1. Organizing Food, Faith and Freedom: Imagining Alternatives. In this book, I examine how alternative economies, relations and subjectivities emerge from community solutions, and how these could be used to think, act and organize differently within and against dominant capitalist dynamics. By dissecting the free food store's symbolic, economic and political layers, I demonstrate how faith, the use value of food and labour, and a particular form of politics shape social and organisational relations. I also provide an account of my self-transformation as an organisational scholar attempting to bridge the theory and practice of postcapitalist transformation. The book was published in May 2024 as a part of the book series Organizations and Activism (Bristol University Press)
2. Postcapitalist mapping for sustainable futures in the Utrecht Region. This project is about building a network of community-based initiatives and grassroots organisations that offer an alternative to sustain communities and transform society towards sustainability. It was funded by the 'Transforming Cities' hub (strategic theme Pathways to Sustainability). For more details, please see AndersUtrecht and ''Anders Utrecht’: A Collaboration for Bottom-up Change'. As a case of co-production of sustainability transformation knowledge, you can also listen to our podcast episodes on Soundcloud which bring activists and scholars together.
3. Postcapitalist organisation theory: Following recent multidisciplinary theoretical debates envisioning alternative economic practices, social relations and subjectivities within/beyond dominant capitalist relations, with my colleague Patrizia Zanoni, we are working on developing a new theoretical approach and conceptual framework to study alternative organisations.
4. Tackling the polycrisis - Incubator project, contributor
5. Follow the food - Incubator project, contributor
Projecten
Project
ReNew: Transforming sustainable urban futures in polluted industrial cities in the Netherlands
Algemene projectbeschrijving
We are building an interdisciplinary platform which will facilitate collaboration between the researchers and the societal actors who live in polluted industrial cities in the IJmond region in the North-West coastal area of the Netherlands. The goal is to explore the obstacles and create possibilities for sustainable urban transformations in such and similar urban environments.
For more information here.
Rol
Uitvoerder
Financiering
1e geldstroom Seed-money Utrecht University Transforming Cities - Pathways to Sustainability
Projectleden
Afgesloten projecten
Project
The role of democratic practices in grassroots initiatives for sustainability transformations
01-12-2023
tot 30-11-2024
Algemene projectbeschrijving
Democratic processes are often perceived as conflicting with the need for rapid and fundamental sustainability transformations. This perception calls for new visions of democracy that can stimulate pathways to sustainability while enhancing inclusion and empowerment. A diversity of grassroots initiatives is already experimenting with alternative ways of thinking and practicing democracy. These range from transition towns and ecovillages, and alternative food initiatives to social movements, urban squats and protest camps. Also described as ‘real utopias’ (Wright, 2010, 2013), they bring potential visions and imaginaries of future democracies into the here and now. However, what democracy means in the context of these initiatives, and the relationship between their democratic practices and wider sustainability transformations is not yet well understood.
This project will assess under which conditions democratic practices in grassroots initiatives can enhance pathways to sustainability. It investigates to what extent democracy is considered a value in different forms of grassroots initiatives, how it is understood, practiced, and organized, and how this supports or hinders sustainability transformations. The contribution to sustainability transformations is assessed by studying how grassroots contribute to shifts in dominant logics as central leverage points for transformation: from materialistic culture and growth toward post-capitalist perspectives, from control of humans over nature toward reconnecting human-non-human relationships, and from expert to pluralist understandings of knowledge (see Alakavuklar, 2023, Tschersich et al. 2023, Tschersich & Kok, 2022, Feola et al., 2021).
This project combines an in-depth investigation of Freetown Christiania in Denmark with a larger comparative study. We will organize a 1,5-day transdisciplinary workshop at Utrecht University with scholars and representatives of different types of grassroots initiatives to compare and contrast experiences of democratic practices in different grassroots experiments in the Netherlands and across Europe, and discuss and reflect on the hindering and supporting factors for grassroots’ democratic practices to enhance pathways to sustainability with stakeholders.
This project creates the space for inter- and transdisciplinary exchange at Utrecht University and beyond around new forms of thinking about and practicing democracy in grassroots. It aims to build new collaborations and a new vibrant community around democracy and transformation at UU and beyond, and build a larger collection of case studies on Democracy and Transformation.
Rol
Uitvoerder
Financiering
1e geldstroom Pathways to Sustainability