[PeDAGoG] Reading list around regenerative futures for Young Adults?

[Davis, Laurence]

I use William Morris's *News from Nowhere* and Ursula K. Le Guin's *The Dispossessed* in an undergraduate module/course I teach on 'Contemporary Ecological and Anti-Capitalist Politics'.

The students respond well to both works, and I encourage them to think about the similarities and differences between them, as well as the different historical contexts in which they were written (Morris in the 1890s, in response to the English industrial revolution, the rise of the nascent English socialist movement, in a tradition of romantic anti-capitalism; Le Guin in the 1970s, in response to contemporary U.S. capitalism and industrialism, the rise of post-consumerist politics and the contemporary ecological movement, in a tradition of anarcho-communism). The assessment varies each year. Last year, I asked students to write an essay on the following theme:

‘It is this change [the transformation of work] which makes all the others possible’ (Old Hammond, in William Morris, News from Nowhere). Discuss with reference to the ecological and socialist politics of News from Nowhere.

They were also asked to deliver an oral presentation on the following topic:

‘Given the deeply entrenched patterns of our society, any significant attempt to decentralise major political and technological institutions…would require something of a revolution’. Discuss with reference to Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed.

Feedback indicated that they enjoyed both of the assignments, and that they appreciated the opportunity to engage in depth with two literary utopias and relevant secondary sources.

Regarding Le Guin's *Always Coming Home*, I agree entirely with the assessment below, though I think the work may be somewhat challenging for undergraduate students.

Best wishes,

Laurence

Laurence Davis
Department of Government and Politics

University College Cork, Ireland

http://publish.ucc.ie/profiles/B007/ldavis



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Sent: 14 September 2020 02:41
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Subject: Re: [PeDAGoG] Reading list around regenerative futures for Young Adults?


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And of course there is the old Ecotopia<https://www.amazon.com/Ecotopia-40th-Anniversary-Ernest-Callenbach/dp/159714293X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=ecotopia+by+ernest+callenbach&qid=1600047635&s=books&sr=1-1> by Ernst Callenbach

On Sun, Sep 13, 2020 at 6:24 PM <singhvan at rcn.com<mailto:singhvan at rcn.com>> wrote:
Older teens might appreciate Ursula K. Le Guin's works of speculative fiction:
1. The classic short story "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" https://sites.asiasociety.org/asia21summit/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/3.-Le-Guin-Ursula-The-Ones-Who-Walk-Away-From-Omelas.pdf
2. The Dispossessed, which depicts a detailed imaginative fictional anarchist (communitarian) utopia and its capitalist/ feudal counterpart
3. Always Coming Home, a depiction of a future California inspired by Native ways of being, structurally not a novel at all, but quite amazing in my opinion.

Also of interest is Pacific Edge by Kim Stanley Robinson, a small book about a fictional utopian community in California working out the balance between human and ecological well-being.  And The Memory of Water, by Finnish writer Emmi Itaranta.

I appreciate all the suggestions - must expand my reading list!
Best,

Vandana

________________________________
From: "Christine Dann" <christine at horomaka.org<mailto:christine at horomaka.org>>
To: gta-pedagog at lists.ourproject.org<mailto:gta-pedagog at lists.ourproject.org>
Sent: Sunday, September 13, 2020 5:11:51 PM
Subject: Re: [PeDAGoG] Reading list around regenerative futures for Young Adults?

Dave Goulson (2019) The Garden Jungle or Gardening to Save the Planet

Goulson is Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Sussex - and a really good writer who mixes up his practical gardening experiences with the science stories he tells. I was initially worried that it might be 'too English' to apply to New Zealand conditions, but all gardens everywhere have soil microorganisms, insects, birds, etc. as well as plants, and while each place has specific interactions going on, the principles behind them are all the same, and these are relevant everywhere.  I wish this book had been around when I started gardening in my teens.

Christine


On 14/09/20 8:34 am, Callie Berman wrote:
Radical Hope by Jonathan Lear - for a historical example of solidarity ethics amidst cultural change

On Sun, Sep 13, 2020 at 9:19 PM John Foran <foran at soc.ucsb.edu<mailto:foran at soc.ucsb.edu>> wrote:
Saci Lloyd, The Carbon Diaries

On Sun, Sep 13, 2020 at 8:02 AM Ashish Kothari <ashishkothari at riseup.net<mailto:ashishkothari at riseup.net>> wrote:

William Morris, News from Nowhere

Paul Raskin, Journey to Earthland

Rahul Sankrityayan, Baisvi Sadi (The 22nd Century)  (not sure available, there is an excerpt in tarun Saint ed, The Gollancz Book of South Asian Science Fiction)

Ashish


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On 13/09/20 12:04 pm, Pallavi Varma Patil wrote:

Dear all,

What fiction / non fiction books or writings would you recommend for young adults to introduce to them the idea of ecological/ solidarity based futures ?

Sujit and I have the following ideas but am sure you all have many more and it would be nice to compile a reading list together for children/ young adults.
Ours are as follows:
1. 'Year of the Weeds' by Siddhartha Sarma (Very clever and imaginative writing for young adults fictionalising the famous indigenous Niyamgiri struggle against mining )
2. Daniel Greenberg's 'Free at Last ' about the Sudbury Valley School
3. Entropia: Life Beyond Industrial Civilisation  by Samuel Alexander
4. Our own Gandhi Note book to introduce Gandhi to young readers
5. Ela Bhatt's Anubandh and "We are poor but so many".
6. The following chapters in  Alternative futures: Ch 35,  Looking Back into the Future: India, South Asia, and the world in 2010 ( pp 627-645), and  Ch 18: Dare to dream ( pp 326- 340)

What else and what more would you recommend to us that can be used as a reading list for Young Adults?

Many thanks in advance!

Pallavi


https://naitaleem.wordpress.com/




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