By Gerardo López Amaro Abya Yala, ‘ripe land’ in Kuna -also known as the American continent- is home to ineffable cultural, linguistic and biological diversity. It is therefore an impossible task to reduce these never-ending processes of differentiation into a concept that names the dynamism and complexity of this land. In the recent history of
Ecoversities Alliance: A Reflection on Re-imagining Education and Supporting Learning Communities Text by: Udi Mandel and Gerardo Lopez Amaro Illustration & Graphic Design: Kate Morales <iframe src=”https://ecoversities.org/wp-content/plugins/pdf-viewer-for-elementor/assets/pdfjs/web/viewer.html?file=https://ecoversities.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Ecoversities-Reflections-on-Re-imagining-Education-2021.pdf&embedded=true” style=”display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 1045px; height: 1280px;” frameborder=”1″ marginheight=”0px” marginwidth=”0px” allowfullscreen></iframe>
By Alessandra Pomarico with Kū Kahakalau and Kate Morales Okiciya makiyokipi na iyuteya, cuke wayokapi, mitakuye oyasin. Help each other acclimatize and adjust, because the truth is, we are all related. — Lakota saying shared by Wahinkpe Topa (Four Arrows) Together, to gather, to get there. To become one in many, a multitude of singularities,
by Rahul Hasija Possibilities and potency of Stories & Narratives in shaping Ecoversities and their work Each night in my childhood, my mother took me to far-fetched lands, deserts and forests of all kinds, walked upon by Sufi mystiques like Nanak, Kabir, Bulle-Shah. Her stories allowed me to travel to mystical locations as well as
The Future is Now: Ecoversities Alliance Catalogue of Radical Pedagogies What might the university look like if it were at the service of our diverse ecologies, cultures, economies, spiritualities and Life within our planetary home? Compiled and Edited by: Sweta Daga and Manish Jain Layout and Design: Somdutta Pal and Harsh Wardhan Special Thanks: Alessandra
By Traian Brumă Part I : Five types of watercrafts that sail towards adulthood Introduction For a quarter of a century, Ceaușescu was Romania’s omnipresent dictator; his picture adorned every wall and stamped the first page of every book published. He was executed on Christmas day of 1989 and the country was suddenly “free”. I
By Sharmila Govande “A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” <footer> <cite>Oliver Wendell Holmes</cite> </footer> </blockquote> As part of our post graduation course in social work (1), we were required to get a glimpse of the local social development projects through a fifteen day journey.
Each of us, individually and collectively, are capable of self-designing and selforganizing our own learning programs, learning communities and learning ecosystems. We need to reclaim our capacities to decolonize, generate and share knowledge. We need to re-open wisdom dialogues about development, progress, technology, equality, freedom and the good life. This document is a supportive guide to setting up your
Transforming learning into a process of liberation sounds great, but what does it mean in practice? Eco-versity representatives at a meeting in Portugal in 2015. Credit: Brandon Hay. “Redefining the way we learn is also about being aware of the underlying patterns that have been imposed on us through our schooling. Many times we are
By Daniel Rudolph, Selby Beebe-Lawson Editors: Linnea Schluessler and Manish Jain This is part two of an ongoing series, the first article describes the indigenous pedagogy of the Gurukul System. For centuries, monasteries have been hubs of education and scholarship, champions of learning. The word monasticism comes from the Greek word monachos which means “living
by Andreea Gatman Revised and edited by: Albert Stephen Salazar Corrales and sierra ying allen This essay is a process of observing patterns and weaving practices based on 25 interviews conducted with educators, philosophers, entrepreneurs, researchers, and artists, titled ‘Voices from Reimagining Education Conference 2021”. In addition to the references for the interviews in the
By José Salomón Espinoza Andrade | March 2022 “People from different parts of the planet came to the sixth planetary gathering of the Ecoversities Alliance. Each one with our own life story, ancestry and diverse cultures. And we connected, what a joy to be able to say it! We connected with fluidity, depth and solidarity.
