Feminist political ecology practices of worlding art, commoning and the politics of hope in the classroom

• Published in: International journal of the commons Vol. 13; no. 1; pp. 153 - 174
• Main Author: Harcourt, Wendy
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: International Journal of the Commons 01.01.2019
• Subjects: Ecological economics; Economies of scale; Environmental education; Feminism; Feminist economics; Feminist political ecologies of the commons and commoning; Green economics; Icebergs; International community; International economics; Political ecology
• ISSN: 1875-0281
• DOI: 10.18352/ijc.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 classroom, my paper contributes to ongoing dialogues on 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 a broader feminist, ecological justice project followed by a conclusion.