Enrollment is now open for the winter 2019 session of the ISE online seminar Ecology, Democracy, Utopia! The course will meet on Mondays at 3 pm PST/6 pm EST from January 28th through March 18th.

This eight-week course provides a comprehensive overview of Social Ecology – an interdisciplinary body of ideas that explores the relationship between social and ecological problems from a transformative political perspective. Participants learn the foundations of Social Ecology and apply these insights to a variety of contemporary political and ecological problems, sharpening their understanding of the world while developing visionary solutions to change it. The seminar covers a broad range of interconnected themes, including:

What is Social Ecology?

The Emergence and Dissolution of Hierarchy

Understanding Nature: Towards a Dialectical Naturalism

Capitalism, Critique, Alternatives

Technology, Agriculture, and Society

Politics Beyond the State: Popular Assemblies/Direct Democracy

Getting from Here to There: Social Movements and Community Organizing

Reconstructive Vision: Reclaiming Utopia

Format: The course is arranged into eight thematic units which combine video lectures by ISE faculty, a weekly online seminar, readings, and online discussion forums. Each week, participants watch a video lecture and read assigned texts, then meet via video seminar to discuss them with faculty and other students. There are also online forums where the conversation can be continued between sessions. There are no written assignments or grades, participants receive a certificate of completion. Through our partnership with Goddard College, students who enroll in their low-residency BA program can earn college credit for the course; some students from other institutions have been able to take the course for credit via their home university as an independent study.

Registration is open to everyone, but space is limited. Our classes are typically very international, we encourage global participation and offer scholarships to students from underrepresented areas. To enroll, please write us at social-ecology@mail.mayfirst.org and pay the $100 registration fee here.

We look forward to learning and changing the world together!