The ISE is excited to offer three online courses this spring – our two existing seminars plus a brand new class, Understanding Antisemitism. Our courses bring together ISE faculty, cutting-edge content, and students of all ages from around the world to create a unique learning experience that centers social and ecological transformation. Enroll today!

Ecology Democracy Utopia

This eight-week seminar provides a comprehensive overview of Social Ecology, exploring a broad range of interconnected themes including social hierarchy and domination, nature philosophy, capitalism, technology and agriculture, direct democracy and the state, movement history and strategy, and reconstructive vision. Participants will 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 ideas to change it. Combines video lecture, texts, weekly seminar discussion, and online forums. The course will run on Mondays at 1 pm ET from April 8th to May 27th. Cost: $100.

Rethinking Social Transformation

This five-session seminar explores the challenges and possibilities of linking emancipatory vision to practical political engagement in the current historical context. It brings Social Ecology into conversation with a variety of thinkers and traditions, comparing dialectical versus conventional thought via Ernst Bloch and Murray Bookchin, exploring the potentialities for change in specific historical moments with Karl Marx and Karl Polanyi, reading Gramsci and Poulantzas on the relationship of capitalism and the state, and discussing political strategy through the work of Rosa Luxemburg and David Harvey. The course meets Mondays at 3 pm ET, April 29th to May 27th.

Understanding Antisemitism: Historical Roots & Contemporary Relevance

We are proud to offer a timely addition to our online seminars: “Understanding Antisemitism: Historical Roots & Contemporary Relevance.” Recent events – from the deadly Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, the alt-right’s chant of “Jews will not replace us,” up to recent controversies within the Women’s March and UK Labour Party – have demonstrated a critical need to understand antisemitism as an ongoing threat that requires analysis and action from an emancipatory perspective. Co-taught by Robert Ogman (PhD Sociology, De Montfort University) and Peter Staudenmaier (Professor of History at Marquette University), this four-session seminar will provide a critical introduction to social theories of antisemitism alongside an overview of historical forms up to the present moment. The course meets Wednesdays at 3 pm ET from May 8th to May 29th. $80.

All courses can be also taken in a self-directed FLEX format that features the same materials but without the weekly video seminar for half the full seminar fee.

To enroll or receive more information, contact us at social-ecology@mail.mayfirst.org

We look forward to learning and changing the world together!