Por Gina Gabriela López Realpe Aunque no sepamos encender el fuego ni encontrar aquel lugar en el bosque, ni seamos ya capaces de rezar, podemos seguir contándonos unos a otros la historia, nuestras historias; nos recuerda Gershom Scholem (2012). Y, efectivamente, es en el relato donde nos encontramos, donde conocemos y cuestionamos, razonamos y
by Manuel Callahan “To articulate the past historically does not mean to recognize it ‘the way it really was’ (Ranke). It means to seize hold a memory as it flashes up at a moment of danger.” Walter Benjamin “Hence, empathy with the victor invariably benefits the rulers. Historical materialists know what that means. Whoever has
by russell sparks, thought partnered and collaboratively edited by lara birchler & will scott On the new moon in October 2019, I arrived in indigenous Purhepecha lands in Michoacan, Mexico, on the edge of Lake Patzcuaro. Twice in the nights leading up to travel, dreams of traditional bowhunting had visited me. Soon on arrival, a
leer en español Written by: Andrea González and Juan José Lugo Revised and edited by: Maru Vasco, Sierra Allen, and Alessandra Pomarico Abstract Along the paths of our lives, we will find many approaches to what seems appropriate, what seems to be what we want, what we can do, how we make a decision,
Read in English Escrito por: Andrea González Andino y Juan José Lugo Revisado por: Gerardo López Amaro Resumen En el camino encontraremos muchos acercamientos a lo que parece adecuado, a lo que parece qué es lo que queremos/podemos hacer. ¿Cómo nos movemos? ¿Qué decisiones tomamos? Todo esto se vincula con las formas de aprender/desaprender
By Meenakshi Thirukode [This piece was written at different points between 2020 and early 2021.] One of my closest friends, a german citizen living in Delhi and I, collaborate on projects involving feminist consciousness-raising. Through conducting, varied formats of this workshop, “Pact of Silence – How to break it?”, we collectively, with participants, think through
By Daniel Rudolph One of the most profound learning experiences of my life was while ordaining as a Buddhist monk, in a forest monastery in Thailand. My main intention for becoming a monk was to honor my host mother, and community, for the love they showed to me while living with them in their village
By Kejal Savla, Arnaz Khan and Abhishek Thakore Sarva-Anumati is a compound word: Sarva means all and Anumati means permission or consent. Hence, the term Sarva-Anumati implies the permission or consent of all. Introduced by Mahatma Gandhi, the concept of Sarva-Anumati was further championed by Acharya (Sanskrit for teacher) Vinoba Bhave who is also known
by Karim-Yassin Goessinger Streetology – Presence, Observation and Action (in that order) Africa’s cities have been connected by networks of trade and knowledge exchange for centuries. In the 21st century some of these ancient meeting places have become the fastest growing cities in the world. By the end of this century Dar es Salaam, Kinshasa,
Notes on Common Life, Hospitality and the 2011 Movements of the Squares. 1 By Luis Moreno-Caballud and Begonia Santa-Cecilia 2 Click here to read the Spanish version of this publication. A mysterious, crucial, underground relation It is May 10th, 2011, María Paz has died, we are preparing to leave Madrid and return home. We have
Por Marco Andrade V. La vida me ha dado muy lindas oportunidades de intercambio y de compartir personalmente con jóvenes universitarios de distintos países de Nuestra América. De manera particular, en el año 2009 tuve el privilegio de recorrer casi la totalidad de Sudamérica, visitar las principales universidades en cada país y entrevistar a cientos
By Miti Desai THE INITIATION It all began with a simple yet deep dissatisfaction when I was 20. On the first day of my first job, I spurned the possibility of how my time would be spent. With a clear intuition that I did not want to engage in commercial work whose end was
By Kū Kahakalau, Ph.D. In 2019, efforts to protect Mauna Kea, Hawaiʻiʻs tallest mountain, from the construction of a Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT) (1), crystalised the Hawaiian movement, unlike any other Hawaiian-related issue in the past, uniting tens of thousands of Native Hawaiians of all ages, on all islands, and removing long-standing barriers between Native Hawaiian
MY TWO YEAR JOURNEY AROUND THE WORLD IN SEARCH OF INSPIRATION AND ALLIES TO RADICALLY TRANSFORM HIGHER EDUCATION
Learning takes place in the heart, the hands and the home, not just in the head. What does that mean for the universities of the future? Students from Red Crow Community College visiting Omahkakihtakssin (Majorville Medicine Wheel) in southern Alberta, Canada. Credit: Narcisse Blood. All rights reserved. Situated within the same walls that once housed
