We are happy to announce a short one week residential course titled, “Living Utopias”, in November 2018. The course provides a perspective to understand a) the urgency in combating the crisis of industrialism in the world today and b) the various alternatives in different spheres of a civilisation—ecology/ economy/ politics/ socio-cultural/ education and technology. The course through well outlined examples and case studies, will also showcase few of the new and emerging efforts in India and the world today which are do-able. The course aims to provide a sense of hope and encouragement towards building another world based on the premise of a good society where we ALL not only survive but flourish!
WHO CAN ENROL? Students, activists, learners, anyone interested in learning, exploring, and engaging with living examples of efforts and networks that provide alternatives to the ideology of industrialism. The language of instruction will be in English.
Course Fee: The course fee is Rs. 5000/- for seven days that covers the costs of accommodation and food. To be payable at the venue by 14th November, 2018.
WHEN: Nov 14- 19, 2018 (It is mandatory to arrive at venue on 13th Nov, 2018)
WHERE: Green College, Living Farms, Muniguda, Rayagadha District, Orissa (Directions to reach the venue will be provided upon registration)
COURSE FACULTY: Sujit Sinha and Pallavi Varma Patil, Azim Premji University, Bangalore and Debjeet Sarangi, Living Farms, Orissa
HOW TO REGISTER: Please email Pallavi Varma Patil, Faculty, Azim Premji University at pallavi.vp@apu.edu.in for the registration form. Last date of registration by email is November 05, 2018.
Much appreciated if you please spread the word around for this short course in your forums.
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INTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT OF THE COURSE
The word “Development” is associated with the spread of “Industrialism” — an ideology of ever increasing material growth and consumption through faster and faster exploitation of Nature, using the wonders of large scale Science and Technology, guided by powerful Nation States and Corporations, rising world scale trade , and individualism. Last 30 years of information technology has been able to make almost everyone aspire to climb this endless consumption ladder. This has brought the world to the brink of ecological collapse, depths of socio-economic inequalities and despair, increasingly dysfunctional political institutions, and hugely stressed socio-cultural systems.
In the last few decades, efforts to bring justice, equity, sustainability in the idea of development, can be classified in two broad arenas — One, what we call , changes within the existing Industrialism paradigm ( such as global efforts to measure development more comprehensively be it the Human Development Index (HDI) , Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Green Growth, or the triple bottom line ) And two, what we term as alternatives which are radical challenges to the very premise of Industrialism in all spheres of human civilization —- economic, ecological, technological, political, and socio-cultural.
In today’s times Industrialism as an ideology continues to grow and spread, the crisis continues to worsen, and the alternatives remain in minority. If the crisis grows faster than solutions, human civilizations will collapse as they have done many times all over the word during last 3000 years. Except this time civilizations are likely to collapse worldwide!
However, there are counter currents of hope across the world, like have always been– be it the significant old anti-Industrialism ideologies like Gandhi and Tagore’s vision in India , Anarchism in Europe, Ubuntu in Africa, Buen Vivir in Latin America. But today, as the crisis deepens, new ones are emerging such as Degrowth movement in Europe, Radical Ecological Democracy in India, Rights of Nature in Latin America. In today’s times, alternatives are networking with each other and strengthening emerging new ones to counter the collapsing Industrialism. The hope is that solutions can and will arise and spread fast to overcome the crisis.
We invite you through this course to be part of this exploratory journey with us of efforts striving for a world that consists of just, equitable, healthy, happy, peaceful, creative, caring, sharing, self- sufficient, self- governing, eco-sustainable, non-exploiting, rural and urban communities.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Understand the key features of INDUSTRIALISM — its accompanying idea of DEVELOPMENT, its overwhelming ecological crisis today , and its possible collapse
2. Discuss some of the major ‘anti-industrialism’ visions and frameworks
3. Become familiar with specific emerging alternatives aligned to the above anti-industrialism visions, in India and around the world
4. Get linked to some of these alternatives and initiatives
5. Grapple with how to adopt and try some of these ideas in your own places of work and living
Detailed Course Outline and Schedule – Living Utopias Course Agenda Nov 14-19,2018 at Muniguda, Odisha
Azim Premji University 