Hello Everyone,
I hope this email finds you well. Our upcoming workshop still has a few spaces left. 
You can see more info here: https://cambalache.noblogs.org/taller-en-linea-enero-2021-online-workshop-january-2021/
or just keep reading:


 Online! Create Your Own Non-Capitalist Economy:

Intensive workshop on methods in developing and researching decolonial, social, solidarity and non-hierarchical economies.

Dates:

Access to online materials- December 15th, 2020

Online conversation groups- January 18th through 22h, 2021

From El Cambalache

San Cristóbal de las Casas Chiapas, Mexico.

This course focuses on forming local non-capitalist economic projects and resisting their co-optation.

**We need other economies** In the last few months, we have experienced a significant global change in our lives around the development of COVID-19 and the government responses to curb the virus. People living precariously on a daily basis, suffering economic, social and legal marginalization, have been put even more at risk from disease, hunger, lack of remuneration and violence. In many parts of the majority world, people have been imprisoned and/or experienced violence for taking to the streets to seek improvements in their wellbeing, freedom from domestic violence, and other reasons that bring them into public spaces. With the fall of the stock markets and the shutdown of capitalist economies, we see that more than ever it is necessary to make non-capitalist economies, to recognize that our Americas are rich in the practices and knowledge of other age-old economies. Now is the time! Let's get to work and recuperate our economies!

**This course will cover**

-Methods and analyses for creating decolonial economic projects.

-El Cambalache as a contemporary example of an anti-capitalist and non-hierarchical project.

-Investigating the economic history(s) of the Americas. These history(s) that have been attacked and made invisible by the coloniality of capitalist power. We will focus on how to apply a decolonial perspective and practice to this investigation.

-Analyzing the discourse of capitalist co-optation in the context of the green economy in order to resist projects that cause dispossession.

-Practicing consumption from a decolonial perspective.

**For whom?

The practice, research and theories of non-capitalist economies included in this course were developed by and for all of us in order to bring about social change. For this reason, it is designed for people interested in creating, practicing and collectively researching noncapitalist economic projects to be carried out in their places of residence or research. Everyone is invited to participate – women, indigenous people and LBGTIQ++ are especially invited.

**Course presentation**

Decolonial economic geography begins with participatory action research in non-Western, non-hierarchical economic practices.

When studying decoloniality we sometimes find it difficult to move from theory to practice. Have you thought about starting a non-capitalist economic project, but don't know where to begin? Have you asked yourself how to use participatory action research to start a social and/or solidarity economy project? Are you interested in "commoning" and "communality"? Do you want to do decolonial economic research but don't know how to engage in local, indigenous and/or non-Western economic practices in the context of an economic project?

During the last 500 years through the present, indigenous and non-European peoples, slaves and descendants of slaves have been historically denied equal access to participation in the capitalist economy through mechanisms of coloniality.

The capitalist economic system values neither nature nor most of our knowledge and skills. Over the last five centuries people around the world have not accepted that their way of being is to be poor, they have not sat down to simply lament their situation. In terrible circumstances of slavery and oppression, where many people were dispossessed of their property, they were denied access to money and some forms of property by colonial and post-colonial governments, yet these people created diverse and creative networks of exchange and coexistence, which have enabled their survival throughout history and across the world.

These economies have been largel;y ignored because they were and still are mostly women's economies. Silvia Federici has shown that while capitalism developed, women in Europe and the Americas were systematically denied access to the money economy for centuries. As we know from the diverse economies literature, there is much more to the economy than just capitalism. By understanding and practicing these types of noncapitalist activities we can decrease our dependence on money and increase our autonomy by resisting the capitalist economic system.

To participate in this workshop, we ask the participants to share current and future projects to discuss and develop during our activities. There will be collective talks about the frameworks and possible steps to design and carry out methodologies for a project of feminist, solidarity and decolonial economies. Expect readings before and during the workshop, as well as writing activities.

This workshop covers literature on hybrid economies, decolonial territorialization, decolonial feminism, decolonial economics, the Community Economies Research Network, and communality.

Topics:

Diverse Economies in the majority world of the Americas

Decolonial economy in the majority world of the Americas

Feminisms in the majority world of the Americas

Autonomous movements and their practices

Collective participatory methodology

Research methods that resist hierarchy

Creating practices

**Program description

*Midwives, healers, and other decolonial feminisms from Venezuela and Cuba:
Strategies for Thinking History from a De-Colonial Perspective Facilitated by Tito Mitjans Alayón and Belkis Rojas.