by Annie Paradise and Manuel Callahan 01.06.2021 Mothers everywhere have moved into a state of vigil. It is a vigil that is ongoing and without end, but also in motion. Catalyzed primarily by Black, Brown, and Indigenous mothers and also including aunts, grandmothers, sisters, daughters, partners, compañerxs, a proliferation of dissident bodies and genders, extended
by Shane Finan Introduction I’ll start with an adage: You can’t see the woods for the trees. This saying is used to suggest that sometimes what we are looking for is right in front of us. Now I would like to reverse it: We can’t see the trees for the woods. A complex environment may
Playing with the possibilities, tensions and limitations of reimagining (higher) education from within <strong>By Stephanie Marie Knox Steiner</strong> A welcoming, an invocation: Welcome, dear friend of the Ecoverse, fellow traveler on this path! Welcome, body, Welcome, breath. Welcome, land that is holding us in our respective interconnected places. Welcome computers or phones or paper that
Research and Writings by Riham Aziz el Din, Egypt April 2022 Introduction Years of researching and working in cognitive and humanistic psychology has provided me with a framework of theories, jargon and tools to deconstruct the most challenging and complicated context of being a woman, feminist and radical educator in Egypt. As an academic scholar
By Zachary Stein Editors’ Note: This article was reprinted by Ecoversities with permission from the author for the Re-imagining Education Conference February 2022. The original publication can be found here. In this article Zak elucidates that “[i]n a time between worlds there is the possibility for true novelty and emergence. The best of the best
The rebellious art of the Zapatistas and Chto Delat Group <strong>By Natalia Arcos Salvo *</strong> Comrades, Sisters and brothers, This is our commitment: In front of the powerful trains, our canoes. In front of the thermoelectric plants, the little lights that the Zapatistas gave in custody to women who fight all over the world. Facing
By Nora Bateson Editors’ Note: Nora originally published this piece in September 2018 in the World Academy of Arts and Sciences Journal special issue on education. In March 2020, she republished the article with this message, “As we enter this confusing moment of Covid-19 isolation and systems change, it seems to me to be a moment to
Editors’ note: This essay is a reprint with permission from the author. Charles originally published this essay on his website in 2017. By Charles Eisenstein When I graduated from high school in 1985, college was the unquestionable next step for an intelligent, middle-class or upper-middle class young person. I entered an elite school not out
By Alex Bretas INTRODUCTION The way we see the world and behave have been shaped over time by powerful influences: family, media, church, market, life, politics, groups of friends and even our habits. What about school? Have you ever wondered how this institution has been shaping our living in the world, our perception of ourselves
An essay by eileen walz At the start of 2021 I made a commitment. We were deep in the winter of pandemic isolation and I was craving the type of soulful, interpersonal connection my life has often been decorated with. I knew I would have to be more intentional if I was to have more
Por Irene Ragazzini Pasaje: Introducción Con este pequeño libro, quiero compartir una reflexión sobre el desarrollo de las estructuras patriarcales que rigen nuestras sociedades, entendiéndolas como una construcción social e histórica y por lo tanto no universales, ni naturales, ni totalizantes. En primer lugar recupero algunos principios, instituciones y prácticas que, a lo largo
By Françoise Vergès No change for the good ever happens without it being imagined first, even if that change seems hopeless or impossible in the present. —Martin Espada When I was an adolescent on Réunion Island and I was walking in its impressive mountains, which all bear the names of Malagasy maroons,¹ I imagined them
by Kaushiek Pranoo The Digital Age – Welcome to the Machine The Digital Age we are part of today offers us so many comforts and conveniences of technology that no other generation before us has ever had the privilege of enjoying. A simple smartphone today can do what a dozen or more items did a
About this publication The work of Foresta Collective explores the notions of the ecological from a variety of perspectives, aspiring to contribute to the emergence of a mindset grounded in human embodied and embedded nature, interconnectedness, and deep entanglement with the more-than-human worlds. In spring and summer 2020 amid the first wave of the
