(CANCELLED)
Education as the practice of freedom *
18 December 2021 - Café Congo, Brussels
Seminar initiated by Sarah Vanhee
This seminar will bring together people who have imagined, (self) organized and set up places/collectives in Brussels or Paris, according to the needs of their respective communities, privileging the ones that are not commonly privileged within hegemonic societal paradigms. The focus will be on third places and practices where education, art and activism are not separated from other aspects of life, inspired by feminist and decolonial thinking, without necessarily claiming to do so. Places of resistance where friends, family, communities can gather, visibly or invisibly.
This learning day intends to create the opportunity to share stories and experiences, tools and strategies, problems and challenges; know-how, rather than theory, amongst speakers and participants. How to implement the places and organizations that are needed, but not to be found or supported in dominant society? How to start from, and remain close to lived experiences, starting from embodied knowledge, rather than abstract theory? How can we trust in - and act according to parallel and possible realities, which are closer to how we would like to live, love, learn and create? This requires imagination, courage, work, community, time, energy, means, entrepreneurship, organization, luck, and so many other things. How to manage all that, within the constraints of a patriarchal, Eurocentric capitalist reality?
The title from the seminar is borrowed from * bell hooks, and her seminal work on education as the practice of freedom. For this “day for learning together”, Sarah Vanhee invites people who have initiated organizations where education is more or less explicitly present, and where praxis is central. People from five different organizations/collectives will exchange their knowledge, by sharing their experiences and questions: Café Congo, Collectif Susu, Rester.Etranger, Brave, and bodies of knowledge (BOK).
Formats depend on the different contributions of the guests, in a spirit of dialogue and exchange, based on lived experiences.
Main languages: English, Dutch, French (with informal translation, possibly also to Arabic and Turkish)
Throughout the workshop, childcare with activities can be provided for parents-participants. In order to be able to foresee that, please let us know by November 15 in case you will be in company of child(ren).
Seminar is free for all, but registration required.
Programme
09:30 - 10:00 welcome coffee & tea
10:00 - 10:15 welcome by Sarah Vanhee
10:15 - 11:15 Café Congo
11:30 - 13:00 Collectif SUSU
13:00 - 14:00 lunch
14:00 - 14:30 BOK
14:30 - 15:30 Rester.Etranger
15:45 - 16:45 B.R.A.V.E
17:00 - 18:00 panel discussion with all guests