Degrowth as a Collective Survival Strategy
Sámi knowledge and traditions offer many valuable examples of more reciprocal relationships to nature, where humans are not seen as separate from but rather one part of the natural ecosystem. This contrasts with the growth-minded capitalist power structures, in which nature is seen only as a resource to exploit for economic gains. Yet despite the intuitive understanding that within a planet of finite resources, infinite growth is not possible, do we have any real way to escape the rat-race?
As one such possibility, we turn to the idea of degrowth, which complements Indigenous Sámi knowledge and positions the struggle for Indigenous and environmental justice in a global context deeply tied to economic systems. Inspired by the Collective Survival Strategies framework developed by the social workers Finn McLafferty Bella, Mary Kate Dennis and Amy Krings (2019), this workshop asks if degrowth is a collective survival strategy that could inform today’s polycrises through an understanding of power, culture and history. The framework draws attention to the strengths and wisdom of oppressed communities that have fought for justice and equity while cultivating alternative forms of collectivity, care and interventions for centuries.
During the workshop we will find out what degrowth is, what kind of changes would be needed to take us on a degrowth path, and what our lives could look like if we did. By the end of the workshop, we will have moved from thinking about degrowth as a theoretical concept to seeing it as a necessary collective survival strategy that we can all engage in.
The workshop is facilitated by Dr. Amy Terese Shackelford, who is a postdoctoral research fellow in the SustainERA Project at Tallinn University. Amy’s research centres on ecosocial transition, ecofeminism, community building, justice and equity. She earned her PhD in social work from Jyväskylä University as a funded Marie Curie scholar. Prior to that, Amy worked as a social worker for fifteen years in the U.S. and South Africa, where her focus was on building power across boundaries, community organising, and addressing policy and structural change.
This international exhibition examines the complex journey being taken by the Sámi people as they strive for Indigenous justice and self-determination through decolonial world-building. The politicisation of Sámi art that began in the 1960s and 1970s, developing in parallel with the Sámi self-determination movement, has received widespread attention over the last decade. Today, Sámi art has become one of the most visible and dynamic parts of the Nordic contemporary art scene, and is increasingly prominent globally. This exhibition presents works by artists from different generations, including figures who prepared the ground for the current vigorous developments in Sámi art, as well as younger artists.
This event is part of the public programme of the exhibition no beginning no end. Decolonial Gestures in Sámi World building.
Participation is free of charge with an annual pass to the Art Museum of Estonia.
