[PeDAGoG] Introduction : the "Alternatives to Capitalism" Research Network

Wed Jul 8 17:45:43 CEST 2020

Dear Pedagog community,

We are finally able to introduce ourselves to this amazingly engaged
community!

Apologies for not having done so before, but we have been struggling with
the Covid-19 situation here in Italy (where we are based at the moment) and
with some health issues.

We are Lara Monticelli
<https://www.cbs.dk/en/research/departments-and-centres/department-of-management-politics-and-philosophy/staff/lmompp>
and Torsten Geelan
<https://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/business/people/academic/torsten-geelan>,
respectively, Assistant Professor at Copenhagen Business School and
Research Fellow at the University of Copenhagen (from Sept. 2020 onwards).
We are both early-career sociologists struggling to survive in neoliberal
academia, and now that we have some teaching experience, we are keen to
engage in exchanges on critical pedagogy aimed at raising critical
consciousness amongst educators and students.

Albeit our different backgrounds, we are both interested in going beyond
the classic critiques of capitalism and deepening our understanding of
contemporary alternatives, why and when they succeed or fail, and how they
can thrive.

We realized that after the North Atlantic financial crisis of 2009, many
researchers started to be interested (again) in alternatives to capitalism,
but there was not an *interdisciplinary community* where these various
researchers (coming from many different fields such as sociology, history,
ecology, philosophy, economics, etc...) could meet and exchange their
ideas, their views and their projects.

For this reason, in 2018 we decided to found a *new research network
(titled Alternatives to Capitalism) within SASE* - Society for the
Advancement of Socio-Economics <https://sase.org/>.

The network arose from the renewed debate about the *future of capitalism*
and the urgent need to *prefigure and enact alternatives* that can help
tackle the multiple intertwined crises that societies currently face – high
and rising inequality of income and power, eroding democracy and citizens´
rights, climate change and a shrinking welfare state.

Since 2018, we have organized gatherings in Kyoto (Japan), New York city
(at the New School), and this year fully online
<https://sase.confex.com/sase/2020/meetingapp.cgi/Program/1187> due to the
Covid-19 situation (but the conference was planned to take place at the
University of Amsterdam).

You can browse our program here:

*https://sase.confex.com/sase/2020/meetingapp.cgi/Program/1187
<https://sase.confex.com/sase/2020/meetingapp.cgi/Program/1187>*

In parallel with our annual gatherings which are usually held in June or
July each year, we interact with our vibrant community through a *mailing
list* (which counts almost 400 members at the moment).

We warmly invite you to join us by subscribing here:

*https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?SUBED1=ALTERNATIVES-TO-CAPITALISM&A=1
<https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?SUBED1=ALTERNATIVES-TO-CAPITALISM&A=1>*

During our annual gatherings, which are held every year in a different
city, it is fundamental for us to *engage with local activists and
organizations*. For instance, last year in New York City, our participants
could tour Fountain House <https://www.fountainhouse.org/>, observe a
meeting, and explore how this communities’ mental health program uses
decision-making by consensus with staff and members.  In addition, the
founder of FIGMENT <https://newyork.figmentproject.org/> delved into how a
free, annual participatory arts festival started in NYC and spread across
North American cities.

On another day, the* “Worker Cooperatives and the Labor Movement: A Co-op
Development Initiative in the Nation’s Largest Union Local”* roundtable
featured speakers from 1199SEIU, the Open Society Foundation, and
the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations and Worker Institute
at Cornell ILR. This session discussed an important alternative for
organized labor, exploring why the largest union local in the US is
considering worker cooperatives as a strategy.

Last year, we have been also lucky enough to host two prominent guests such
as the founder and editor of Jacobin Magazine <https://jacobinmag.com/>,
Bhaskar Sunkara, who discussed his new book *The Socialist Manifesto: The
Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality* (Basic Books
2019) and Professor Nancy Fraser
<https://www.newschool.edu/lang/faculty/nancy-fraser/> who presented her
new book *Capitalism. A Conversation in Critical Theory* (Polity Press
2018).

We are really glad to be part of this community and we look forward to
creating strong bridges between the Alternatives to Capitalism network, the
Global Tapestry of Alternatives, and the Pedagog community.

In solidarity,

Lara and Torsten
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