Academic life and work from Aotearoa New Zealand
One of the questions I keep coming back to in my work is: what really holds a community together? Not the big, flashy ideals, but the everyday stuff or what we might call the nitty-gritty. The washing-kids’-bums, negotiating-how-to-share-a-space, holding-a-meeting-with-too-much-cake kind of stuff. That’s where I think community is made—in the messy work of care.
I had fun exploring the idea of 'counter-cities' and connecting it with postcapitalist politics of commoning and care, and literature on social infrastructures of care. Here's a plain language summary from my research blog. http://postcapitalistpossibilities.blog/2023/11/14/an-article-about-uncovering-a-postcapitalist-counter-city-in-otautahi-christchurch/
KELLY DOMBROSKI and STEPHEN HEALY describe a community economies approach to poverty which seeks to acknowledge what people are already doing in their communities to sustain themselves and then to act in solidarity with them. REPUBLISHED from Tui Motu Interislands Magazine. Many thanks to editor Ann Gilroy. How can we work to transform our economies... Continue Reading →
Last week I posted on being a public intellectual, or someone who engages with communities and society outside of academia, communicating research directly and also being influenced by communities in choosing research topics. I stand by all that. But I want to think further about the more theoretical work that community-engaged, public intellectual researchers do,... Continue Reading →
As part of a new area of research, I'd love to share my new mini-doco with you all. It's about the new forms of 'commoning' that have arisen since the Christchurch earthquake sequence in 2010 and 2011. Of course, I wasn't here and don't know as much about it as all the amazing Christchurch people... Continue Reading →
So it has been quite a long time since I blogged -- mostly because the second half of 2015 was taken up with intense teaching and a return to fulltime work. Ironically, a lot of my research work is about how the home and domestic spaces are sites of enacting postcapitalist politics for different kinds... Continue Reading →
I am a frock cyclist. If I have to get changed to use my bike, I am unlikely to bother. I am actually more likely to cycle when I am dressed up, because I can wear heels and not have to walk far to the door of my office! Also, the cool breeze created by... Continue Reading →
I have recently been reading David Keirsey's book Please Understand Me II, having read Please Understand Me in the first edition many years ago. He uses the Myer-Briggs personality categories to describe four basic temperaments and 16 role variants. His main point is that much of our differences in communication and the way we interact... Continue Reading →
I regularly update my profile on the Community Economies website. If you are interested in reading more of my work in this area, see my profile.
Throwntogetherness 