'A New World' - An eco-feminist/eco-socialist summer school 01_Jul_2023
The programme 'A New World' , an eco-feminist/eco-socialist summer school organized by West The Hague, is intended for artists, theorists, thinkers, movers, actors, and others who want to explore new ways to grapple with complex circumstances and find ways to bridge disciplinary boundaries, build alliances and take action. The application deadline is the 1st of July 2023.
Ecofeminism associates the need to recognise and valorise women’s essential contributions to social reproduction with an analogous need to recognise and valorise the contributions of the biosphere and lifeworld in all their complexity and interdependence. With the planetary ecosystem at risk of being radically destabilised by global heating such combined recognition cannot merely be cultural, it must take the form of political change, but how? Veterans of the feminist and ecological struggles like Ariel Salleh and Mary Mellor identify capitalism as the main force perpetuating not only patriarchy, not to mention racism and homophobia but also an alienated and extractive attitude to the planet which is threatening human survival.
An ecofeminist agenda must be combined with an ecosocialist practice for transforming how we provide for ourselves within the affordances of the planet.
In this summer school we will learn from radical ecological practitioners, get our hands dirty and get our feet on the ground with powerful ideas and approaches which can inform and empower our own engagement in the Thick Present. Our days will feature political theory, physical movement, experimentation and prototyping and lots of discussion and transdisciplinary exchange. We will also take field trips to visit and discover radical arts-activist-agriculture projects in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, and engage with the local and translocal complexities there.
‘A New World’ is the 5th annual summer school hosted by West Den Haag. What makes these schools extra special is their focus on developing methodologies for embodied thinking towards more radical transdisiplinarity. In our summer schools we pay special attention to the balance and tension between theory and practice, analysis and synthesis, movement, breathing and gravity. For a sense of our methods please see this publication.
The West Summer School 2023 is limited to 25 participants. There is a participant fee of € 175,- incl. lunches (student € 95,-). The program will be held in English. We will gather in the garden and auditorium at West in The Hague. To apply, please e-mail Kevin Jansen: kevin@westdenhaag.nl before July 1st with a short motivation. If successful, you will receive a confirmation within the week. The Summer School is for participants only and is convened by Baruch Gottlieb. For more info about the application process email: kevin@westdenhaag.nl.
'Concerned with equality for all life forms, ecofeminism is a socialism in the very deepest sense of that word' — Ariel Salleh
References
Mary Mellor, Ariel Salleh, Stefania Barca, Andreas Malm, Karl Marx, Keiji Saito, Vendana Shiva, Andaiye, Silvia Federici.
Instructors
Debra Solomon (US/NL), Michelle Teran (CA/NL), Miriam Mattheisen (NL), Maya Minder (CH), João Camargo (PT), Clara Balaguer (NL), Mary Mellor (UK - remote) and Baruch Gottlieb (CA/DE).