Revolutions and their places: the anarchist geographers and the problem of nationalities in the Age of Empire (1875-1914)

This chapter addresses the problem of nationalities in the work of early anarchist geographers at the Age of Empire. Drawing on recent literature on anarchist geographies and histories of transnational anarchism, I address the work of three key exponents of the international network of the anarchist geographers, Mikhail Dragomanov (1841-1895), Pyotr Kropotkin (1842-1921) and Elisée Reclus (1830-1905). My main argument is that the anarchist tradition and the idea of nation stand not in opposition, but in mutual relation, and that such relation was linked to early anti-colonialism in the Age of Empire. The standpoint of anarchist geographers is a privileged one to understand the anarchist idea of nation because these militants and scholars worked on territories, regions, and borders, thus the definition of what a nation is (or should be) was part of both their professional duties and their political interests.