https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-023-02022-y.epdf?sharing_token=w2gtPE12lFhblo1dAqp2b9RgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0MT19NAInaEehcp_19knAMhmywzl85A8PqT0jsxyHsKcoNVbhmQQaKx5hDyp6T0vFj1fJPr0Tm4JlnEuYOGxbYeu0sjgrmekTGKF-wJp4faR0B7h4scsukWr0Dme6Ie2SyJCrmln-AHbhYzo0Ehxy63J29O0or5zn9cNznXfnp3JaqECblNIp5FyjBZecnbYU0%3D&tracking_referrer=www.standaard.be

https://watermark.silverchair.com/2-sa26%20hartman%20(1-14).pdf?token=AQECAHi208BE49Ooan9kkhW_Ercy7Dm3ZL_9Cf3qfKAc485ysgAAAtQwggLQBgkqhkiG9w0BBwagggLBMIICvQIBADCCArYGCSqGSIb3DQEHATAeBglghkgBZQMEAS4wEQQMIdftsKH-J4mWF0J4AgEQgIICh6Iwfxt2sXhKEDue1VmoVk6Oi1ZWEILmFOXrl_kndixObKwDF3Th3WG1gjJkBej0iu38Ykm_ykGPob36_leKVixbmav3HerEmY_6YVR9yCS599eHLzAeD3DdUSjbP7SbUWYg6RL10FNoqk5FagcAPxeCkYV7cXrbkArWlVaQlSbu3jXiF1FyNwZmNcFl3IXrR70RqBpFC_w9eqaQsguwuKb_tMpVjutqa8PHQ5G1ivmt-i565SKFoTMNUpJhMdkt9PY4xHZlV7-lbDAnUIjlwZ3fgRT6SWzkJ2Yxlui79Iv0FIbGxMDqm2ILbkK2Tf8Z5dcgq0AvCebxpkBrqE9F7MSVSCKbwaonOigN4oo1CakdUWhNi8jhn_QCx5LyZ5vB3F7G22ceDM3J1ti4MtuwUnZ_qOLJAuxW2xX41FG2DKPWtYdgHerp3Dyi_PKsPWqexZMpaCKSY9pYEIT7Jm9mOtcUpreNlOubMMIPPc-toUe-9LuwJlToyro8G_VtxMjdTgOe7T12Iu8Gq-8KL8CxUZzdnFxrwMR_KVOWPj7UJ97ZVX4GlKUnSk07wGFTDL3wGOoA3ntyzBo5petDwQX3c26P4J0tTux_OWXReLtogjhN5k4sFgQrcL6wxTsUGHpYKBhblW5RP3-qFiYARw25c0ZD9pDUHvV76ijHmnVzUHNonysZ06RjOl5mGX5nui7vCunzB0upxjo9q1Sb2z_j5pSuMBrU298UzFE8dVTJWYjGsps4-avBNxSVMgJmw-juFLAK-OLDVrBtDeThA361gcy4RChofXBjnMLX1eDekLLWN-Djdy_0U6_kmz7KT30O7Ai10kL1z_VimjqVNqIaEk9XSMElVpNk

https://alexandria.anarchaserver.org/images/7/73/Venus_in_Two_Acts_Saidiya_Hartman.pdf

sent on 14/2/2023 to ¬ ` <vo.ezn@leverburns.blue>

Dear Anarcha-server,

I already spoke a bit with Mika and ooooo about this in Berlin earlier this month, and promised to write down this comment so you could hopefully discuss in tomorrow's meeting.

When setting up anarcha.org/8m as one of many entry points for the trans*feminist digital depletion strike, a conversation emerged that you might already be aware of: the question of what circulating the story of Anarcha, Lucy and Betsey and naming the server Anarcha does or is able to do as part of anti-racist and anti-fascist work.

Colleague and comrade Helen Pritchard shared that after having worked with anarcha.org as an example in a class she taught in London, and spending some time with it, students had highlighted the further violence they themselves experienced by the way the story is told, a story they weren't prepared for on clicking through to those web pages. The story shared in different versions on the site documents violences in particular detail, without much warning or further contextualisation. 

I have been around Anarcha for many years, but hadn't revisited these pages* in a while. I started re-reading them, and found the language used to tell their story indeed graphic and objectifying and deeply unsettling, especially if imagining to encounter these pages as a racialised subject. Helen's students did not say that stories of violence and their histories shouldn't be told either, but they made clear that it becomes then even more important how they are contextualised, framed and positioned with an ongoing engagement with the issues and solidarities they bring up. This also leaves open questions too around how the story and sharing it, is thought of by the collective as going towards the ongoing struggles and liberation of Black women.