by Silvia Maglioni and Graeme Thomson In their “Notes towards a Vernacular Technology”, which opens their booklet Seeing Together in the Dark Matter of the Image, Silvia Maglioni and Graeme Thomson write: “How do we open up spaces for sharing thoughts and conversations that facilitate the creation of different ways of being together, talk-ing, seeing, inhabiting the
by Abhishek Thakore and Dan Rudolph Love…oh love! The spice that comes in a million flavours. The joie de vivre. The feeling that makes life worth living. The only emotion that can increase intelligence. The subject of more than half the songs humanity has ever written. The essence of the Sufi’s path. And yet, our
By Kate Morales It is with a lot of pride that I take my place in the long lineage of brave queers before me who believed, in the face of a society that would prefer them dead, that we are worthy of showing up in our wholeness. They teach me to keep my chin up and
A MEDITATION IN BLACKNESS Poem by Bayo Akomolafe I am a black man.I was planted in deep, loamy, black soil by my black father.Cradled, cultured and coaxed out like a tuber of yam by my black mother.Though I came from one womb, I am birthed by many mothers – some of skin like bark and timber,
Bayo Akomolafe A Story From where I come, somewhere in the midwestern region of Nigeria in West Africa, where Yoruba people have made their home for generations, there is an instructive story about Ìjàpá, the tortoise, who is also a trickster in Yoruba folktales – one that sheds some light on a different ontology of
As the impact of the Covid-19 crisis spreads from the biological, to the social and the economic, many universities are confronting the realities of living in a world characterized by complexity. What are the implications for universities? How do we need to change our approach to education? 1.My early academic life was a slow moving
This booklet was prepared by Vanessa de Oliveira Andreotti, Sharon Stein, Rene Suša, Tereza Čajkova, Dani d’Emilia, Elwood Jimmy, Bill Calhoun, Sarah Amsler, Camilla Cardoso, Dino Siwek and Kyra Fay in April 2019. Here a quote about this study program: “These educational tools were created to offer a rough overview of the hidden costs of
Comer es Rebeldía Vol 2. La Alimentación como arte de la resistencia (Eating is Rebellion Vol 2. Food as art of resistance). This is a compilation of texts about food sovereignty and proposals of resistance and autonomy related to food. It focuses on the creation of alternatives from the grassroots and transmits the message that
A vulnerable field report and an invitation into collective inquiry – Alan Webb, January 2020 In 2018, I declared a sabbatical from organizing the Open Master’s and Alt*Div communities and became a sojourner—with intention, but with an aching heart. It was honestly a move born of despair and desperation. Externally, I had a clear story,
These alivelihoods are restoring Nature and communities, making knowledge and the bounties of Nature and communities, making knowledge and the bounties of Nature freely accessible, bringing down inequities, facilitating deep questioning and inquiry, healing the disconnected self and the wounded spirit, helping people experience real love and joy, all of which is dismantling the
By Sangeetha Sriram The real purpose of education is to serve life and enable meaningful living and bringing out the highest potential in people; fulfilling and dharmic livelihood is one among its many dimensions. But we now live in a world where an insatiable and destructive capitalist economy has come to exist for its own
by Kū Kahakalau, Ph.D. and Leilani DeMello “E pū paʻakai kākou” is a Hawaiian saying, which literally means letʻs share some salt together. In traditional Hawaiʻi, it was customary to offer guests, whether family, friends, or a random passerby, food, drink and if desired a place to sleep. “Mai, mai e ʻai!” (Come, come and
by Emilio Fantin This essay was written in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Culture and nature: the logical challenge This is a poetic and resistance attempt to avoid being subjected to a digital format. Covid 19 has only accelerated the process that started with the informatics era, during the Second World War. We have not
leggi in italiano By Giorgia Frisardi and Mattia Pellegrini Foreword “Who can forget those moments when something that seems inanimate turns out to be vitally, even dangerously alive? As, for example, when an arabesque in the pattern of a carpet is revealed to be a dog’s tail, which, if stepped upon, could lead to a
This audiovisual guide is a curated collection of talks with Jinan KB, a designer and educationist who has been involved in existential research to understand the processes involved in the creation of knowledge, the formation of creativity, intelligence, aesthetics and its relation to the content of learning and the context. His primary interest has been
