Astra Taylor
Canadian-American documentary filmmaker, writer, and activist
Astra Taylor
Taylor in 2014
Born (1979-09-30 ) September 30, 1979 (age 44) Alma mater Spouse
Relatives Sunaura Taylor (sister)
Astra Taylor (born September 30, 1979)[1] is a Canadian-American documentary filmmaker , writer, activist, and musician. She is a fellow of the Shuttleworth Foundation for her work on challenging predatory practices around debt .[2]
Life
Born in Winnipeg , Manitoba , Taylor grew up in Athens , Georgia ,[3] and was unschooled until age 13 when she enrolled in ninth grade.[4] At 16 she abandoned high school to attend classes at the University of Georgia ; at the university she studied Deleuze and Guattari under Ronald L. Bogue.[5] She has described herself as a "teenage Deleuzian."[6]
Taylor enrolled at Brown University , where she attended classes for a year before dropping out. Reflecting on her decision to leave, Taylor stated "Why had I felt compelled to enroll in an Ivy League school, to excel by the standards of conventional education and choose a 'difficult' major, instead of making my own way? What was I afraid of?"[7] Taylor completed a Master of Arts in liberal studies at The New School , though stated that she ultimately "wearied" of academia.[8]
Taylor has taught sociology at the University of Georgia and SUNY New Paltz . Her writings have appeared in numerous magazines, including Dissent ,[9] n+1 ,[10] Adbusters ,[11] The Baffler ,[12] The Nation ,[13] Salon ,[14] and The London Review of Books .[15]
Taylor at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society in 2015
Taylor is the sister of painter and disability activist Sunny Taylor ,[16] and is married to Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel .[17] She joined Neutral Milk Hotel onstage for a number of shows in 2013 and 2014, playing guitar and accordion.[18] She is a vegan .[19] She lives in New York.[20]
Activism
Taylor was active in the Occupy movement and was the co-editor of Occupy!: An OWS-Inspired Gazette with Sarah Leonard of Dissent magazine and Keith Gessen of n+1.[21] The broadsheet covered Occupy Wall Street in five issues over the course of the first year of the occupation and was later anthologized by Verso Books .[22] Taylor is a co-founder of Debt Collective , a debtors' union fighting to cancel debts .[23] [24]
Taylor has resisted the label "activist" in her writing[25] and advocates organized movement building, which she says is a necessary supplement to activism which makes it more durable and effective.
She is also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America [26] and on the Progressive International council .[27]
Works
Films
Writing
Examined Life: Excursions with Contemporary Thinkers (editor), The New Press, 2009, ISBN 9781595584472 [30]
Occupy!: Scenes From Occupied America (co-editor), Verso, 2012, ISBN 9781844679409 [31]
The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age , Henry Holt and Company, 2014, ISBN 9780007525591 [32]
"The faux-bot revolution", in A Field Guide to The Future of Work , RSA Future Work Centre, 2018[33]
Democracy May Not Exist, but We'll Miss It When It's Gone , Metropolitan Books, 2019, ISBN 9781250179845
Can't Pay, Won't Pay: The Case for Economic Disobedience and Debt Abolition (forward), Haymarket Books, 2020, ISBN 9781642594003 [34]
Remake the World: Essays, Reflections, Rebellions , Haymarket Books, 2020, ISBN 9781642594546 [35]
The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart (CBC Massey Lectures) , Anansi Press, 2023, ISBN 1487011938
Projects
Other works
Taylor occasionally performs with her husband's band, Neutral Milk Hotel .
Notes
^ Tortorici, Dayna , ed. (2013), "Group three" , No Regrets: Three Discussions , Brooklyn, New York, p. 71, retrieved December 30, 2014 {{citation }}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link )
^ "Astra Taylor" . shuttleworthfoundation.org . September 2015. Archived from the original on May 7, 2019. Retrieved May 23, 2018 .
^ http://www.hiddendriver.com/about Archived January 3, 2018, at the Wayback Machine Astra Taylor's official bio, accessed February 8, 2009
^ Drew, Michelle. "Interview with Unschooled Filmmaker, Astra Taylor" . CitizenShift . Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved October 5, 2019 .
^ "Interview: Astra Taylor, Director EXAMINED LIFE" . Still in Motion . Retrieved November 21, 2021 .
