06.02.2021

Thesis Statement:

This Conceptual Paper presents a taxonomy of ‘mutual aid’ in academic discourse. Current popular usage of ‘mutual aid’ generally follows Dean Spade’s conceptualization which emphasizes non-hierarchical, participatory approaches to organizing and contrasts mutual aid explicitly with more institutionalized ‘charity’ approaches. However, the term ‘mutual aid’ has been used to describe a variety of phenomena in the social sciences. While most link to the anarchist Kropotkin’s definition of the term, they sit uneasily with the current anti-bureaucratic conceptualization of mutual aid.

Sections:

• Popular Usage:
  • Theoretical and Popular literature. Look to Dean Spade, DSA, and activist literature to flesh out main themes. (could be multiple single-spaced pages)

• Kropotkin

  • Review (briefly) Kropotkin’s conceptualization of mutual aid (from is 1902 work or later summaries of his work) (maybe a page, single spaced?)

• Self-Help Groups – Mutual Aid Organizations and Social Work

  • Review development of self-help groups, from mutual aid origins to much more formalized and medicalized entities today. However, there is also a tension in more radical social work to bring in the current ‘Spade’-style ethos in some literature (which is confusing but noteworthy – this later point could also be made in the discussion section?) (~1 page, single space)

• Mutual Aid Societies (Fraternal Orders) (one page total)

  • Historical Fraternal Orders (Primary) (This follows both pre-and post Kropotkin I believe, and while mostly historical, echo in later incarnations with the ideas of other types of self described ‘mutual aid’ groups
  • Retirement Funds (Italy, Japan, Korea) – Link to historical fraternal order definitions. Note how they stand fairly outside anti-hierarchial definitions.
  • Other Formal Organizing (China) – Harder to define given my own lack of cultural literacy, but these seem to link similarly to the retirement fund. May link more explicitly to Kropotkin, however they are quite hierarchical through the Chinese state apparatus.

• Mutual Aid Practices(? This is the hard one. At least a page, probably multiple. It gets at what can be defined as mutual aid – regardless of self-identification and how anarchists, activists, and others define it). This is important but fuzzy. I’d prefer to write about the above first and then link into my thinking here).

  • Public Utility/Emergency Response Agreements (This is simple – 1 paragraph)
  • Computer Science (This is simple – 1 paragraph)
  • Sociological/Anthropological Literature (This is more complex – see above comment)
    • Very important – links to Black community historical use of MA and how that relates to current usage.
  • Anarchist evolution (I think this will be important as it may underlie some more modern Dean-Spade thinking of what counts as mutual aid in a useful way, but I haven’t read up on much).
    • Review how this has been developed in mainstream anarchist and geography theory.

• Discussion

  • Mutual Aid Groups or Mutual Aid Practices
  • Informal vs Formal organizing, and relationship to MA.
  • Lines of future research (Technology/ICTs).