With Freedom in Our Ears: Histories of Jewish Anarchism

Anna Elena Torres and Kenyon Zimmer in conversation with Samuel Brody

Jewish anarchism has long been marginalized in histories of anarchist thought and action. in With Freedom in Our Ears: Histories of Jewish Anarchism (AK Press, 2023), co-editors Anna Elena Torres (University of Chicago) and Kenyon Zimmer (University of Texas, Arlington) will be joined by contributor Samuel Brody (University of Kansas) to discuss this work, recovering many aspects of this erased tradition.

With Freedom in Our Ears brings together more than a dozen scholars and translators to write the first collaborative history of international, multilingual, and transdisciplinary Jewish anarchism. Contributors bring to light the presence and persistence of Jewish anarchism throughout histories of radical labor, women’s studies, political theory, multilingual literature, and ethnic studies. These essays reveal an ongoing engagement with non-Jewish radical cultures, including the translation practices of the Jewish anarchist press. Jewish anarchists drew from a matrix of secular, cultural, and religious influences, inventing new anarchist forms that ranged from mystical individualism to militantly atheist revolutionary cells.

Co-sponsored by the Program in Jewish Studies, Barnard College.