Canadian-American documentary filmmaker, writer, and activist
Astra Taylor
Taylor in 2014
Born (1979-09-30 ) September 30, 1979 (age 44) Alma mater Spouse
Relatives
Sunaura Taylor (sister)
Astra Taylor (born September 30, 1979)
[1] is a
Canadian-American
documentary
filmmaker , writer, activist, and musician. She is a fellow of the
Shuttleworth Foundation for her work on challenging predatory practices around
debt .
[2]
Life
Born in
Winnipeg ,
Manitoba , Taylor grew up in
Athens ,
Georgia ,
[3] and was
unschooled until age 13 when she enrolled in ninth grade.
[4] At 16 she abandoned high school to attend classes at the
University of Georgia ; at the university she studied
Deleuze and
Guattari under Ronald L. Bogue.
[5] She has described herself as a "teenage Deleuzian."
[6]
Taylor enrolled at
Brown University , where she attended classes for a year before dropping out. Reflecting on her decision to leave, Taylor stated "Why had I felt compelled to enroll in an
Ivy League school, to excel by the standards of conventional education and choose a 'difficult' major, instead of making my own way? What was I afraid of?"
[7] Taylor completed a Master of Arts in liberal studies at
The New School , though stated that she ultimately "wearied" of academia.
[8]
Taylor has taught
sociology at the University of Georgia and
SUNY New Paltz . Her writings have appeared in numerous magazines, including
Dissent ,
[9]
n+1 ,
[10]
Adbusters ,
[11]
The Baffler ,
[12]
The Nation ,
[13]
Salon ,
[14] and
The London Review of Books .
[15]
Taylor at the
Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society in 2015
Taylor is the sister of painter and disability activist
Sunny Taylor ,
[16] and is married to
Jeff Mangum of
Neutral Milk Hotel .
[17] She joined Neutral Milk Hotel onstage for a number of shows in 2013 and 2014, playing guitar and accordion.
[18] She is a
vegan .
[19] She lives in New York.
[20]
Activism
Taylor was active in the
Occupy movement and was the co-editor of Occupy!: An OWS-Inspired Gazette with Sarah Leonard of
Dissent magazine and
Keith Gessen of n+1.
[21] The
broadsheet covered
Occupy Wall Street in five issues over the course of the first year of the occupation and was later anthologized by
Verso Books .
[22] Taylor is a co-founder of
Debt Collective , a debtors' union fighting to
cancel debts .
[23]
[24]
Taylor has resisted the label "activist" in her writing
[25] and advocates organized movement building, which she says is a necessary supplement to activism which makes it more durable and effective.
She is also a member of the
Democratic Socialists of America
[26] and on the
Progressive International
council .
[27]
Works
Films
Writing
Examined Life: Excursions with Contemporary Thinkers (editor), The New Press, 2009,
ISBN
9781595584472
[30]
Occupy!: Scenes From Occupied America (co-editor), Verso, 2012,
ISBN
9781844679409
[31]
The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age , Henry Holt and Company, 2014,
ISBN
9780007525591
[32]
"The faux-bot revolution", in
A Field Guide to The Future of Work , RSA Future Work Centre, 2018
[33]
Democracy May Not Exist, but We'll Miss It When It's Gone , Metropolitan Books, 2019,
ISBN
9781250179845
Can't Pay, Won't Pay: The Case for Economic Disobedience and Debt Abolition (forward), Haymarket Books, 2020,
ISBN
9781642594003
[34]
Remake the World: Essays, Reflections, Rebellions , Haymarket Books, 2020,
ISBN
9781642594546
[35]
The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart (CBC Massey Lectures) , Anansi Press, 2023,
ISBN
1487011938
Projects
Other works
Taylor occasionally performs with her husband's band,
Neutral Milk Hotel .
Notes
^
Tortorici, Dayna , ed. (2013),
"Group three" , No Regrets: Three Discussions , Brooklyn, New York, p. 71, retrieved December 30, 2014 {{
citation }}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link )
^
"Astra Taylor" . shuttleworthfoundation.org . September 2015. Archived from
the original on May 7, 2019. Retrieved May 23, 2018 .
^
http://www.hiddendriver.com/about
Archived January 3, 2018, at the
Wayback Machine Astra Taylor's official bio, accessed February 8, 2009
^ Drew, Michelle.
"Interview with Unschooled Filmmaker, Astra Taylor" . CitizenShift .
Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved October 5, 2019 .
^
"Interview: Astra Taylor, Director EXAMINED LIFE" . Still in Motion . Retrieved November 21, 2021 .
