Overview
Spencer is a historian of anarchism and the left in the Americas. His dissertation, titled “Love and Rage: Revolutionary Anarchism in the Late Twentieth Century,” explores the revitalization of anarchism in the 1980s-90s. The dissertation draws from the that he helps run. His writing can be found at emptyhandshistory.com. He is on Twitter @spencerbeswick and Mastodon @spencerbeswick@kolektiva.social
Advisors: Russell Rickford, Ray Craib, and Claudia Verhoeven
Publications
Journal articles and book chapters:
Anarchist Studies 30(2) (2022): 31-54.
“Radical Americas: A Hemispheric History of the Left,” Left History: A Journal of Historical Inquiry and Debate (Forthcoming, Fall/Winter 2022)
“‘We’re Pro-Choice and We Riot!’: Anarcha-Feminism in Love and Rage (1989-98),” Coils of the Serpent: Journal for the Study of Contemporary Power (Forthcoming)
“Smashing Whiteness: Race, Class, and Punk Culture in the Love and Rage Revolutionary Anarchist Federation (1989-98),” (Bristol: Active Distribution, forthcoming in 2023)
Popular writing:
The Washington Post (January 6, 2023)
Perspectives on Anarchist Theory (September 11, 2022)
Hard Crackers: Chronicles of Everyday Life (August 30, 2022)
Perspectives on Anarchist Theory (July 29, 2022)
Interviewed for the It’s Going Down podcast (June 17, 2022)
It’s Going Down (May 19, 2022)
The Washington Post (May 17, 2022)
Spencer has taught multiple courses on anarchism, Marxism, and anti-colonialism at Cornell University. He lives with his partner and cats in Ithaca, NY, where he has been involved with Food Not Bombs, the Antidote Infoshop, and DSA. He recently launched a local oral history project called “Socialism is Gorges: Ithaca’s Radical History."
