Anarres Project

The Anarres Project is a forum for conversations, ideas, and initiatives that promote a future free of domination, exploitation, oppression, war, and empire. The Project is based on the understanding that past, present, and future are not separate. We are intent on uncovering the many living futures constantly coming into being in the present, those innovations and creative insurgencies happening everywhere in our midst, and exploring the affinities between them.

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Episodes

Sci-Fi and Philosophy Illustrated: Helen De Cruz

In this episode of Conversations on Anarres, we talk with Dr. Helen De Cruz about science fiction, the radical imagination and the power of art to express philosophy. She is a philosopher, science fiction/fantasy author, and artist. Currently, she is the Danforth Chair of Philosophy and Humanities at St. Louis University where she teaches philosophy of religion, experimental philosophy, and philosophy of mind. In our interview, we begin by talking about the work she did in the volume "Philosophy...

Feb 21, 2022•57 min

25 Years of the Institute for Anarchist Studies

In this episode of Conversations on Anarres, we sat down with Chuck Morse and Lara Messersmith-Glavin to talk about the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Institute for Anarchist Studies. The IAS operates as a nonprofit organization that funds artists, writers and organizers to produce materials that explore anarchism as a social and political ideal. Chuck Morse founded the Institute for Anarchist Studies in 1996. His goal was to establish an anarchist think tank, an intellectual hub in which anarc...

Dec 28, 2021•1 hr 6 min

Are Police Forces Inherently Oppressive? Dr. Amelia M. Wirts

In this episode of Conversations on Anarres, we talk with Dr. Amelia M. Wirts who teaches philosophy at the University of Washington. In addition to being a philosopher, she is also a J.D., and has experience as a judicial clerk. We talk about her research into the idea of police as a kind of systemic oppression in the United States. Wirts examines different perspectives that try to explain police brutality as the result of a few bad individuals within police forces, or as a problem that can be ...

Dec 04, 2021•49 min

Does the Billionaire Space Race Benefit Humanity?

On this episode of Conversations on Anarres, we talked with Dr. Randall Milstein. He is the Astronomer in Residence for Oregon’s NASA space Grant consortium, housed at Oregon State University. He is not a NASA employee, but he works regularly to further NASA’s mission. We sat down to talk to him about whether there are any benefits to humanity from the billionaire space race. Dr. Milstein believes there are some pure scientific benefits that can come from this—though he acknowledges the criticis...

Aug 25, 2021•37 min

TrekWars@OSU: Why the Science of Star Trek Matters with Dr. Mohamed Noor

Star Trek has always portrayed science and technology as positive tools for human progress, contrary to the way they are depicted in many modern science fiction stories. We're more likely to see technology creating a dystopia in many contemporary films or TV series. But we also live in an era in which many people are now skeptical of scientific developments and of scientists. So why does the way that Star Trek portray science matter today? In this episode of TrekWars@OSU, Anarres Project co-dire...

Aug 04, 2021•49 min

TrekWars@OSU: Is Star Trek a Communist Utopia?

The political economy of the Star Trek Universe is obviously very different from our current capitalist, free market system. Is it a communist Utopia? Is the world of the Federation a fantasy or a realistic goal for human beings to work toward building? In this episode of TrekWars@OSU, Anarres Project co-director Dr. Joseph Orosco talks with Will Nguyen, the Star Trek Communist, who is both a Star Trek fan and a socialist organizer. We examine how Will uses the Star Trek Universe as a way to tal...

Jul 20, 2021•1 hr 3 min

Dance as a Revolutionary Tool in the Struggle for Climate Justice

In this episode of Conversations on Anarres , we sat down with dancer and filmmaker Shane Scopatz to talk about his new work "Steps and Strikes". Shane is a recent graduate of the Master’s Program in Environmental Humanities at Oregon State University. His film hopes to address the provocative question: Why did the environmental movement fail to protect us from ecological crisis? We sat down with Shane to discuss his answer to this question. We talk about the way in which global capitalism has d...

Jul 14, 2021•47 min

People's Library ABQ:

In this episode of Conversations on Anarres, Dr. Joseph Orosco talks with Fiadh, the organizer of The People's Library ABQ, a radical lending library in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The library's growing collection contains radical history and theory, available for free to whomever wants it. The People’s Library ABQ describes itself as “a community project of leftist theory anarchist history and radial education. We have books about queer, feminist, antiracist theory, indigenous resistance, transfor...

Jul 07, 2021•38 min

TrekWars@OSU: Is the Federation in Star Trek an Empire?

Is the Federation in Star Trek really an empire any different from the Klingons, Romulans, or even the Mirror Universe Terran Empire? As part of TrekWars@OSU, Anarres Project co-director Dr. Joseph Orosco interviews Dr. Leigh McKagan, who teaches history at Virginia Tech University. Dr. McKagan completed her dissertation examining the ways in which ST: Voyager repeats certain elements of classic European imperial narratives. We talk about how Star Trek may keep alive ideas, such as linear progre...

Jun 26, 2021•31 min

Critical Race Theory Frenzy in US Schools: Interview with Dr. Mark Naison

Over the past few months, about a dozen states with Republican majority legislatures have passed laws banning the teaching of Critical Race Theory in public schools. Anarres Project co-director Dr. Joseph Orosco talked with Dr. Mark Naison to help us unpack what is going on with some of these bans. Mark Naison is Professor of History and African American Studies at Fordham University in New York. His many books and articles cover African American polics, labor history, popular culture, and educa...

Jun 24, 2021•30 min

Bridge Toward Utopia: Kim Stanley Robinson

Before, we have only imagined utopia, the point now is to build it. The threat of looming climate catastrophe and the extinction of humanity demands that we use our radical imagination to find a bridge from the real to what is possible. In this conversation, Anarres Project co-directors Dr. Joseph Orosco and Dr. Tony Vogt interview the acclaimed science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson about his new novel, "The Ministry for the Future". Topics include a discussion about the variety of utopian...

Jun 17, 2021•1 hr 13 min

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