Feminist Political Ecology practices of worlding: Art, commoning and the politics of hope in the class room

• Main Author: Wendy Harcourt
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Utrecht University Library Open Access Journals (Publishing Services) 2019-05-01
• Series: International Journal of the Commons
• Subjects: feminist political ecology, community economies, gender, postdevelopment, commoning
• Online Access: https://www.thecommonsjournal.org/articles/929

In the paper I argue that in a world where our lives are intricately interconnected and our environments are rapidly changing, commoning produces ecological imaginaries and understandings of places that could build a sense of global commons based on mutuality, reciprocity, and relationality. In exploring commoning in the international class room, my paper contributes to on-going dialogues community economies and feminist political ecology in the Community Economies Research Network (CERN), and the newly formed EU project Well-being, Ecology, Gender and cOmmunity (WEGO). In the article I first set out how I use commoning in my teaching. In section two I present my methodology, followed by section three where I present the community economies research network. In section four I present a case study of how I employ the community economies iceberg diagram in my teaching process using drawing /art-making to create an emergent commons-in-practice. In section five I discuss the productivity of bringing  community economies and commoning to abroader feminist, ecological justice project followed by a conclusion.