Seminar Solidarity Econonmy

The solidarity economy emerged in the 1990s out of the experiences of Latin American movements seeking to create alternative forms of production, consumption, and finance from the capitalist economy. The solidarity economy refers to a transformative vision of society based on democratic self-management, redistribution, solidarity and reciprocity. It is not about a blueprint for an alternative society, but rather is a series of experiments, of becomings, of emergent possibilities, prefigurative practices, and a continual process of (re)making social relations based on democratic practices, local bottom-up experiments, redistribution, solidarity, interconnections, reciprocity, and social justice. In practice, the solidarity economy is an important anti-capitalist initiative that is rooted in myriad experiments around the world that are democratic, values-based, and movement-driven. In the context of the global crisis, the solidarity economy has grown in various parts of the world such as Germany, Italy, Spain, South Africa, Brazil, and India, and has engendered various anti-capitalist theoretical ideas, methodologies, movement building strategies, and international solidarities. Is this movement transforming civil society-state-economy boundaries? Is it redistributing power to grassroots social forces? Is the solidarity economy engendering a new logic to reproduce life, meet human needs and end ecological destruction? These are some of the questions that we will address in the course. In this course, we will look at concrete cases of the solidarity economy from a range of countries as well as the emerging body of work theorizing the solidarity economy. The course will draw on literature as well as visual media as the growing body of documentary films offer enormous insight into various experiments around the world. @page WordSection1 {size: 612.0pt 792.0pt; margin: 70.85pt 70.85pt 2.0cm 70.85pt; mso-header-margin: 36.0pt; mso-footer-margin: 36.0pt; mso-paper-source: 0; } P.MsoNormal { FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: -Times New Roman-,-serif-; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE; mso-fareast-font-family: -Times New Roman-; mso-fareast-language: DE; mso-style-unhide: no; mso-style-qformat: yes; mso-style-parent: --; mso-pagination: widow-orphan } LI.MsoNormal { FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: -Times New Roman-,-serif-; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE; mso-fareast-font-family: -Times New Roman-; mso-fareast-language: DE; mso-style-unhide: no; mso-style-qformat: yes; mso-style-parent: --; mso-pagination: widow-orphan } DIV.MsoNormal { FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: -Times New Roman-,-serif-; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE; mso-fareast-font-family: -Times New Roman-; mso-fareast-language: DE; mso-style-unhide: no; mso-style-qformat: yes; mso-style-parent: --; mso-pagination: widow-orphan } .MsoChpDefault { FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-style-type: export-only; mso-default-props: yes; mso-ansi-font-size: 10.0pt } DIV.WordSection1 { page: WordSection1 } FB 05 Gesellschaftswissenschaften Uni Kassel SoSe 2014 Global Political Economy Williams Michelle