In this module we propose to examine on the one hand, colonial/capitalist narratives such as the chronicles of the Indies and other colonial documents, as well as historical and current midwifery and healing narratives of the Venezuelan Andean Cordillera from an intersectional and decolonial perspective. On the other hand, we will examine the presence of such colonial narratives within the discourses of solidarity and communality of contemporary nation states such as the case of the Cuban revolutionary government. The module exposes how history has been used to silence the practices of colonized peoples and erase their economies.

Topic 1. Economies of anti-precarity: Strategies of resistance from an Afro-Dacian lens. Facilitated by Tito Mitjans Alayón.

We will address how black communities have readjusted to new stages of capitalism based on the experiences of Africans challenging slavery and colonial capitalism. From an afrotransfeminist lens we will analyze two cases coming from the afrocuban experience: the ‘caldosa’ (an afrocuban broth) and spiritual practices from the Regla de Ocha. These examples can be reused as decolonial tools to generate alternatives to the current neoliberal global economy and other racialized contexts.

Topic 2. Persecuted and invisiblized knowledges: Healers and/or midwives; testimonies of historical-cultural-political and economic resistance.

Facilitated by Belkis Rojas

Here we will critically analyze how, from the colony to the present, there has been a systematic attempt to make knowledge, practices, healing and the solidarity skills of indigenous women and their forms of community exchange disappear. This activity refers fundamentally to the Venezuelan Andes and, to a lesser extent, to the state of Chiapas, Mexico.

Live online conversation. Collectively historicizing our anti-capitalist strategies of economic resistance.
Facilitated by Tito Mitjans and Belkis Rojas

In this last part of our module we will conduct a guided discussion with participants on the contributions, imaginations and possibilities in which the strategies presented can help give rise to participants' anti-capitalist practices and projects. This space will also allow us to rethink and perhaps construct history in a more critical manner and closer to our situated realities. *

*What Green Economy? Dispossession and sustainable development in the climate crisis. Facilitated by Aldo Santiago.

We will analyze the capitalist discourse and economic re-engineering in the context of global warming under the precepts of the green economy. We will reflect on policies, projects and strategies promoted by nation-states, NGOs, businesses and global financial institutions to impose "sustainable" models for energy production and nature conservation, which deepen the processes of dispossession in peasant and indigenous territories. This perspective will allow us to identify strategies to resist the current ecolonialist onslaught.

Topic 1. How did we get here? From the cult of progress to the present catastrophe.

We will look at history to point out the causes of climate change and analyze the western paradigm of the nation-state and economic growth. We will talk about the transition from extractive industries to sustainability and we will analyze those concepts to find the origins and intentions of the green capitalism discourses.

Topic 2. More community, less Paris: The traps of the climate emergency.

We will review the notion of epistemicide and the different strategies implemented by green capitalism to push territories and communities into the market under the pretext of combating climate change. We will analyze the discourse on so-called clean energy production and the consolidation of carbon markets that exacerbate capitalist dispossession.

Topic 3. The same script for dispossession: From the conservation of the market to the defense of the territory.

We will talk about the consequences of the implementation of nature conservation programs that have produced forced displacement and the destruction of organizational models for community welfare. In turn, we will highlight processes of defending the land and territory to reflect on different modes of struggle and resistance that confront the green plundering throughout Latin America.

Live online conversation: Extinction or Rebellion? Collective reflection for action. Conversation for the construction of solidarity.

*

*Methods in Theory and Practice for Creating Decolonial Diverse Economies in the Americas Facilitated by Erin Araujo.

We will talk about the great diversity of economies in the Americas that exist at the same time as capitalism. Much of the majority world in the Americas has little access to money. This low access to money also reduces people's participation in the capitalist economic system, which in response has generated a wide range of alternative, non-capitalist, economic networks – these include mutual support, autonomous governance, exchange, barter, tequio, minga, gifting, group savings, and many other ways to live well and overcome the precarity imposed by the capitalist system, even if there is little access to money.

Topic 1. Recuperating the decolonial economy

This week we will study the fundamentals of the decolonial economy from the basics, thinking about what is decoloniality, what does a decolonial perspective on the economy encompass, and what would be some examples.

Topic 2. Diverse economies and decoloniality: meeting points.

