---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Silke Helfrich <[email protected]> Date: Fri, Oct 31, 2014 at 6:08 PM Subject: [Commoning] Fwd: AAG 2015 Panel Proposal: Strategic role of the commons for movements and academics? To: commoning <[email protected]>, [email protected] Cc: "[email protected] >> Michelle Wenderlich" <[email protected]> Hi everybody, this call for a panel proposal at AAG 2015 (Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers in Chicago, April 21 to April 25, 2015) might be interesting for some of you, pls. contact Michelle Wenderlich (cced) directly until November 3 at the latest. All the best Silke -------- Weitergeleitete Nachricht -------- Betreff: AAG 2015 Panel Proposal: Strategic role of the commons for movements and academics? Datum: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 22:01:40 +0000 Von: Michelle Wenderlich <[email protected]> Antwort an: Michelle Wenderlich <[email protected]> An: [email protected] <[email protected]> Hi Silke, We've met briefly at a couple of conferences in Berlin. I wanted to send this to you in case you would be interested or if you can think of people who might happen to be going to Chicago who should know about it? Or lists to send over? Let me know if so, or forward away! Otherwise: hope you are well! All the best! Michelle ---- Michelle Wenderlich PhD Student Graduate School of Geography Clark University ***Sorry for cross posting; please forward to possibly interested parties*** AAG 2015 Panel Proposal: Strategic role of the commons for movements and academics? Of late, well-known academics such as David Harvey and Slavoj Žižek have been calling for the reframing of struggles around commons, and social actors have increasingly been using these ideas to fight privatization and neoliberal reforms world wide, including around issues of water, land, electricity, housing, the financial system, and other areas, especially (in the global North) around occupy and climate justice movements. Yet how the commons are conceived and what the term or practices mean for those involved is not widely discussed or agreed upon. The commons literature seems to be split between institutionalist approaches (e.g. Ostrom 1990) and anti-capitalist commons (e.g. de Angelis 2003, Caffentzis and Federici 2014). Some (e.g. Mattei 2011, Observatorio Metropolitano 2011) have emphasized the processual and practice-based characteristics of the commons, and blurring of subject-object relationships that these practices create. Most of the literature sees a clear demarcation and conflictual relationships between the state, capital, and commons. Yet if each member of this trifecta is considered to be continually reproduced by social practices and are increasingly seen as hybrid entities, can these hard and fast divisions remain? Or is there use in conceiving two modes of politics and social practices, represented by the One and multiple or the hierarchical and horizontal (Hardt and Negri 2009, Zibechi 2012, Sitrin 2012), separated by the central importance of autonomy and self-determination? What is actually happening in struggles around the world, do movements see commons as a useful signifier in their work, and if so, how are commons understood and practiced? Some central issues include: Political strategic and theoretical importance of the commons Practices of formation and reproduction of commons Meanings and affective elements of the commons Relations between commons and the state The role of autonomy in commons struggles Transformative potential of the commons? Differences in commons struggles between the global North and South, and across sectors Let’s discuss. I’m looking to see if there are 3-5 more participants interested in this panel, and would ideally like the structure to facilitate as open a discussion as possible, to have this be a space of cross-fertilization of ideas and experiences. I’m also interested in co-organizers. Please email Michelle Wenderlich [email protected] (Clark University) with a short statement of interest (including research interests and how you might approach some of the themes/questions listed above) by noon EST on November 3. I will get back to you in a day or so and ask for your AAG registration pin in order to register the session by the Nov 5th deadline. References: Caffentzis G and Federici S (2014) Commons against and beyond capitalism. /Community Development //Journal/, 49(S1): i92– i105. de Angelis, M (2003) Reflections on alternatives, commons and communities or building a new world from the bottom up. /The Commoner/, 6. Hardt M and Negri A (2009) /Commonwealth/. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Harvey D (2012) /Rebel Cities: From the Right tot he City to the Urban Revolution./ ////////London: Verso. Mattei U (2011) /Providing Direct Access To Social Justice By Renewing Common Sense: ///// /////////The State, the Market, and some Preliminary Question about the Commons/, Available at: http://uninomade.org/preliminary-question-about-the-commons/ Observatorio Metropolitano (2011) /The Commons, social cohesion and the autonomy of/ ///////social////reproduction. /Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/social_cohesion_CoE/the-commons-social-cohesion- <http://www.slideshare.net/social_cohesion_CoE/the- commons-social-cohesion-and-the-autonomy-of-social- reproduction-observatorio-metropolitano-extract> and-the-autonomy-of-social-reproduction-observatorio-metropolitano-extract <http://www.slideshare.net/social_cohesion_CoE/the- commons-social-cohesion-and-the-autonomy-of-social- reproduction-observatorio-metropolitano-extract> Ostrom E (1990) /Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective/// ///////Action/. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Sitrin M (2012) /Everyday Revolutions. /London: Zed Books. Zibechi R (2012) /Territories in Resistance: A Cartography of Latin American Social Movements/. Oakland: AK Press. Žižek S (2009) How to begin from the beginning. /New Left Review/, 57. _______________________________________________ Commoning mailing list [email protected] http://lists.wissensallmende.de/mailman/listinfo/commoning -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://en.wiki.floksociety.org/w/Research_Plan P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/