Schedule

Click links below to jump to weekly activities:

Weekly ThemeClass DatesDue Dates
IntroductionsSept 6 
Us, here, nowSept 13
Resistance and solidaritySept 20 Sept 22 Process Letter #1
Prepping and mutual aidSept 27
Deciding togetherOct 4 [Decentralized: in groups]
Direct actionOct 11 [Decentralized: in groups]
Cultivating autonomyOct 18 [Decentralized: in groups]
Building strong bondsOct 25Oct 24 Milestone Intervention Project due
TBDNov 1 Nov 3 Process Letter #2
TBDNov 8 
TBDNov 15 
TBDNov 22
ClosingNov 29Dec 6 Process Letter #3
(including Capstone)

Introductions

In the first class we’ll discuss the syllabus, course schedule, and assessment structure. We’ll also delve into some of the course themes. Time-permitting, we’ll read this together:

Margaret Killjoy – How to live like the world is ending (blog post 6 pages)

Us, here, now (f2f)

This week offers different coordinates for thinking about catastrophe. Most mainstream accounts of climate change treat catastrophe as a future event that we need to act urgently to prevent. But what if catastrophe can’t be stopped? Not because it’s ‘too late’ but because the catastrophe is the world right now. What if it already happened and we’re living in its ruins? What if urgency distracts us from systemic problems? What if ‘climate’ isn’t the main problem at all?

First, read / watch:

Then do some stuff:

  1. Create an account on Medium.
  2. Look ahead to future weeks in the Schedule, and consider whether you’d want to try facilitating some of our class discussion for one of those weeks. A sign-up sheet will be circulated next class.
  3. Write a story: you host a dinner party to discuss the question of catastrophe with Gelderloos, Bendell, Whyte, and The Invisible Committee. You’re the host, and maybe you invite some IPCC scientists or some other folks. What do you all talk about? What takes place? Does everyone get along or do they disagree? Include the topic RRTCC2024 when you post, so it’s easy to find your post.
    • Don’t assume your reader has read all these people or even knows who you’re talking about: write in a way that introduces these people and their ideas. Play with ways to do this in a way that is concise and interesting.
    • Your posts don’t need to be fancy, but consider including an image or two. When you’re ready to publish your story, you’ll be given the option to add topics. Choose any topics you like, but be sure to include RRTCC2024 as a topic in all your posts for this class. This will help us find each others’ work.
    • Post the story (or script!) on your blog or save it privately in a document.

Resistance and solidarity (f2f)

Important: this week, we will form groups for the Intervention Project. Over the three weeks that follow, you’ll be meeting autonomously as a group to envision and plan your intervention.

This week is about resisting further catastrophes, especially resource extraction and ecological destruction. In so-called Canada, the most sustained and militant resistance to resource extraction has come from Indigenous peoples, alongside others standing in solidarity. These struggles have become a touchstone for thinking about questions of solidarity, leadership, support, and action. We will discuss past and current frontline land defense struggles with an eye towards implicating ourselves, and exploring potential forms of action and solidarity.

First, read / watch:

Then, do some stuff:

Take some time to do a little research on Gitanyow resistance to the PRGT pipeline (or another contemporary site of Indigenous resistance/resurgence) and see what you can find out. You could start here for some background:

Matt Simmons – Opposition to northern B.C. pipeline intensifies as construction begins

In particular, look for voices of organizers and land defenders, rather than just media reports. What are people doing? Can you find any calls for support? How might you contribute to these efforts? How could you collaborate with others? Can you imagine planning a fundraiser or some other event?

Brainstorm some ideas and come ready to share what you’ve figured out in class.

Prepping and mutual aid (f2f)

Guides to “prepping” are everywhere, but as the authors below emphasize, they’re almost exclusively written from a right-wing perspective that focuses on individual (usually white) households collecting supplies and gear in preparation for a catastrophic event (when ‘SHTF‘). But does that mean we shouldn’t prepare? What might we want to be prepared for, in this world of unfolding catastrophes? What does it mean to reimagine prepping?

First:

  • Google “prepping guide” and skim one like this, or watch a video. Notice: what are they prepping for, what are they afraid of, and what do they recommend?