by Pia Lindman I’m an artist and a healer: in both practices, my point of departure has often been personal experiences, guiding my inquiries and leading me to investigate the body and its place within the cultural space, as well as its relationship with the larger ecosystem. Affected by the powerful visceral experiences of a disease in my
By Pedro Reygadas Este libro es una Nueva Antropología, un acercamiento contemporáneo a la humanidad como totalidad abierta. Un acercamiento sistémico a la complejidad dinámica rizomática de la carnalidad material de la persona, de sus campos de energía/in-formación y de su espiritualidad a partir de la in-formación/energía del pensamiento y de la conciencia. Descarga
What prepares men for totalitarian domination in the non-totalitarian world is the fact that loneliness, once a borderline experience usually suffered in certain marginal social conditions like old age, has become an everyday experience … – The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951) by Hannah Arendt A few nights before I left for Xommunity, I was scrolling
by Nitin Paranjape For the past year, I have been a part of an interesting co-learning experiment called “Mensversity”. The idea first took root in informal dialogues over lunch or chai during the Indian Multiversity Alliance (IMA) meeting at the Deer Park Institute in Bir, Himachal Pradesh. The Indian Multiversity Alliance is a flexible,
<img src=”https://ecoversities.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Captura-de-pantalla-2018-12-19-a-las-7.48.51-p.m.-300×229.png” alt=”” width=”300″ height=”229″ />Relatos de las Abuelas y Abuelos de San Mateo Piñas is a recopilation of short stories and leyends from the Sierra Sur and Costa regions of Oaxaca, told by elders of the indigenous village of San Mateo Piñas. Descarga el libro/download this book.
Video Storytelling by Doerte Weig and Roksana Niewadzisz Have you ever dated a tree or explored human-tree relationalities or shared stories about engaging with tree beings? Come and experience how dating a tree is grounded in ecosomatic practice and earthly discoveries. The work is part of the collective artistic research project Fabulation for Future and the digital exhibition How to Become a Posthuman, based on
by Dilip Jain A human being is designed to automatically develop wisdom based on a combination of his personal experiences, exposures and education. However, in today’s modern world there is such heavy influence of capitalist/ consumerist narrative that often development of wisdom is not a personal journey but driven by someone else’s agenda. In this
By Manish Jain A Little Reminder about the Paradoxes of Life for My 19-year-old Daughter: You are super special AND you are not. What you achieve in life is important AND it doesn’t really matter. You will have lots of choices in your life AND you really don’t. You are your socio-political identity AND you
By Manish Jain (offered in the spirit of the Hippocratic Oath) Unlearning is one of the most important processes we have to invoke and support in education if we are to find ways out of the global mess that industrial-military life has created. Unlearning opens an alchemical portal to reclaiming swaraj in our lives and
She has no Land but she keeps sheep / first Chapter In 2017 we presented “She has no land but she keeps sheep, an introduction”, at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome. The occasion was the exhibition Sensibile Comune connected to the C17 conference one hundred years after the October Revolution. This introduction
By Eliana Otta Vital Vocabulary comes out of necessity, as we acknowledge the insufficiency of available language to address what is meaningful in times of extreme uncertainty . . . times when we seem to lack words to properly express the depth of our confusion and pain, as well as to articulate what dares to appear
by Rahul Hasija If I would be asked thirty years down the line, a memory from my life that I hold dear the most, I would speak of the week I spent volunteering in Melghat Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra, India doing Tiger census. It involved walking long miles each day in search of evidence for
Climate change has been called ‘the long emergency’. Resistant as humans are to change, and often fearful of the unknown, we now have a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate what humanity can be at its best, if we are able to find agency. By agency we mean ability to take action in a generative way to
These Coloring Book for all ages were created by two 2013 Native Hawaiian graduates from Hawaiʻiʻs first Indigenous-focused charter school, where they learned about their responsibility to the environment. Each book focuses on issues facing Hawaiʻiʻs unique environments and provides solutions, as well as inspirational Hawaiian proverbs passed down from our ancestors for many generations.
