In Defiance Of Boundaries

Most studies on Latin America tend to dismiss anarchism as a prelude to populist and socialist movements. This collection illustrates a much more vast, differentiated, and active anarchist presence in the region that evolved on simultaneous-transnational, national, regional, and local-fronts.

Choice Outstanding Academic Title "State-of-the-art yet accessible analyses that significantly expand understanding of the role of anarchism in Latin America. . . . Will long be a standard text that provides [an] important reference for scholars and students of labor and social movement history."--Choice "A vivid picture of the transnational nature of the anarcho-syndicalist/anarchist movement."--Anarcho-Syndicalist Review "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.

Al-Andalus, the Arabic name for the medieval Islamic state in Iberia, endured for over 750 years following the Arab and Berber conquest of Hispania in 711. While the popular perception of al-Andalus is that of a land of religious tolerance and cultural cooperation, the fact is that we know relatively little about how Muslims governed Christians and Jews in al-Andalus and about social relations among Muslims, Christians, and Jews. In Defining Boundaries in al-Andalus, Janina M. Safran takes a close look at the structure and practice of Muslim political and legal-religious authority and offers a rare look at intercommunal life in Iberia during the first three centuries of Islamic rule. Safran makes creative use of a body of evidence that until now has gone largely untapped by historians-the writings and opinions of Andalusi and Maghribi jurists during the Umayyad dynasty. These sources enable her to bring to life a society undergoing dramatic transformation. Obvious differences between conquerors and conquered and Muslims and non-Muslims became blurred over time by transculturation, intermarriage, and conversion. Safran examines ample evidence of intimate contact between individuals of different religious communities and of legal-juridical accommodation to develop an argument about how legal-religious authorities interpreted the social contract between the Muslim regime and the Christian and Jewish populations. Providing a variety of examples of boundary-testing and negotiation and bringing judges, jurists, and their legal opinions and texts into the narrative of Andalusi history, Safran deepens our understanding of the politics of Umayyad rule, makes Islamic law tangibly social, and renders intercommunal relations vividly personal.

This classic work is a comprehensive treatment of the world’s political frontiers and boundaries, and includes sections on boundaries in the air as well as chapters treating the subject in a regional manner, covering the continents in terms of the evolution of boundaries.

International frontiers and boundaries separate land, rivers and lakes subject to different sovereignties. Frontiers are zones of varying widths and they were common many centuries ago. By 1900 frontiers had almost disappeared and had been replaced by boundaries that are lines. The divisive nature of frontiers and boundaries has formed the focus of inter-disciplinary studies by economists, geographers, historians, lawyers and political scientists. Scholars from these disciplines have produced a rich literature dealing with frontiers and boundaries. The authors surveyed this extensive literature and the introduction reveals the themes which have attracted most attention. Following the introduction the book falls into three sections. The first section deals systematically with frontiers, boundary evolution and boundary disputes. The second section considers aspects of international law related to boundaries. It includes chapters dealing with international law and territorial boundaries, maps as evidence of international boundaries and river boundaries and international law. The third section consists of seven regional chapters that examine the evolution of boundaries in the Americas, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe, islands off Southeast Asia and Antarctica.