James Fenelon
ABSTRACT
Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: Socio-ecological Thought on the Anthropocene
Time: 18:00-19:00 UTC/20:00-21:00 CEST/03:00-04:00 JST October 15
Unrestrained capitalism produced deeply stratified countries and dominant core economies across the world in the last two centuries, with extractive strategies toward so-called semi- and peripheral national economies, that utilized fossil fuel systems with urban industrial development that changed and often destroyed local ecospheres leading to global carbon increases and what is now called the Anthropocene. Indigenous peoples of the Americas, and other parts of the world, have resisted capitalist domination that altered their socio-political structures, economic distribution systems, forms of land tenure, and community formation – all of which are demonstrably better ways to interact with and be oriented to earth systems that do not harm the environment. In this presentation, we identify various Indigenous nations or peoples (who survived colonization, genocide and capitalist state unequal assimilation) that have existing methods or models of maintaining more positive relationships with all life on land, water, and air that make up the global environment. We especially focus on the nature of community and tribal / ethno-national social involvement and responsibility, which can be modeled for larger, dominant, mainstream societies to learn from, adapt to, and produce changes leading to healthier human and earth systems that will not degrade or destroy the existing environment, offering hope for all of us on this world.
BIO
James Fenelon is currently Lang Visiting Professor for Social Change at Swarthmore College, on leave as Professor and Director of Center for Indigenous Peoples Studies,California State University, San Bernardino.
He published Redskins?: Sports Mascots, Indian Nations, and White Racism (2017) to combat racial icons in sports and society,following his earlier books Culturicide, Resistance and Survival of the Lakota (Sioux Nation) using critical analysis to support tribal sovereignty of Native Nations, andIndigenous Peoples and Globalization (with Thomas Hall) showing resistance and revitalization strategies using world-systems analysis.
His current work is due out soon, Indian, Black and Irish: Capitalism, Colonization and Racism in America. James teaches on Urban, Ethnic and Indigenous Studies, Cross-cultural and Indian Education, Race and Racism, Global and Environmental Issues, Genocide, Languages and Political Sociology, publishing numerous journal articles and book chapters (40+).
Professor Fenelon now works on Climate Change, Migration, Environmental and War, Peace and Conflict scholarship, related social science themes, creative prose and poetry that reflect his Dakota/Lakota, Gaelish Irish, French and Scandinavian descent, where he advocates for social justice, Indigenous critiques and believes in respect for all life on earth.
A.R. Vasavi
ABSTRACT
Eroded Life-Worlds And The Uncertain Future
Time: 04:00-5:00 UTC/13:00-14:00 JST/ 06:00-07:00 CEST, October 14
The twenty-first century has ushered in an era marked by the fall-outs of capitalism and the adverse impacts of natural resourcedepletion and climate change. The results of these are borne by awide range of societies which have been disembedded from theirlocal cultures and whose life-worlds are subject to varied forms oferosions. These ‘eroded life-worlds’ include the loss of knowledgesystems, identities, and a sense of belonging which are compoundedby a range of separations (from ecology, community, society). Suchfoundational ruptures are evident at the individual, community,society and national levels and are manifesting in multiple forms ofviolence and social aberrations. Subsequently, as the uncertaintiesof the future loom as the predicament of most societies, it ispertinent that alternative imaginaries be articulated. These includechallenging the adverse integration into globalised systems and thenstrategizing to relocalise economies and societies in smaller andcollective structures, where the norms of ‘limits’ rather than ‘growth’and where the interests of the public and posterity gain over that ofthe private and the present. In the overall restructuring of societies,the symbiotic relationships between nature and societies, and thecentering of a sense of belonging to a re-imagined future areindispensable.
BIO
A. R. Vasavi, a Social Anthropologist, is based in Karnataka, INDIA. She received her masters from the Dept of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, and her PhD in Social Anthropology from Michigan State University (USA).
She was a faculty with the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, from 1997 to 2011, and a Senior Fellow at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi, and Visiting Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Diversity and Religion at Gottingen, Germany.
Her academic interests are in sociology of India, agrarian studies, and sociology of education and she has conducted field research in various parts of India. Her publications include, Harbingers of Rain: Land and Life in SouthIndia (Oxford Univ Press 1999), In an Outpost of the Global Economy (co-edited with Carol Upadhya, Routledge, 2008), The Inner Mirror: Translations of Kannada Writings on Society and Culture (The Book Review Press, 2009), which is alsoavailable in Kannada as VollaGannadi: Samakalina Samaja Mathu Samskruthi Kurita Kannada Barahaghalu, and Suicides and the Predicament of Rural India (ThreeEssays Collective, 2012). Kannada University, Hampi, has brought out a collection of her writings which have been translated into Kannada. A collected volume of her essays on education is forthcoming. She is currently a member of the PunarchithCollective that works on alternative learning.
