In Anarchist Prophets James R. Martel juxtaposes anarchism with what he calls archism in order to theorize the potential for a radical democratic politics. He shows how archism-a centralized and hierarchical political form that is a secularization of ancient Greek and Hebrew prophetic traditions-dominates contemporary politics through a prophet's promises of peace and prosperity or the threat of violence. Archism is met by anarchism, in which a community shares a collective form of judgment and vision. Martel focuses on the figure of the anarchist prophet, who leads efforts to regain the authority for the community that archism has stolen. The goal of anarchist prophets is to render themselves obsolete and to cede power back to the collective so as to not become archist themselves. Martel locates anarchist prophets in a range of philosophical, literary, and historical examples, from Hobbes and Nietzsche to Mary Shelley and Octavia Butler to Kurdish resistance in Syria and the Spanish Revolution. In so doing, Martel highlights how anarchist forms of collective vision and action can provide the means to overthrow archist authority.

About the Author
James R. Martel is Professor of Political Science at San Francisco State University and the author of The Misinterpellated Subject, also published by Duke University Press, and most recently, Unburied Bodies: Subversive Corpses and the Authority of the Dead.

Reviews
"Anarchist Prophets [is] a work that deserves a place in the pantheon of anarchist writings, for it incisively and inventively expresses the central critique of the domineering, dominant, and often self-obscure sovereign aspiration at the heart of the vast majority of Western political thought." -- Loren Goldman * Perspectives on Politics *



Book Information
ISBN 9781478018414
Author James R. Martel
Format Paperback
Page Count 368
Imprint Duke University Press
Publisher Duke University Press
Weight(grams) 522g