We started to wonder if it might be time to revisit the pages on Anarcha, Betsey and Lucy, especially in the changing context of the internet on which the website circulates, but also as more writers have reflected on the story of Anarcha since these pages were published. What does it mean to describe Anarcha, Betsey and Lucy only as victim of medical science, instead how might their complexity and wholeness be shared? Also as many have now written too, it raises questions on how perhaps to name Anarcha as "the mother of gynecology" as a gesture, sets up quite a disturbing relation to Sims, but doesn't really engage with the violence of mothering under the conditions of chattel slavery either. What does it mean to name a trans*femininist server project after someone who was under chattel enslavement?

I am writing because I hope you can find some time and energy to consider this; it might be about adding an introduction, or contextualisation or ... to be discussed. Of course I am ready to put time on this, if it can be of any help. And I know there will be others too!

Let me know,

Femke


* of course there are many different ways their story is told on various pages hosted on anarcha.org and some of it I am reading through translation.


--------------------


https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/black-on-both-sides
chapter 2

In the context of the Anarcha Gland research https://anarchagland.hotglue.me/?anarcha_lucy_betsey + 
https://archive.org/details/zine_anarcha_gland_/page/n1/mode/2up
In the context of Anarcha Server https://alexandria.anarchaserver.org/index.php/Anarcha,_Essun,_Moment%C3%A1nea





















Dear Anarcha-server,

I already spoke a bit with Mica and ooooo about this in Berlin, and promised to write down my comment so you could discuss it hopefully in today's/tomorrow's meeting.

When setting up anarcha.org/8m as one of many entry points for the trans*feminist digital depletion strike, a conversation emerged that you might already be aware of, the question of what naming the server Anarcha does or is able to do as part of anti-racist and anti-fascist work. Maybe it might be time to revisit this? Especially in the changing context of the internet/clouds on which the website sits and is circulated, but also as more writers have reflected on this story?

Colleague and comrade Helen Pritchard shared that after having worked with anarcha.org as an example, and spending some time with it, students had highlighted the further violence they had themselves experienced by the way the story is told, a story they weren't prepared for on clicking through to those web pages. The story shared in different versions on the site documents in particular detail violences, without much warning or further contextualisation. 

It brings up questions which have been shared by writers about this story of what it means to describe Anarcha only as victim of medical science, instead how might her complexity and wholeness be shared?  Also as many have now written too, it raises questions on how perhaps to name Anarcha as the mother of gynecology as a gesture, sets up quite a disturbing relation to Simms, but also doesn't really engage with the violence of mothering under the conditions of chattel slavery either. 

This doesn't mean to say those students thought that stories of violence and their histories shouldn't be told either, but perhaps were asking about how they are then contextualised, framed and positioned with the ongoing engagement with these issues and solidarities becomes important. This also leaves open questions too around how the story and sharing it is thought of by the collective in relation towards the ongoing struggles and liberation of Black women. In particular how do Anarcha,org see themselves in relation to the wider questions it brings up? 

I started re-reading the pages describing Anarcha, Betty and Lucy's stories*, and indeed, the language used to describe the story of Anarcha is super graphic and objectifying; encountering these pages as a racialised subject must be deeply unsettling. The historical events these pages describe are brutal, obviously, but we might not need to repeat their violence in order to remind ourselves and others of it.

As for the naming of the server, I don't doubt the intentions of centering the story of Anarcha, Lucy and Betty as part of the project's commitment to anti-racist and anti-fascist work. But what does it mean to name a trans*femininist server project after someone who was under chattel enslavement.

The fact that I have been around Anarcha for many years without asking these questions, is of course already telling. So I am ready to put some time in this (this might mean finding people who can comment, edit and/or rewrite in Spanish, Catalan, French and maybe English). It might be about adding some introduction, or contextualisation or ... to be discussed.

Thanks for considering this,


Femke


* of course there are different ways their story is told on various pages and I am reading some of it through translation. 
In the context of the Anarcha Gland research https://anarchagland.hotglue.me/?anarcha_lucy_betsey + 
https://archive.org/details/zine_anarcha_gland_/page/n1/mode/2up
In the context of Anarcha Server https://alexandria.anarchaserver.org/index.php/Anarcha,_Essun,_Moment%C3%A1nea