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programme of the workshop 2005.pdf


Dr. Carola Möller, Köln / Dr. Ulla Peters, Universität Luxemburg / Dipl.Ing. Irina Vellay, Dortmund

taking.place@gmx.de

Call for Papers

From 21st to 23rd October 2005, after nearly three years, we are planning a second international workshop in co-operation with the Stiftung Fraueninitiative (Women's Initiative Foundation), Cologne (Germany) on the theme

Processes of Self-Organisation – Mutual Self-Sufficiency.

The focus of our conference lies on self-determined life practices undertaken together in local surroundings, beyond the consumer world and its market rules. Our definition of self-sufficiency therefore clearly exceeds food, drink, clothing, and housing. Exchange between theorists and practitioners has proven fruitful. We want to continue this form of creative exchange that allows us to transmit an understanding about the accumulated knowledge of research and practice to each other across numerous boundaries, and initiate networking as a process of mutual support.

Speaking and writing about self-organisation, self-empowerment and self-sufficiency is a controversial field. The neo-liberal discourse on the “Urban Future" follows the comprehensive marketing of as many aspects of life as possible. At the moment we are witnessing a highly contradictory development: On the one hand, the commodity world is becoming totalitarian, and on the other hand, commodity production is withdrawing from non-profitable sectors, leading to what can be seen as a noticeable segmentation in the city and to processes of shrinking and deterioration. These processes need the individual as an isolated homo oeconomicus.

The resulting destructive forces require both a redefinition of the relation between the globalised commodity world and the local consumer sphere and a new perspective on the “Urban Future". Precarity of living conditions is forcing many people involuntarily into a more use value-oriented means of securing their livelihood. At the same time, the deterioration of the old order also enables new possibilities for action in everyday culture for self-determined mutual self-sufficiency. Alternative forms of society refer to strategies for the joint creation of life practices in free co-operatives, oriented to the needs of, for example, the new homo reciprocans (Falke, Armin 2001).

The "self" in the terms mentioned only receives its social effect through its distinct positioning in this context. Within the context described here we are looking for theoretical approaches and critically considered practical experiences. Some examples for themes:

joint life practices in various social and cultural contexts (forms of social organisation, organisation of time and work, embedding in social and cultural contexts, exclusion from or embedding in commodity production, joint authority for disposition and democratic decision-making, conflict management),
direct exchange as giving and receiving (rules for the exchange, social binding versus autonomy, "feeling worthy" in money exchange and in need-oriented giving and receiving),
the city as an activity framework for self-determined common life practices (spatial organisation, mobility/transport, infrastructure and equipment, codification through use rights),
the double working day: necessary employment versus strategies for expanding a self-determined subsistence and for more independence from the market. Self-sufficiency as a way towards a desired quality of life or as a stabilisation of the dominant relationships.

We would like to end this conference with a round table discussion on the political assessment of the theme "mutual self-sufficiency - illusion or perspective".

The participants will be invited on the basis of a suggested contribution.


The organisers Feb. 15th, 2005