There will be readings and videos in the study of diverse economies within decoloniality to link the two bodies of praxis and theory. We will analyze which other economies exist at the same time as capitalism in the majority world of the Americas, and what are the steps to recover our economies.

Topic 3. Collective participative methodologies to create non-hierarchical, solidarity microeconomies.

In this module we will discuss how to form an effective set of methods for generating creative and inclusive economic research projects that break with conventional practices of hierarchical research methodologies.

Live online conversation. Reconstructing ourselves together to practice decolonial economy projects.

We will share the work, thoughts and provocations of the participants.

*

*Sharing Seeds of Practice from El Cambalache: The thought and praxis of El
Cambalache Facilitated by the El Cambalache collective; Chepis, Erin, Elise, Belkis,
Romina, Lupita, Maira and Elena

El Cambalache is a moneyless economy project, generated by and for women and their communities in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico. We are going to share our experiences, challenges, and learnings throughout the process of forming the project. Chat with us about our non-hierarchical project and let's build tools that will allow us to dismantle capitalism.

Topic 1. Setting Roots.

We will talk about our project El Cambalache, the history of how it was generated and its collective, feminist, non-hierarchical philosophy. We will share: How, when, and why did it come about? What is our practice of living-doing-feeling-thinking-creating-care?

Topic 2. Sprouting Cambalaches.

We will deepen our exploration into the dynamics, self-construction in communality, mutual aid, togetherness and wellbeing that are necessary for creating noncapitalist and non-hierarchical economic projects. These are the ways that we generate El Cambalache from day to day.

Topic 3. Watering, Caring and Fertilizing.

We travel to the heart of the collective; we will show you how our internal processes work, how we work around obstacles, how we make decisions in consensus, how we value exchange, and the challenge non-hierarchical work so that you may expand these practices in your own work.

Live online conversation. The harvest.

During this live conversation the participants will share their contributions, their experiences and their work. How can you apply what you have learned in your context? Have your seeds germinated? Let's get to know your sprouts. Do you think we can continue to sow, care for, water and fertilize them?

*Decolonial consumption. Facilitated by Elena Morúa , Maira Pino and Guadalupe Díaz Hernández.

Do you know what you consume? How it is produced?: Experiences in the food and textile field, in communities and in urban areas.

We will share the experiences of the Koltamba Collective, an organization made up of 20 families of Tzeltal origin, who are coffee producers from the highlands of the state of Chiapas. We will share information about their agro-ecological work, their organization, and their vision of a network of mutual support. Examples of collectives and self management networks of family and local solidarity economy.

Topic 1. The Koltamba (mutual aid): Do you know how what you eat and what you wear is produced? Experiences of mutual aid networks and how they are interwoven. The invisible path for consumers: we will talk about the processes of collective work from obtaining inputs, to producing of the products, and what this implies for the consumer, as well as the formation of self-managing, anti-capitalist and non-hierarchical solidarity networks.

Topic 2: Weaving practices and realities. Reflections on consumption and Koltamba (mutual aid). We will share some practices of how we live decolonial consumption from our contexts and resources. We will also include the experiences and/or projects of participants and how they relate to what they saw during the module.

*Important Dates

-Due date for submission of applications: Until spaces are full

-Deadline for paying the deposit to secure your place: December 7, 2020.

-Deadline for paying of the rest of the course fee: December 14, 2020

-Access to study materials for the first week: December 15, 2020.

-Online discussions: January 18h to January 22nd 2021 The schedule of the online discussions will be decided among all the participants, depending on the geographies where the participants are located.

**Space is Limited

**Costs**

Cost for participants from countries with a high access to money (in US dollars)

$500-$350 Solidarity price for well employed participants or collectives who want to

participate with a single contribution. This price is suggested for people who have some kind of funding for their professional development or can afford it because of their high salary level. This price contributes support for other people, with fewer possibilities of remunerated work, so that they can pay less.

$350 - $200 Students and participants who can afford it because they have access to some type of financing or are collectives that want to participate through a single contribution.

$200 - $80 Students, grassroots activists and participants who have little access to money.

**Cost for participants from countries with little access to money (in Mexican pesos):

$5,000-$3,500. Solidarity price for well-employed participants or collectives who want to participate with a single contribution. This price is suggested for people who have some kind of funding for their professional development or can afford it because of their high salary level. By paying this price, you will contribute in supporting other people whose access is very limited, and who want to participate in the workshop, so that they can pay less.