Then, read / watch / listen:

Then, do some stuff:

Write an alternative guide to prepping based on the course materials for this week. What happens to ‘prepping’ when it’s envisaged more collectively, with relationships at the core? What skills and relationships will be important? Decide whether you’re prepping for an event in the future, or simply responding to the catastrophe we live in. Make it funny or dead serious. Post it on your blog. Include the topic RRTCC2024 when you post, so it’s easy to find your post.

Begin (or continue) working on your Catastrophe Capstone Project. If you’re working with others, get in touch with them. Review the assignment, look back at what we’ve done and look ahead to what we’re doing. The Capstone Project is an invitation to dig deeper on a topic feels alive to you. Think about what you’d like to focus on, and what you might create. Write a post (or create a document) where you explore some initial questions about the project.

Deciding together (decentralized)

This week is about deciding for ourselves, collectively. Part of what is catastrophic about our world today is that almost all significant decisions are made hierarchically, where we’re being bossed around (or sometimes bossing others). So this week (and the few weeks that follow) is an opportunity to practice horizontal, collective decision-making. There is no formula for this, but there are lots of groups that have been experimenting with horizontal decision-making to coordinate all sorts of activity, from mutual aid projects to blockades to intentional communities. What this looks like varies from group to group, but this week’s readings include tools for approaching collective decisions.

First, read / watch:

Dean Spade – Why Horizontal Group Structures (video)

Seeds for Change – Facilitator’s Guide

Rhizome – Rhizome Guide to Consensus Decision-Making 

Then, do some stuff:

Be in touch with your group members in accordance with how and when you’ve agreed to communicate and meet up!

Then,

Make a list of all the places in your life where decisions are made for you. Consider school, work, family, the built environment, social life, food and other resources.

Then, make a list of any experience you’ve had of making decisions collectively. This doesn’t need to be a formal meeting; it could be fairly quick decisions you make with friends or roommates, like where you’re going to meet for dinner.

Draw a pie chart or some other graphic to represent these two lists in your life. How big is the slice of your life do you get to decide on, with others? How big is the rest?

Finally, consider your own tendencies with decision-making and group discussions. When you’re faced with a collective decision, do you tend to take charge? Keep quiet? Get frustrated? Do you find yourself thinking about others, or thinking about what you’ll say next? What helps keep you engaged? What supports your participation?

Post your thoughts on your blog. Include the topic RRTCC2024 when you post, so it’s easy to find your post.

Direct action (decentralized)

This week is about intervening directly to create what we desire, and/or resist what we don’t. It’s also about the limitations of conventional forms of protest and reformist campaigns, and what happens when people give up on those efforts and take direct action instead. While direct action can be controversial and illegal, it can also be simple and nurturing.

First, read:

Then, do some stuff:

Be in touch with your group members in accordance with how and when you’ve agreed to communicate and meet up!

Then,

Reflect on your own experience of direct action, OR on an inspiring event (to you) that involved direct action and disrupted dominant authorities, intermediaries, or demands (e.g. a blockade, occupation, etc). Write something analytical or evocative or both. Post it on Medium, and include the topic RRTCC2024. Consider: what do reactions to direct action reveal about the prevailing order? What makes direct action possible, and what sustains it? What possibilities does it open up?

OR:

Take direct action, on your own or in a group, even if it’s small or subtle. Reflect on the results. Post it on Medium, and include the topic RRTCC2024

Cultivating autonomy (decentralized)

This week is about digging deeper into visions and possibilities for autonomy from the state, capitalism, and other forces. Autonomy is often dismissed as a naive and dangerous form of isolation or absolute separation, so pay attention to what these authors mean by autonomy (and what they don’t mean). Pay attention also to your own reactions, including skepticism, excitement, suspicion, inspiration, fear, and so on.

First, read:

Then, do some stuff:

Be in touch with your group members in accordance with how and when you’ve agreed to communicate and meet up! This week is your last opportunity to plan and execute your project before we share our projects when we all get back together.

