Dear Sarah
I saw the two videos and enjoyed them and they can be used in our Master’s class.
I want to tell the whole group about my recent experience of a workshop with village level activists and the kind of materials and pedagogy used and the next level challenges we will face. I think this might be of interest to the whole group and people might have experience and ideas to share.
Due to relaxations in lockdown I was able to conduct a two whole day , face to face , workshops with 60 people , a year after it was originally scheduled this month , on 16-17 September . About 2/3rd of participants were working at village level in 6 districts of the state of West Bengal , one district each of the states of Odisha and Jharkhand. So there were three language groups. 1/3rd were the urban staff of an NGO which works in these rural areas , primarily trying to create village discussion forums , to take forward many of the ideas of “alternatives to Industrialism”
In three sessions I circulated a one page note with 10-12 main points each on Amish ( USA) , Kibbutz( Israel) , and Mendha village ( India – maharashtra ) . These notes were in vernacular language. In groups of 6-8 persons they read the note, discussed , and came up with written comments and questions in about 20 minutes . As I collected the notes and started discussing , I showed them slides of still images of Amish ( not many available) and a 5 minute clipping from a film called “Raising the Barn” . For kibbutz also still images. And for Mendha a short 10 minute film. Each of these sessions went on for more than 2 hours with lots of animated discussions. The short note, the still photos , the short film were really helpful. We had planned to do Zapatistas but ran out of time.
These activists would like to tell these stories and initiate discussions at district, sub-district and at village forums which they are trying to create. But they need more “detailed stories” of such cases in the vernacular so that can handle all kinds of questions . In India Vikalp Sangam has already started writing detailed case studies in some state languages and also making audiovisuals. We are planning to translate and dub into Bengali.
These short films on conceptual understanding which Sarah and Mofwoofoo sent can be tried at these levels , if we dub them in vernacular. We have used the Hindi dubbed Annie Leonard’s “Story of Stuff’ , and although the commentary is very fast , the dubbing has turned out quite well.
We are also thinking of creating podcasts in the Q&A formats based on the questions which people raised during this workshop , as well as other relevant questions; which these activists might be able to use at several levels.
Apologies for this long mail.
Sujit Sinha
From: GTA-PeDAGoG [mailto:gta-pedagog-bounces@lists.ourproject.org] On Behalf Of sarah white
Sent: Monday, September 27, 2021 11:00 PM
To: PeDAGoG: Post-Development Academic-Activist Global Group <gta-pedagog@lists.ourproject.org>
Subject: [PeDAGoG] Living Utopias Videos
I also loved the video - thank you for sharing. Sujit - this video is a few years old now, and set in the context of the US, (and I disagree with promoting identity politics, nationalism, and representative democracy), but I love the premise of activating our radical imaginations to expand the possible. The second video is more recent, and I have fewer criticisms. I use them both with students to inspire radical imagination projects...
Warmly,
Sarah
From: GTA-PeDAGoG <gta-pedagog-bounces@lists.ourproject.org> on behalf of Sujit.Sinha <sujit.sinha@apu.edu.in>
Sent: Monday, September 27, 2021 5:59 AM
To: 'PeDAGoG: Post-Development Academic-Activist Global Group' <gta-pedagog@lists.ourproject.org>
Subject: Re: [PeDAGoG] [REDlistserve] A new article on the RED website - "The path to a just and sustainable society"
Terrific – the animation video Mofwoofoo
I and my colleague Pallavi at Azim Premji University , Bangalore teach a course called “Living Utopias” and two of the modules are Rojavas and Zapatista and we also take a class on Anarchism. We will use this video.
We conduct this course (a) in our University at the Mater’s level as a 3 credit one semester course (b) as 6 day intensive workshop for anyone interested (c) and bits and pieces with alternative activists at grass roots as per their demand in the vernacular ( so far in Hindi and Bengali ) .
I am attaching the course outline. Maybe you ,and others in this group , have more such videos which will be useful .
Thanks
Sujit
From: GTA-PeDAGoG [mailto:gta-pedagog-bounces@lists.ourproject.org] On Behalf Of Mofwoofoo
Sent: Sunday, September 26, 2021 6:11 AM
To: Pallav Das <dpallav@gmail.com>
Cc: KV Full <kvenvironment@googlegroups.com>; Vikalp Sangam elist <vikalp-sangam-list@googlegroups.com>; gta-pedagog@lists.ourproject.org; RED listserve <radical_ecological_democracy@googlegroups.com>; Ted Trainer <tedtrainertsw@gmail.com>; WSM <wsm-discuss@lists.openspaceforum.net>
Subject: Re: [PeDAGoG] [REDlistserve] A new article on the RED website - "The path to a just and sustainable society"
It is great to finally see someone saying it for what it is, that is, anarchism. Exactly, what I have been advocating all along, watch the 7 minute animation that I completed in April, 2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wywMhg604W8&t=5s. If you see the value in this, you might help spread it around.
On Fri, Sep 24, 2021 at 11:06 PM Pallav Das <dpallav@gmail.com> wrote: