Canadian comparatist anthropologist and anarchoprimitivist author
Layla AbdelRahim
AbdelRahim in Sevastopol in May 2006
Born Nationality Russian, Sudanese
[2] Alma mater Occupations
Layla AbdelRahim is a
comparatist
anthropologist and
anarchoprimitivist author, whose works on narratives of
civilization and
wilderness have contributed to the fields of
anthropology ,
literary and
cultural studies ,
comparative literature ,
philosophy ,
animal studies ,
ecophilosophy ,
sociology ,
anarcho-primitivist thought ,
anarchism ,
epistemology , and critique of
civilization ,
technology , and
education .
[3]
[4] She attributes the collapse in the diversity of bio-systems and
environmental degradation to
monoculturalism and the civilized ontology that explains existence in terms of
anthropocentric utilitarian functions.
[5]
Her books Children's Literature, Domestication, and Social Foundation: Narratives of Civilization and Wilderness (
Routledge 2015) and Wild Children – Domesticated Dreams: Civilization and the Birth of Education
[6] (
Fernwood 2013) make a contribution to children's literary theory and a critique of education as rooted in the civilized need for the domestication of children.
[7]
Education
AbdelRahim received her A.B. from
Bryn Mawr College and, upon graduation in 1993, received the
Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to pursue an anthropological project in Europe. She did graduate work in 1993–94 at the
School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (
École des hautes études en sciences sociales ) or l'EHESS and master studies in social sciences at
Stockholm University where she later worked as
Visiting Researcher at the department of
social anthropology . She completed her Ph.D. at the
Université de Montréal , Department of Comparative Literature. Her dissertation entitled Order and the Literary Rendering of Chaos: Children's Literature as Knowledge, Culture, and Social Foundation , examines the effect of ontological premises on human self-knowledge (
anthropology ) and the repercussions of such knowledge on the anthropogenic destruction of the world's life systems and diversity.
[8]
Thought
AbdelRahim traces the root of all oppression to the ontological premises of
domestication that define the raison d'être of living and non-living beings in terms of consumption and co-existence in a hierarchy of food chain.
[9] Drawing on paleontological studies,
ethology , and
biological anthropology , she challenges the precepts in the narrative of
anthropology that constructs the human as predator and consumer. This critique extends to civilized economic and socio-political cultures and their effect on the
environment as well as on systems of
education and
parenting .
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13] Her examination of civilized and wild narratives is relevant to a variety of domains and disciplines, such as
philosophy of science ,
evolutionary theory ,
anthropology ,
sociology ,
cultural studies ,
environmental economics ,
education ,
literary theory .
Media appearances
AbdelRahim is featured in anOther Story of Progress , a documentary film by Thomas Toivonen, as one of the world's leading contemporary
anarcho-primitivist philosophers.
[14]
Selected works
Books
AbdelRahim, Layla (2015). Children's Literature, Domestication, and Social Foundation: Narratives of Civilization and Wilderness . New York: Routledge.
ISBN
978-0-415-66110-2 .
Wild Children – Domesticated Dreams: Civilization and the Birth of Education . Halifax: Fernwood. 2013.
ISBN
978-1-552-66548-0 .
Articles
AbdelRahim, Layla (May 2008).
"Beyond the Symbolic and towards the Collapse" . The Anarchist Library . Retrieved September 16, 2012 .
AbdelRahim, Layla (June 2009).
"On Objects, Love, and Objectifications" . The Paulinian Compass . Retrieved September 16, 2012 .
AbdelRahim, Layla (November 2009).
"The Nature of Mind Destruction" . The Paulinian Compass . Retrieved September 16, 2012 .
AbdelRahim, Layla (December 2009).
"Avatar: An Anarcho-Primitivist Picture of the History of the World" . The Anarchist Library . Retrieved September 16, 2012 .
AbdelRahim, Layla (July 2010).
"Genealogies of Wilderness and Domestication in Children's Narratives: Understanding Genesis and Genetics in the Untangling of Identity" . The Paulinian Compass . Retrieved September 16, 2012 .
AbdelRahim, Layla (May 2014).
"Education as the Domestication of Inner Space" .
Fifth Estate (391). Retrieved April 3, 2015 .
References
^ Jandric, Petar.
"Anarchism's Posthuman Future" (PDF) . Anarchist Studies . 26 (1): 117. Retrieved July 25, 2020 .
^
"FEATURED AUTHOR Layla AbdelRahim" . Routledge . Retrieved Jul 25, 2020 . AbdelRahim was born in Moscow, in an inter-racial, inter-continental, and multi-lingual family. As a child she moved to Sudan...
^ Routledge.
"Children's Literature, Domestication, and Social Foundation: Narratives of Civilization and Wilderness (Hardback)" . Routledge. Retrieved 2012-10-01 .
^
" "Primitivism" 101" . Deep Green Philly. 2011-05-05. Retrieved 2012-10-01 .
^
"Interview with Layla AbdelRahim" . In the Land of the Living. Retrieved 2012-10-01 .
^ The book launch during "La journée contre la civilisation" at La Déferle (May 19, 2013)
http://www.mediarechercheaction.info/?p=602
Archived 2014-04-19 at the
Wayback Machine
^ Routledge.
"Children's Literature, Domestication, and Social Foundation: Narratives of Civilization and Wilderness (Hardback)" . Routledge. Retrieved 2012-10-01 .
^ Abdelrahim, Layla (2011-11-03).
"PAPYRUS - Université de Montréal: Order and the literary rendering of chaos : children's literature as knowledge, order, and social foundation" . Papyrus.bib.umontreal.ca. Retrieved 2012-10-01 .
^ miltsovorg.
"Layla AbdelRahim - How Ivan the Fool Defeats Civilized Pedagogies" . YouTube. Retrieved 2012-10-01 .
^
"Coop média de Montréal | Journalisme indépendant" . Montreal.mediacoop.ca. Retrieved 2012-10-01 .
^
"Avatar: An Anarcho-Primitivist Picture of the History of the World (Layla AbdelRahim)" . The Anarchist Library. 2010-01-21. Retrieved 2012-10-01 .
^
"Beyond the Symbolic and towards the Collapse (Layla AbdelRahim)" . The Anarchist Library. 2009-08-18. Retrieved 2012-10-01 .
^
"Domestication, aliénation et civilisation (Layla AbdelRahim)" . Montreal.mediacoop.ca. Retrieved 2012-10-01 .
^
"anOther Story Of Progress | Watch Documentary Online Free" . Documentary Heaven. Retrieved 2012-10-01 .
External links