Universität Wien

140064 VO VM1 / VM2 - Degrowth (2016W)

Between Utopia and Practice: Degrowth - Pulling out of the dead end?

4.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 14 - Orientalistik, Afrikanistik, Indologie und Tibetologie
SGU
Moodle

Details

max. 999 participants
Language: German, English

Examination dates

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

***Selbstorganisierte Ringvorlesung der Basisgruppe Internationale Entwicklung***

Am 26.10. 2016 wird eine Einheit auf freiwilliger Basis stattfinden. Der Ort wird noch bekannt gegeben.

Block I: Zeitdiagnosen

5.10.2016: Die Krise gesellschaftlicher Naturverhältnisse – Symptome, Ursachen und die Notwendigkeit einer sozial-ökologischen Transformation.
Christoph Görg (Alpen-Adria Universität Klagenfurt, Institut für Soziale Ökologie)

12.10.2016: Wider den Wachstumswahn. Degrowth als konkrete Utopie.
Barbara Muraca (Oregon State University, Philosophy Department)

19.10.2016: Degrowth as a social-ecological transformation: The role of social movements.
Viviana Asara (Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, Department of Social-Ecological Transformation)

Block II: Einführungen

26.10.2016: What is Degrowth? From an Activist Slogan to a Social Movement.
Federico deMaria (Research & Degrowth, Barcelona)

9.11.2016: Transformation in eine Postwachstumsgesellschaft – Herausforderungen für Zivilgesellschaft, Politik und Forschung.
Irmi Seidl (Research Unit Economics and Social Sciences, Swiss Federal Research Institute)

Block III: Verschränkungen

16.11.2016: Feministische Interventionen. Posthumanistische Visionen der Ökonomie.
Karin Schönpflug (Universität Wien, Institut für Internationale Entwicklung)

23.11.2016: Degrowth und die Herausforderungen postkolonialer Migrationen.
Maria do Mar de Castro Varela (Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin)

Block IV: Strategien & Praxen

PODIUMSDISKUSSION
30.11.2016: Lokal produzieren, global kommunizieren: von Recht auf Stadt bis Wissensallmende.
Sarah Kumnig (Universität Wien)
Andrea*s Exner (Universität Wien)
Nicole Lieger

PODIUMSDISKUSSION
7.12.2016: Klima und Energie - Kämpfe und Perspektiven.
Magdalena Heuwieser (System Change, not Climate Change! / Finance & Trade Watch)
Elmar Flatschart (Universität Wien)

PODIUMSDISKUSSION
14.12.2016: Ernährungssouveränität
Irmi Salzer (ÖBV – via campesina austria)
Richard Mogg (Biohof Mogg)
Philipp Salzmann Ä.v. (FIAN)

Block V: Kritiken und Interventionen

11.01.2017: Das "Gute Leben" in Ecuador: Zwischen Paradigmenwechsel und Neoextraktivismus.
Yare Maldonado Guerrero (Universität Quito)
Greta-Marie Becker (KHM Köln)

18.01.2017: Postwachstum aus postkolonialer Perspektive.
Christine Löw (Universität Frankfurt, Fachbereich Gesellschaftswissenschaften)

25.01.2017: Abschluss und Zusammenschau
Ulrich Brand (Universität Wien, Fachbereich Internationale Politik)

  • Wednesday 05.10. 18:30 - 20:00 (ehem. Hörsaal 23 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 5)
  • Wednesday 12.10. 18:30 - 20:00 (ehem. Hörsaal 23 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 5)
  • Wednesday 19.10. 18:30 - 20:00 (ehem. Hörsaal 23 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 5)
  • Wednesday 09.11. 18:30 - 20:00 (ehem. Hörsaal 23 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 5)
  • Wednesday 16.11. 18:30 - 20:00 (ehem. Hörsaal 23 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 5)
  • Wednesday 23.11. 18:30 - 20:00 (ehem. Hörsaal 23 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 5)
  • Wednesday 30.11. 18:30 - 20:00 (ehem. Hörsaal 23 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 5)
  • Wednesday 07.12. 18:30 - 20:00 (ehem. Hörsaal 23 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 5)
  • Wednesday 14.12. 18:30 - 20:00 (ehem. Hörsaal 23 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 5)
  • Wednesday 11.01. 18:30 - 20:00 (ehem. Hörsaal 23 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 5)
  • Wednesday 18.01. 18:30 - 20:00 (ehem. Hörsaal 23 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 5)
  • Wednesday 25.01. 18:30 - 20:00 (ehem. Hörsaal 23 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 5)

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

A growing economy is said to lead to social well-being. However: more and more we have to ask, how can this work in a world that has only limited resources? This is a question which many men and women today ask when being confronted by ever more visible climate change and the consequences of ecological crises.

An answer is offered by concepts of "post-growth" which turn into a prominent debate under the slogan "De-Growth". In this context the logic of growth is left behind and there is doubt, whether a world aiming for growth will be sustainable in the future - neither for the environment nor for a just society. On the other side there is the promise, that a good life for all will be feasible in a future without growth.

Why this promise is or is not an utopia shall be discussed from various angles in the lecture series. The lecture series is divided into five blocks. The first block deals with the diagnosis of the times framed by the discourse of post-growth. In a further step, the fundamental trends and ideas which pop up in this discourse will be discussed. Here, we also have to ask how far criticism is propelled in these debates: Which trends address whom or what, and to what extent are societal relations of power and domination part of it? And what is the relationship of concepts of post-growth to the current debates about the migration crisis and social reproduction?

In the third block the still abstract utopia shall be put in concrete terms by current social strife for food sovereignty, self-management of renewable energy and the right to the city. Here, a point to discuss will be whether the seeming proliferation of the topic amounts to a novel social movement, willing to formulate a political program against prevailing practices, or whether there is a harmonious pluralism aiming to occupy social niches.

Finally, we will include perspectives from the Global South dealing with similar problems. Are there productive intersections between approaches of post-growth and interventions from the Global South or does post-growth persevere in an Euro-centric bubble?

What then will the future bring: more or less? Can post-growth offer alternatives, and if yes, which and for whom? And finally, who are these "all" who are promised a good life?

Assessment and permitted materials

Evaluation has two parts:

1. Reflexions
Three reflexion papers referring to self-chosen lectures of one page each. Submission before the next lecture on Moodle.

2. Essay
An essay of approximately five pages, enlarging one of the topics of the lecture series or linking several topic. The essay shall be based on literature dealt with in the lecture(s) and literature searched for by the students themselves.
There will be four dates to submit the essay on Moodle.

1st submission date: February 5, 2017
2nd submission date: March 5, 2017

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Examination topics

Reading list

For each unit lecturers will supply texts which will be available via Moodle. In addition, there will be a collection of introductory texts and advanced literature on Degrowth on Moodle.

Association in the course directory

IE: VM1, VM2
Geographie: BA11-8.1, L2-b-zLV

Last modified: Fr 15.10.2021 00:19