$3,500-$2,000. Students and participants who can afford it because they have access to some type of financing or are collectives who want to participate through a single contribution.

$2,000 - $800. Students, grassroots activists and participants who have little access to money.

If for any reason you are unable to cover the fees, please ask for moneyless exchange options to cover prices.

All proceeds from this workshop will go to support El Cambalache’s research, community and decolonial work.

**This workshop will be provided by El Cambalache from its Department of Decolonial Economics**

El Cambalache is a moneyless economy project located in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas and is made by and for women and everyone who we know. In El Cambalache everything has the same value. Here people exchange things they no longer need for things, skills, knowledge and mutual help that people want to share. El Cambalache was founded in 2015 and is based on anti-systemic and anti-capitalist values for local social movements.

For more information see our documentary: Inter-Change Value (2016) https://vimeo.com/159060233

More information about the workshop program and other details will be shared in the coming weeks. Please contact Dr. Erin Araujo at [log in to unmask] and the entire collective at [log in to unmask] with questions.

**How to Apply

Please request an application and send it with your CV and a 1,000-word letter of motivation to Dr. Erin Araujo, ([log in to unmask] and [log in to unmask]) explaining why you would like to participate in the workshop and what types of economic projects you could develop with us.

Biographies of the workshop organizers:

Aldo Santiago. Documentary filmmaker, photographer and independent journalist. Aldo collaborates with Avispa Midia, an investigative journalism collective focused on the defense of land and territories Latin America.

Belkis Rojas Trejo. She is a Venezuelan Andean woman, with a degree in History and a Master's degree in Ethnology. Diploma in Advanced Studies in Social Anthropology. Retired Professor and Researcher at the University of Los Andes, Venezuela. Currently belongs to the group of women generators of the collective El Cambalache, San Cristobal de Las Casas, Mexico.

Erin Araujo PhD. Geographer of feminist, decolonial and anarchist economies. Originally from New York, USA. She has been in San Cristobal de las Casas for 13 years. She is one of the founders and generators of El Cambalache. She studies, practices and writes about moneyless economies in the majority world of the Americas.

Guadalupe Díaz Hernández. Originally from the south-southeast of Chiapas, Mexico. She has lived in San Cristobal de Las Casas for 25 years. She has actively participated in collective work with children, youth and adults from the Catholic Church. Currently she participates in the organization of the Koltamba Coffee (mutual aid, in Tzeltal language), in the space of PROART (Handicraft Products) and she is a generator in the collective El Cambalache.

Josefa Vázquez Martínez is originally from Venustiano Carranza, Chiapas. She has lived in San Cristóbal de las Casas for 20 years. A Tzotzil indigenous woman, single mother and feminist, activist, founding member and generator of the collective El Cambalache, an economy of goods and services based moneyless exchange.

Maira Pino. Originally from Santiago, Chile. Member of the collective El Cambalache since February 2020. Designer and embroiderer dedicated to the repair of garments and to share knowledge about the embroidery technique. She participated in Coohebra, a women's cooperative dedicated to extending the life of clothing.

Maria Elena Morua. Originally from Monclova Coahuila, Mexico, she has been living in San Cristobal de Las Casas, Mexico for 4 years. She has a degree in Psychology, , has participated in popular education collectives, and is currently a generator of the collective El Cambalache.

Romina Soledad Aguaysol. Born in Argentina, mother, traveler, feminist since adolescence. Artist~artisan, has participated in several cultural, artisan and agroecological self-management collectives. She has been part of the collective El Cambalache since 2017.

Tito Mitjans Alayón PhD. Activist and Afro-feminist historian, transmasculine non-binary gender. Masters in Interdisciplinary Studies of Latin American and Caribbean History. He recently completed a doctorate in Feminist Studies and Intervention in Chiapas.



Erin Araujo PhD

she/her/ella
Generator
Department of Decolonial Economics
El Cambalache,
Calle de los Arcos 5c
Barrio Cuxtitali
San Cristobal de las Casas
Chiapas, Mexico 29230

+52-967-146-4141

Academia.edu: independent.academia.edu/erinaraujo
El Cambalache FB: www.facebook.com/lacambalache
El Cambalache Documentary: https://vimeo.com/159060233
El Cambalache Blog:  https://cambalache.noblogs.org
El Cambalache Sitio: http://cambalache.home.org/ 
Cervecería La Heroína FB: www.facebook.com/cervecerialaheroina

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