Nathaniel Andrews

I am a cultural historian of the anarchist movement, with a particular emphasis on Spain and Argentina.

I completed a BA in Hispanic Studies at University College London, where I graduated with a First Class Honours, in 2015. I then moved to Leeds in 2016 to study an MA in Modern History, graduating with a Distinction in December 2017.

My MA thesis focused on the repression of the Catalan anarcho-syndicalist movement between 1919-1923. I finished my PhD at the School of History in 2021, and my doctoral research examined anarchist ‘prefigurative politics’ in Spain and Argentina, exploring the themes of space, time, the family and ‘informal’ resistance to show how, between 1890 and 1930, anarchists in these countries prefigured an alternative (and distinctively anarchist) society).

As well as an LAHRI Postdoctoral Fellow, I am currently a Lecturer in Spanish and Latin American Cultural Studies at the University of Manchester, and Editorial Copywriter at the British Online Archives.

Research Interests

At the intersection between History, Anthropology and Modern Languages, my research interests centre on the anarchist movements of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, primarily in Europe and the Americas. Specifically, my work centres on the anarchist cultural project (most notably libertarian education, the gender dynamics within the anarchist movement, and anarchist conceptions of the family), as well as transnational and trans-local activism. Drawing on a wide range of theorists, from Michel de Certeau and Pierre Bourdieu to Michel Foucault and Jacques Rancière, I explore everyday practices, and ‘prefigurative politics’ (that is, the ways in which, in everyday life, anarchists ‘prefigure’ the society they wish to create). I am currently developing a project on anarchism and childhood, in Spain, Argentina and the USA, which will not only foreground the experiences of ‘anarchist’ children in these countries, but will also explore anarchist understandings and childhood and adulthood, respectively.’

Conference papers/round tables

Research Seminar at the Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies, University of Manchester (2022)

Conference at the Czech Academy of Sciences titled ‘Acting As If: Prefigurative Politics in Theory and Practice’ (2021)

Annual Conference of the History of Education Society (2021)

Annual Conference of the Association for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies (2021)

Annual Conference of the Association of Hispanists of Great Britain & Ireland (2021)

Oxford and Edinburgh Modern Spain Doctoral Seminar Group (2021)

Annual Conference of the Latin American Studies Association (2018)

Leeds Centre for the History of Ibero-America Annual Postgraduate Research Symposium (2018)

Annual Conference of the Association of Hispanists of Great Britain & Ireland (2017)

Annual Conference of the Association of Contemporary Iberian Studies (2017)

Publications:

& Richard Cleminson, ‘Introduction: New Directions in Studies of Spanish Anarchism’, Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies (co-edited a special issue - accepted, 2022)

Book review of The Sons of Night by Antoine Giménez and The Giménologues, Anarchist Studies (accepted, 2021)

‘Repression, Solidarity, and a Legacy of Violence: Spanish Anarcho-Syndicalism and the Years of “Pistolerismo”, 1919-23’, International Journal of Iberian Studies, 32.3 (2019), 173-193

‘Transatlantic Anarchism: Cultural Deviance and “Prefigurative Politics” in Argentina and Spain, 1917-1936’, in New Journeys in Iberian Studies: A (Trans-) National and (Trans-) Regional Exploration, ed. by Mark Gant, Anneliese Hatton and Paco Ruzzante (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018), pp. 182-193

Prizes/Grants

Nominated for Research Excellence Award, University of Leeds, 2021

Commendation for Exceptional Teaching, University of Leeds, 2019

Royal Historical Society Grant for Research Expenses, 2018

AHRC Doctoral Studentship, WRoCAH, 2017

University of Leeds Fee Scholarship, 2016

School of History & IMS Taught MA Scholarship, University of Leeds, 2016

Alcalá Galeano Prize, University College London, 2015

UCL Dean’s List Award, University College London, 2015

Special Award for Spanish, University College London, 2015

Special Award for Portuguese, University College London, 2015

A. Parker Prize, University College London, 2013