The previous three articles, stories of Experiential Learning, Sense-Making & Developing Confidence, and Facilitation & Peer-to-Peer Learning show that attending Swaraj University was life-changing for each of the four people interviewed for this series. Each of them learned different skills, developed perception and made connections to other people and projects while at Swaraj. Paradoxically, each of
Each of the people interviewed had a different intention and journey to get to Swaraj University. Similarly, each of them had a different experience while learning at Swaraj. Although there were many differences in their experiences, there were also many similarities that emerged in their reflections about their experiences. The first article explored stories of Experiential
Each of the people interviewed had a different intention and journey to get to Swaraj. Similarly, each of them had a different experience while learning at Swaraj. Although there were many differences in their experiences, there were also many similarities that emerged in their reflections about their experiences. The previous article explored stories of Experiential
The first two articles in this series looked at each of their experiences with formal schooling growing up, and subsequently their unique paths to exploring alternative education. Each of them had a different intention and journey to get to Swaraj. Similarly, each of them had a different experience while learning at Swaraj. Although there were
The previous article in this series looked at the stories that each Live Human Signpost shared relating to their experiences with formal education growing up. Overall, the stories that were shared were of dissatisfaction and of developing unhealthy habits and perception. This led to depression, anxiety, confusion and disconnection. These negative experiences led each of
Of the four people interviewed for this series, three of them went to school in urban areas, and one, Stanzin, in a rural area. All of them reported to be good, or above average, students. Each of them, in their own ways, expressed dissatisfaction with their experiences in formal schooling, or Stanzin referred to it,
For this first Live Human Signposts series we will be showcasing four ‘Live Human Signposts’ that dropped out of the mainstream, and pursued alternative forms of education, which brought each of them, in their own unique journeys, to Swaraj University, in Rajasthan India. Since attending Swaraj each of them has gone on to explore
There is a lot of darkness in our world. There is a need for change. What can bring hope is that there are already many individuals, organizations and networks that are realizing and spreading change. Oftentimes these individuals, and initiatives, are not known by people that are not affiliated with alternative networks. With great compassion,
Pedagogy, Otherwise: the Reader was assembled in the context of /and in conversation with the Eco-versities Alliance, a trans-local community of learning practitioners from around the world committed to cultivate and reclaim knowledges, relationships and imaginations. Most of the texts appeared originally in the series Pedagogy, Otherwise, as part of the line of inquiry Learning,
Notes on the 1st Ecoversities gathering in Tamera, Portugal Compas:[1] The memories of our encounter still resonate in my mind and in my heart. I still need to process many things. The hassle of everyday life has caught me, and it is always complicated for me to sit and write my feelings/thoughts (sentipensamientos), but I did
Knowledge production has increasingly become central to emancipatory projects. More and more people in struggle recognize the importance of learning and research as an essential part of movement and also an essential part of those moments of the future in the present across the globe. Alongside the serial protests and convergences of the 1990s and
The Ecoversities Alliance is a community of learning practitioners from around the world committed to re-imagining higher education to cultivate human and ecological flourishing in response to the critical challenges of our times.
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