Activism: Shaking the Tree
This website is currently built around a course called “Activism Shaking the Tree”. The course is available for credit through the university of Manitoba however anyone can attend sessions for free. Please contact Stef McLachlan if you are interested in participating. Every effort will be made to broaden participation, especially regarding those from the surrounding community.
Core participants will play a lead role in designing and enacting the course material. The schedule below was generated by all that were interested in participating in this process. This took place at our first organizational meeting on Jan 6, 2009. A list of possible topics organized as theory, skills, as well as issues were brainstormed and then discussed. Topics were added according to interest and participants ranked the topics in preference. Those that were most popular were included in a tentative schedule, and participants identified which they would host.
Theory, skills, and application will be emphasized throughout, the course, which will be designed to allow both core and community participants to engage with the material. In the first half of the course, each three-hour class will be halved into a theoretical component and then an increasingly associated applied skills-related workshop component. The second half of the course will primarily focus on issues that have been identified as important by all participants. The course material, especially the workshops, will be advertised widely on and off campus
Central to this course is a campaign project. These campaign assignments will be developed over the course of the semester and the course has been designed, especially the skill workshops, to facilitate this. It is up to each group to decide what the campaign will be and the process by which it will be enacted.
Objectives
The learning objectives of the course are:
1. to better understand the theory that underlies and history surrounding activism;
2. to better understand the role of activism in environmental change, focusing on a diversity of case studies;
3. to develop and enact skills that inform activism;
4. to better understand the role of universities and partnerships with activist organizations in enacting environmental activism; and
5. to help redefine the role of universities and coursework in enacting environmental change.
Colin Anderson
johnneufeld
I am interested in who filmed your community garden film, my bet is that they are at arms length from Neighbourhoods Alive Projects. There is some question about the inclusiveness of NA projects and whether they actually serve perceived needs of a community or whether they serveto meet a political agenda. Specifically the client/service provider model which is espoused by NA, may actually deter social inclusion and decrease volunteerism, resulting in what has been refered to as the fragile community model. If you wish to speak with someone who has not had a ‘happy’ experience, i.e. the excluded. I can connect you with them.
By: Karen Jones on February 25, 2009
at 5:23 pm