But what exactly are the commons? Traditionally they refer to natural resources, such as air, water or forests, not publicly or privately owned, but held in common. Now they have come to include the cultural sphere as well, like language, knowledge, our cities and the Internet. We can consider them shared gifts, which we receive as members of a community and govern in common: a self-organized system by which communities manage resources (both depletable and replenishable) with minimal or no reliance on the market or the state.
The world is our home, not your property
Community gardens, collective childcare, communal living and other commoning practices are becoming more and more visible and popularised, but can these commons provide a viable alternative, or a real challenge to our current economic system?
This reading group is participatory, self-organised and free of charge. We collectively decide which subtopics to cover and literature to read by splitting up into groups, which will each organize one of the sessions. The reading group will be in English, held from Oct. 8 to Dec. 17, bi-weekly on Wednesday evenings from 19:30 until 22:00 in political bookshop de Rooie Rat at Oudegracht 65 in Utrecht.
Reading group sessions
October 22: Defining the commons, commoning the definitions
November 5: Primary Education
November 19: Transformative/Community Justice, gender liberation and & commoning practices in Brasil and Kurdistan
December 3: Alternative currencies: the Masters Tools
December 17: Protecting the commons from co-optation
This reading group is organised within the framework of (Un)usual Business (Un)usual Business (Un)usual Business is een enthousiaste groep commoners, voortgekomen uit een samenwerking tussen Casco – Office for Art, Design and Theory en Kritische Studenten Utrecht. Wij zijn georganiseerd als een collectief. Dat betekent dat we functioneren zonder hiërarchie en beslissingen nemen op basis van consensus. We ... , a collaboration between Kritische Studenten Utrecht and Casco – Office for Art, Design and Theory Casco - Office for Art, Design and Theory Wij beschouwen de artistieke praktijk als een manier om ons op onderzoekende, fantasierijke en inventieve manier te verhouden tot de wereld waarin we leven. De kunstpraktijken waar wij ons op richten zijn crossdisciplinair en staan open voor samenwerking. Het proces maakt een essentieel onderdeel uit ...