oxford/
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