Session Organizers

Melanie E BUSH
Adelphi University, USA

Withney SABINO
Associação Sócio Cultural Horizonte Azul, Mozambique

David EMBRICK
University of Connecticut, USA

In this Invited Session presenters explored questions related to projects comprising the “solidarity economy”.  For example, the impact of involvement in these initiatives on youth development;  which types of structures of solidarity most align with deeply transformative practices; the relationship of these projects to political resistance;  commonalities and distinctions with indigenous forms of associativism and the shaping of individual and collective narratives about the kind(s) of society(ies) that members strive to create.

We brought intergenerational (ages 25-65) feminist, scholar-activist, critical race and decolonial perspectives about contemporary initiatives and the possibilities they represent. We affirmed the centrality of interdisciplinarity in our analyses. Most presenters are involved in scholarly and community projects characterized by solidarity economy oriented practices such as cooperatives, mutual aid, etc.

We collectively considered how communities “be the change” structurally and through transformative social relations. We explored what principles and practices most firmly embed solidarity and the common good in contemporary efforts aimed at radical social change. This session engaged participants and attendees in thinking about the Challenges of the 21st Century: Democracy, Environment, Inequalities, Intersectionality through a conversation of ideas and energies in action.

Presentations

Panelists shared excerpts from ethnographic research, and centered respondents’ voices in an analysis of the meaning and significance of the projects examined. Their comments provided a space to visualize knowledge created on the other side of the abyssal line (Santos 2014). Presenters demonstrated how communities navigate the challenges of meeting basic needs in different ways, utilizing resources at hand. 

Drawing from Youth Studies, Erika Licon discussed the impact that solidarity economy organizations has on youth human development. She demonstrated how these projects provide safe physical spaces in which subaltern representations of youth selfhood are developed and expanded. Participants expressed that when you grow as a person, you also grow with the project in the sense of belonging. Being, belonging and becoming is transformative for the individual, the community and the collective.  This influences their ideas about who they will be in the future.  Participation satisfies their social, economic and emotional needs and develops them as environmentally conscious citizens. Participation expands youth subaltern representations of selfhood.

Withney Sabino (Mozambique) spoke of her experience with communities constantly challenged by displacement, environmental catastrophe and armed conflict.  Sabino explored how movements reinvent themselves to sustain their struggles outside traditional structures and bring a feminist organizing perspective. She describes how doing so involves challenging generational power relations within the feminist movement, because of tensions with and dependence on already established larger organizations.  Associação Sócio Cultural Horizonte Azul (ASCHA) began their work by using social media tools, and in 2020 created a new funding movement called aljada, (allies) to support their initiatives. By doing so they shifted from dependence on formal funds and power structures to support activities such as COVID support, education, obtaining and distributing basic food, health and school supplies.

Through a feminist inquiry approach with the 'Capuchinhas' women’s cooperative in Portugal, Teresa Cuhna discussed how companionship, autonomy, freedom, and decision-making power are experienced in co-op members' lives. She counters the dichotomy between productive and reproductive work. Cunha establishes that all women's work is productive as it is the material and immaterial foundation of life. Cunha states that the sociological imagining of another world centers life and therefore women in an economy of desire that affirms generative practices. 

In “Associativism in Traditional Communities”, Marilia Veronese speaks of the living metaphor of suffering caused by coloniality and asserts that a major problem is of cognitive injustice. Veronese spoke of the long tradition of solidarity in Brazil, particularly among indigenous communities, Quilombos, artisans and fishermen who work cooperatively as a way of life. These communities' strength comes from traditional practices related to water, irrigation systems and seed banks that rid them of dependence on the state and the market.  They  also participate in social movements for example around housing, the autonomous management of schools and in challenging binary gender relations.  Through this work they engage a deeper participatory citizenship through social activism.  

Examining the solidarity economy in the United States, Melanie Bush shared respondents’ perspectives about two models: a time bank and a comprehensive project with a vision and program for reshaping social relations and ways to meet the needs of their community (Brattleboro Time Trade/Vermont; Cooperation Jackon/Mississippi).  Bush stated that the characterization of these as “new” disregards historical examples of community-based efforts to meet needs, where formal structures either do not exist or are insufficient.  What is new is the contemporary crisis of the modern world system. While short and long term goals can sometimes represent a tension, community building can be part of movement building making political education important.  Race, class, gender and age dynamics play a significant role in the form and focus of these initiatives. Finally, Bush states “change” comes because people create it, not because those in power grant it.  

Jean-Louis Laville asked why it is difficult for the solidarity economy to become a legitimate topic, noting the strong separation between social movement and alternative economies studies.  He suggests that the liberal tradition presents history as a succession of steps and assimilating market economy to progress and a lack of consideration for the resources which according to Jean-Baptiste Say are not part of economic analysis.  He asserts that neoliberalism emphasizes reference to competition and by definition, capitalist forms of organizing society.  Laville proposes that to highlight the political dimension of solidarity economy we need international dialogue mostly south-north, rooted in the historical context. 

This theme was noted throughout the session —  that it is critical for the separation of solidarity economies, social movements and the academy to be bridged.  Furthermore, the role of youth, intergenerationality, women and the most oppressed  is central to the organization of these economic structures. A challenge is sustainability outside the market economy and the state, and meeting both immediate and long term needs. In this moment of capitalist crisis, solidarity economy projects have a critical role to play. Research and analyses are essential.

Session Papers

Solidarity Economy an International Movement and a Contribution to Real Utopias Discussion Jean-Louis LAVILLE, Collège d'Etudes Mondiales, France

The Impact of the Solidarity Economy on Youth Development, Erika LICÓN, Concordia University, Canada

Solidarity Initiatives of Young Mozambican Feminists, Withney SABINO, Associação Sócio Cultural Horizonte Azul, Mozambique

Epistemologies of the South and the Economies of Hers the 'capuchinhas' Cooperative of the Serra De Montemuro, Teresa CUNHA, Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique

Actors on the Stage of Change: The United States, Melanie E BUSH, Adelphi University, Garden City, New York, USA

Associativism in Traditional Communities: Overcoming Inequalities through Solidarity Economy Marilia VERONESE, Universidade do Vale do iIo dos Sinos (UNISINOS), Brazil

References

de Sousa Santos, Boaventura. 2014. Epistemologies of the South: Justice against epistemicide. Routledge