Write a short story or a series of vignettes about a future in which people are living more autonomously from some of the institutions, habits, routines, industries, and systems we’re currently enmeshed in. What’s life like? What’s harder and what’s easier? How do people spend their time? How is life organized? How do people think of their relationship to the past (and to our present)? Post it on Medium, and include the topic RRTCC2024.

Building strong bonds (f2f)

Many of us are accustomed to having a lot of choices about where and how we live, without having to negotiate it with others. But these modern options can be pretty hollow: for the first time in history, many people are not enmeshed in the webs of care and reciprocity that have traditionally sustained human life. Relationships are what sustain us, but the dominant order nurtures patterns of individualism, hierarchy, and violence. How can we live and relate differently amidst catastrophe?

Read/listen:

Consider listening the podcast with a friend or someone else you’d like to have a conversation with, then talk about it (see activity below).

Further reading (very optional – readings from before syllabus was revised):

Then, do some stuff:

Have a conversation with a friend or someone close to you about catastrophe, care, and kinship. Or do it in a group. Record the conversation and (if everyone agrees) post the audio, or write up a reflection after your conversation. Consider questions like:

  • How have your relationships sustained you in difficult times?
  • Do you have people around you who share your values? Are you seeking out others?
  • Have you tried to repair harm in your relationships? What has worked, and what hasn’t?
  • What are some ways you want to nurture stronger bonds among your community or those you care about?
  • How have you navigated individualism among relationships and groups?
  • Do you have people you can rely on instead of the grocery store, the police, the hospital, the counsellor, and the plumber? Who can you rely on as things (continue to) fall apart?
  • What do you yearn for in the relationships and groups you’re part of?

Post it on Medium, and include the topic RRTCC2024

Open weeks (f2f)

We will determine several weekly themes together as a class. The point here is to give you all a bunch of space to explore ideas that matter to you. In the past, we’ve explored themes such as:

  • Anxiety and affect
  • Displacement
  • Anarchism
  • Abolition and Anti-Blackness
  • Growing food
  • Degrowth
  • Deschooling
  • Dual power and revolution
  • Resisting border imperialism
  • Rigid radicalism and sectarianism

Closing (f2f)

TBD

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Growing food

Most of us are almost entirely dependent on industrial agriculture for our food, and these systems are going to become increasingly unstable as climate catastrophe deepens. How can we grow more food in this region–not just fruit and veggies, but also staple crops that provide protein, carbs, and oils? And how can it be done in a way that is regenerative for the soil and for people?

First, read:

Then, do some stuff:

Choose a practice or skill related to food that you’re interested in, and practice it. Reflect on it in a post on Medium, and include the topic RRTCC2024. This could be something you’re already learning, or something you want to learn, but you need to be able to practice it right now:

  1. Take at least an hour to practice this skill
  2. Reflect on what you’re learning, and write a post about it. Consider questions like:
  • What draws you to this form of re-skilling?
  • How does it (or how could it) support you and those you care about?
  • What are the next steps in your learning?
  • Do you have mentors, and if not, where can you find them?
  • Does it help you detach yourself or others from harmful patterns or systems?
  • What does it mean to practice it here on Indigenous land?

Decentralized transformation

Dominant conceptions of social and political transformation almost inevitably focus on changing institutions: policies, laws, and other reforms. ‘Large-scale’ transformation, we are often told, comes by pressuring the state, or by changing it from within. If movements or initiatives don’t affect these changes, they are often dismissed as failures. From this perspective, the refusal to engage with the state and other dominant institutions is naive and ineffective at best, and irresponsible and dangerous at worst.

This week focuses on radical visions of transformation that point beyond reform, to visions of decentralized transformation. They also argue for different responses than those on offer by states and other institutions.

First, watch:

Consider AOC’s vision of a desirable future, and how transformation happens. Contrast it to the visions below:

Read:

Write a dialogue between an advocate of large-scale, institutional transformation, and someone aligned with the decentralized forms of transformation this week. What arguments does each one make? What are their assumptions and values, and how are they challenged. See if you can show (i.e. answer these implicitly through the unfolding dialogue) rather than tell (simply telling the reader about the different assumptions. Post it on Medium. Include the topic RRTCC2024 when you post, so it’s easy to find your post.

