Spring 2018 | First Issue | Now Published by Bacchus Editions
The inaugural issue of Backwoods: A Journal of Anarchy & Wortcunning returns to print through Bacchus Editions, bringing back into circulation the publication that began a novel and enduring conversation between anti-civilization anarchism, permaculture, and the practical possibilities of living beyond the institutions and dependencies of industrial civilization.
First published in Spring 2018 by Enemy Combatant, Backwoods emerged from a recognition that anarchist critique and ecological practice had too often developed in separate worlds. Its editors proposed a meeting between them, bringing the political and philosophical force of anarchism into conversation with the intimate, material knowledge of land, subsistence, and the living world.
Issue No. 1 established the journal's intellectual and practical terrain. In “An Invitation to Desertion,” Bellamy Fitzpatrick develops a sweeping critique of civilization and introduces the interconnected practices of desertion, autarky, and reinhabitation. Eera Sylvain's “On Subsistence & Slavery” examines the historical destruction of independent subsistence and the creation of economic dependence, tracing the ways in which people have been separated from the means of furnishing their own lives.
Alongside these arguments, the journal enters the garden and the forest. Sylvia Wilde's “A Forest Garden Primer” introduces the practical cultivation of perennial food systems, while Kanzan Kitsune's “The Garden Path” offers a glimpse of life rooted in ecological practice in Japan. Toby Hemenway, in conversation with the editors, considers the possibilities of permaculture and its relationship to anarchist thought. The issue closes with reviews and Peter Lamborn Wilson's wiley “Against Sustainability,” a pointed challenge to one of modern environmentalism's most comfortable assumptions.
Throughout, Backwoods returns to the question of what autonomy requires in the substance of everyday life. The ability to feed oneself, to know a particular place, to recover skills and relationships displaced by industrial dependence, and to cultivate forms of life that no longer reproduce the conditions one wishes to escape.
Bacchus Editions has taken over as pubisher of beloved Backwoods Journal, and here, we give you the original issue with its written and illustrated contents intact, preserving the character and editorial intentions of the 2018 publication.
The only change, and we think it’s an incredible one, is that paper has been newly selected for this edition. We have printed this issue on Rolland Enviro, manufactured in Québec from 100% post-consumer recycled fibre. This is a deliberate choice to carry forward the original publishers' concern for small-scale production and the materials through which anarchist publications enter the world.
The first issue is once again available in print, with the subsequent issues of Backwoods Journal joining soon! One issue at a time.
For the journal's history, editorial philosophy, and continuing work, visit Backwoods Journal at Bacchus Editions.
Backwoods Journal is being printed in small, successive runs at Bacchus Editions. As we introduce the journal to a new readership, we are allowing production to follow demand rather than maintaining large quantities of stock.
Copies already on hand will ship within our usual fulfillment window. If an issue sells through its current print run, your order will be included in the next printing cycle. This may add a little time before your copy ships.
All orders are fulfilled in the order they are received, and the journal will remain available to purchase as subsequent runs are completed.
Spring 2018 | First Issue | Now Published by Bacchus Editions
The inaugural issue of Backwoods: A Journal of Anarchy & Wortcunning returns to print through Bacchus Editions, bringing back into circulation the publication that began a novel and enduring conversation between anti-civilization anarchism, permaculture, and the practical possibilities of living beyond the institutions and dependencies of industrial civilization.
First published in Spring 2018 by Enemy Combatant, Backwoods emerged from a recognition that anarchist critique and ecological practice had too often developed in separate worlds. Its editors proposed a meeting between them, bringing the political and philosophical force of anarchism into conversation with the intimate, material knowledge of land, subsistence, and the living world.
Issue No. 1 established the journal's intellectual and practical terrain. In “An Invitation to Desertion,” Bellamy Fitzpatrick develops a sweeping critique of civilization and introduces the interconnected practices of desertion, autarky, and reinhabitation. Eera Sylvain's “On Subsistence & Slavery” examines the historical destruction of independent subsistence and the creation of economic dependence, tracing the ways in which people have been separated from the means of furnishing their own lives.
Alongside these arguments, the journal enters the garden and the forest. Sylvia Wilde's “A Forest Garden Primer” introduces the practical cultivation of perennial food systems, while Kanzan Kitsune's “The Garden Path” offers a glimpse of life rooted in ecological practice in Japan. Toby Hemenway, in conversation with the editors, considers the possibilities of permaculture and its relationship to anarchist thought. The issue closes with reviews and Peter Lamborn Wilson's wiley “Against Sustainability,” a pointed challenge to one of modern environmentalism's most comfortable assumptions.
Throughout, Backwoods returns to the question of what autonomy requires in the substance of everyday life. The ability to feed oneself, to know a particular place, to recover skills and relationships displaced by industrial dependence, and to cultivate forms of life that no longer reproduce the conditions one wishes to escape.
Bacchus Editions has taken over as pubisher of beloved Backwoods Journal, and here, we give you the original issue with its written and illustrated contents intact, preserving the character and editorial intentions of the 2018 publication.
The only change, and we think it’s an incredible one, is that paper has been newly selected for this edition. We have printed this issue on Rolland Enviro, manufactured in Québec from 100% post-consumer recycled fibre. This is a deliberate choice to carry forward the original publishers' concern for small-scale production and the materials through which anarchist publications enter the world.
The first issue is once again available in print, with the subsequent issues of Backwoods Journal joining soon! One issue at a time.
For the journal's history, editorial philosophy, and continuing work, visit Backwoods Journal at Bacchus Editions.
Backwoods Journal is being printed in small, successive runs at Bacchus Editions. As we introduce the journal to a new readership, we are allowing production to follow demand rather than maintaining large quantities of stock.
Copies already on hand will ship within our usual fulfillment window. If an issue sells through its current print run, your order will be included in the next printing cycle. This may add a little time before your copy ships.
All orders are fulfilled in the order they are received, and the journal will remain available to purchase as subsequent runs are completed.
