For many, anarchism may conjure scenes of disarray and chaos, or perhaps even riotous punk rock shows in dingy basement venues. But in this video, the historian Sophie Scott-Brown, a self-described anarchist, reframes anarchism as a movement that can be practically applied to, and even strengthen, contemporary liberal democracies. In a wide-ranging interview, Scott-Brown discusses the form of anarchy she ascribes to – pacifist, centred on direct democracy, and not inherently opposed to all forms of leadership structures – as well as the thinkers and personal experiences that influenced her.
Video by the Institute of Arts and Ideas
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Animals and humans
Why be dragons? How massive, reptilian beasts entered our collective imagination
58 minutes
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Rituals and celebrations
Flirtation, negotiation and vodka – or how to couple up in 1950s rural Poland
5 minutes
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Technology and the self
In the town once named Asbestos, locals ponder the voids industry left in its wake
16 minutes
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Biology
How the world’s richest reds are derived from an innocuous Mexican insect
5 minutes
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Cities
A lush, whirlwind tribute to the diversity of life in a northern English county
3 minutes
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Film and visual culture
‘Bags here are rarely innocent’ – how filmmakers work around censorship in Iran
8 minutes
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Language and linguistics
Closed captions suck. Here’s one artist’s inventive project to make them better
8 minutes
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Thinkers and theories
A rare female scholar of the Roman Empire, Hypatia lived and died as a secular voice
5 minutes
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Architecture
The celebrated architect who took inspiration from sitting, waiting and contemplating
29 minutes