^ Toro, Lauren Boyle, Solomon Chase, Marco Roso, Nick Scholl, David. "Astra Taylor | Digital Democracy and Direct Action" . DIS Magazine . Retrieved November 21, 2021 . {{cite web }}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link )
^ "The Unschooled Life: Astra Taylor's Story" . PopularResistance.Org . January 16, 2014. Retrieved April 24, 2017 .
^ "Interview: Astra Taylor, Director EXAMINED LIFE" . Still in Motion . Retrieved November 21, 2021 .
^ "Authors: Astra Taylor" . Dissent Magazine . Retrieved February 14, 2016 .
^ "Astra Taylor - Authors" . n+1 . Retrieved October 26, 2014 .
^ "Astra Taylor" . Adbusters . Archived from the original on October 26, 2014. Retrieved October 26, 2014 .
^ "Astra Taylor - The Baffler" . The Baffler . June 5, 2014. Retrieved June 3, 2023 .
^ "Author Bios: Astra Taylor" . The Nation . April 2, 2010. Retrieved October 26, 2014 .
^ "Astra Taylor" . Salon.com . Retrieved October 26, 2014 .
^ "Astra Taylor" . The London Review of Books . Retrieved October 26, 2014 .
^ Brown, A.L. (January 2002). "Aardvarks, Armadillos, and an Artist in Greenpoint - Sunny Taylor: A Profile" . Free Williamsburg . Archived from the original on January 3, 2013. Retrieved February 8, 2009 .
^ http://www.gloriousnoise.com/articles/2008/jeff_mangum_married.php Article from Glorious Noise, accessed February 8, 2009.
^ Jarnow, Jesse. "Neutral Milk Hotel's First Show in 15 Years Was Ragged, Glorious" . Spin.com. Retrieved October 26, 2014 .
^ "Jeff Mangum Benefit for WFAS" . Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary . October 28, 2011. Archived from the original on April 5, 2018. Retrieved June 14, 2016 .
^ Taylor, Astra (2014). The People's Platform . New York. {{cite book }}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link )
^ "Read Our New Gazette" . n+1 . October 21, 2011. Retrieved March 6, 2016 .
^ VersoBooks.com . Verso Books. December 2011. ISBN 9781844679409 . Retrieved March 6, 2016 .
^ Remake the World: (Part 1) , archived from the original on December 15, 2021, retrieved May 14, 2021
^ "You are not a loan • Debt Collective" . 609c55978fdc1b00076efb96--tdc-home.netlify.app . Retrieved May 14, 2021 .
^ Astra., Taylor, Remake the World : Essays, Reflections, Rebellions , ISBN 978-1-6661-2886-4 , OCLC 1285604061 , retrieved December 10, 2021
^ @DemSocialists (August 8, 2021). ".@astradisastra quotes Richard Trumka and talks about the importance of organization for socialists" (Tweet ) – via Twitter .
^ "New council member Astra Taylor United States" . X (formerly Twitter) . Retrieved September 19, 2023 .
^ Phillips, Charlie (June 11, 2018). "What Is Democracy? review searing analysis of who's really in control" . The Guardian . ISSN 0261-3077 .
^ Brown, Drew (September 11, 2018). "The Epic Conversation About Democracy We Need Right Now" . Vice . Retrieved September 15, 2018 .
^ Dougherty, Sally (December 2009). "Book Review Examined Life: Excursions with Contemporary Thinkers edited by Astra Taylor" . Theosophy Northwest . Retrieved October 26, 2014 .
^ Occupy!: Scenes from Occupied America . Verso Books. December 2011. ISBN 9781844679409 . Retrieved October 26, 2014 .
^ Wu, Tim (July 18, 2014). "Content and Its Discontents" . The New York Times . Retrieved September 2, 2014 . "The People's Platform" should be taken as a challenge by the new media that have long claimed to be improving on the old order. Can they prove they are capable of supporting a sustainable cultural ecosystem, in a way that goes beyond just hosting parties at the Sundance Film Festival?
^ "Field Guide to the Future of Work: Essay collection - RSA" . January 9, 2019. Archived from the original on January 9, 2019. Retrieved January 9, 2019 .
^ "Can't Pay, Won't Pay" . HayMarketBooks.org .
^ Remake the World: Essays, Reflections, Rebellions . Haymarket Books. May 4, 2021. ISBN 9781642594546 .
External links
International National Artists Other