Deschooling and ungrading

According to the authors this week, schooling and grading are designed more for controlling and ranking students, and less for supporting learning. But here we are in a university, in a course where you end up with a grade at the end. This week is about rethinking schooling and learning from within the university.

Read / watch:

Write a reflection on your own experience of schooling, learning, and grades in dialogue with the readings and this course. Include the topic RRTCC2024 when you post, so it’s easy to find your post.

While this is personal, avoid the diary entry: write in a way that someone else might enjoy reading! You will be sharing your work with fellow students regularly.

Consider using some of the following questions as prompts for your writing:

  • Check your bus (see de Oliveira from this week’s readings) in relation to grading, school, and the way we’re navigating them in this class. Write about your bus, its passengers, and their various thoughts, feelings, and perspectives on ungrading. See if you can identify three different perspectives on the bus, with different affective responses to ungrading. Don’t assume the reader is familiar with the bus concept (or de Oliveira, or you), and write with all that in mind.
  • If the bus metaphor isn’t working for you, and you want to write as a unitary “you,” then consider: how have grades and assignments affected your learning? What do you make of this course structure? What are you looking forward to, and what’s going to be challenging?

Your posts don’t need to be fancy, but consider including an image or two. When you’re ready to publish your story, you’ll be given the option to add topics. Choose any topics you like, but be sure to include RRTCC2024 as a topic in all your posts for this class. This will help us find each others’ work.

Go deeper

There’s no class this week, but this is an invitation to go deeper with your own work and reflection in this course.

First, reread:

  • Review the past few weeks and the activities you’ve done so far, and the feedback you’ve received from peers and in your Process Letters. Make note of what draws your interest and curiosity.
  • Look back at the readings from the term so far, and pick one or two with writing that you’d like to emulate (maybe it’s particularly clear, or evocative, or incisive, etc). Notice the narrative arc (how they start / continue / end). Notice transitions and stylistic elements.

Then, do some stuff:

Find one of your activities to use as a jumping-off point: pick one that felt generative for you, where you wanted to write and think more. Then write and think more. Revise, or add, or write a companion piece. Refer back to the chosen piece of writing to inspire you stylistically. The point here is to deepen your thinking around a particular topic that interest you, and to be intentional about writing style. Post it on Medium, and include the topic RRTCC2024.

Anxiety and Affect

First, read/listen:

The Institute for Precarious Consciousness – We Are All Very Anxious [printable zine] [online article]

Tommy Lynch – Why Hope Is Dangerous When It Comes to Climate Change

José G. Luiggi-Hernández – Moving From Eco-Anxiety to Eco-Anger Can Help Us Confront Climate Change

Then, do some stuff:

Consider: Lynch argues that hope is a dangerous form of “cruel optimism” when it comes to most (all?) ‘solutions’ to climate change. This calls into question the efficacy of solutions-based approaches, and (along with Luiggi-Hernández’s remarks on eco-anger) opens up questions about how we orient to climate catastrophe.

The Institute for Precarious Consciousness calls for “a new style of precarity-focused consciousness raising.” The goal of this, they say “is to produce the click — the moment at which the structural source of problems suddenly makes sense in relation to experiences.”

Think and feel through what this might mean for you, and write a response about it: how might you write in a way that elicits anger or other affective responses that support connection and collective transformation, rather than anxiety or hope? Post it on Medium, and include the topic RRTCC2024

OR:

Consider: when have things clicked for you in terms of the sources of anxiety or other issues you struggle with? What were the conditions that made things click? Are there lessons for collective efforts to combat anxiety? Design a little workshop or collective activity/discussion based on the Institute’s concept of ‘consciousness-raising’. Post it on Medium, and include the topic RRTCC2024

Displacement

First, read / listen / watch:

Supplementary readings

  • Find a living document of further readings here. Feel free to add resources for your classmates! 

Then, do some stuff:

Have a look at the myth database from Decolonize Palestine. Then, reflect on recent conversations with your friends and family about Palestine. Did any of these myths appear as fact in your conversations? If you feel up to it, make time for a follow up chat. Write about the experience on Medium or bring it up during class discussion.