This course explores the ways that the object of the print book has been transformed, politically and materially, in the context of radical social movements in the twenty-first century in Latin America. Through examination of interplay between the political concepts proposed by the movements and the materiality of the books they produce, this course will consider the ways that the print book acts as a networking agent, facilitating and expanding transnational dialogues in the Americas. This course will explore the ways that radical, independent, and underground publishing projects propose alternative practices and ethics that question and destabilize historical power structures endemic to publishing and knowledge production. 

Working from the concept of the “book in movement” as a way of accounting for the dynamic material and political life of this cultural object, we will examine informal archives of books produced by radical publishers in Latin America, as well as locally-housed collections in Los Angeles. The course may also include field trips to radical community libraries and bookstores and presentations (via Zoom) by members of publishing collectives in Latin America. Over the course of the week, we will focus on the different stages in the life of the book, as a means of considering how the various aspects of the production and circulation of print books are taken up as sites of political, social, and economic experimentation and intervention. Particular areas of focus include: collective practices of authorship, experimental printing and bookbinding, alternative approaches to intellectual property, and non-capitalist/anti-capitalist marketing and distribution.