^ Toro, Lauren Boyle, Solomon Chase, Marco Roso, Nick Scholl, David.
"Astra Taylor | Digital Democracy and Direct Action" . DIS Magazine . Retrieved November 21, 2021 . {{
cite web }}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link )
^
"The Unschooled Life: Astra Taylor's Story" . PopularResistance.Org . January 16, 2014. Retrieved April 24, 2017 .
^
"Interview: Astra Taylor, Director EXAMINED LIFE" . Still in Motion . Retrieved November 21, 2021 .
^
"Authors: Astra Taylor" . Dissent Magazine . Retrieved February 14, 2016 .
^
"Astra Taylor - Authors" . n+1 . Retrieved October 26, 2014 .
^
"Astra Taylor" . Adbusters . Archived from
the original on October 26, 2014. Retrieved October 26, 2014 .
^
"Astra Taylor - The Baffler" . The Baffler . June 5, 2014. Retrieved June 3, 2023 .
^
"Author Bios: Astra Taylor" . The Nation . April 2, 2010. Retrieved October 26, 2014 .
^
"Astra Taylor" . Salon.com . Retrieved October 26, 2014 .
^
"Astra Taylor" . The London Review of Books . Retrieved October 26, 2014 .
^ Brown, A.L. (January 2002).
"Aardvarks, Armadillos, and an Artist in Greenpoint - Sunny Taylor: A Profile" . Free Williamsburg . Archived from
the original on January 3, 2013. Retrieved February 8, 2009 .
^
http://www.gloriousnoise.com/articles/2008/jeff_mangum_married.php Article from Glorious Noise, accessed February 8, 2009.
^ Jarnow, Jesse.
"Neutral Milk Hotel's First Show in 15 Years Was Ragged, Glorious" . Spin.com. Retrieved October 26, 2014 .
^
"Jeff Mangum Benefit for WFAS" .
Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary . October 28, 2011. Archived from
the original on April 5, 2018. Retrieved June 14, 2016 .
^ Taylor, Astra (2014). The People's Platform . New York. {{
cite book }}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link )
^
"Read Our New Gazette" . n+1 . October 21, 2011. Retrieved March 6, 2016 .
^
VersoBooks.com . Verso Books. December 2011.
ISBN
9781844679409 . Retrieved March 6, 2016 .
^
Remake the World: (Part 1) ,
archived from the original on December 15, 2021, retrieved May 14, 2021
^
"You are not a loan • Debt Collective" . 609c55978fdc1b00076efb96--tdc-home.netlify.app . Retrieved May 14, 2021 .
^ Astra., Taylor,
Remake the World : Essays, Reflections, Rebellions ,
ISBN
978-1-6661-2886-4 ,
OCLC
1285604061 , retrieved December 10, 2021
^ @DemSocialists (August 8, 2021).
".@astradisastra quotes Richard Trumka and talks about the importance of organization for socialists" (
Tweet ) – via
Twitter .
^
"New council member Astra Taylor United States" . X (formerly Twitter) . Retrieved September 19, 2023 .
^ Phillips, Charlie (June 11, 2018).
"What Is Democracy? review searing analysis of who's really in control" .
The Guardian .
ISSN
0261-3077 .
^ Brown, Drew (September 11, 2018).
"The Epic Conversation About Democracy We Need Right Now" . Vice . Retrieved September 15, 2018 .
^ Dougherty, Sally (December 2009).
"Book Review Examined Life: Excursions with Contemporary Thinkers edited by Astra Taylor" . Theosophy Northwest . Retrieved October 26, 2014 .
^
Occupy!: Scenes from Occupied America . Verso Books. December 2011.
ISBN
9781844679409 . Retrieved October 26, 2014 .
^ Wu, Tim (July 18, 2014).
"Content and Its Discontents" . The New York Times . Retrieved September 2, 2014 . "The People's Platform" should be taken as a challenge by the new media that have long claimed to be improving on the old order. Can they prove they are capable of supporting a sustainable cultural ecosystem, in a way that goes beyond just hosting parties at the Sundance Film Festival?
^
"Field Guide to the Future of Work: Essay collection - RSA" . January 9, 2019. Archived from
the original on January 9, 2019. Retrieved January 9, 2019 .
^
"Can't Pay, Won't Pay" . HayMarketBooks.org .
^
Remake the World: Essays, Reflections, Rebellions . Haymarket Books. May 4, 2021.
ISBN
9781642594546 .
External links
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