The 2023 Post Growth Fellowship in Review
An inspiring body of content — from reflections on personal transformations to post-development and deeply political calls to action.
An inspiring body of content emerged from the Post Growth Fellowship’s second cohort, with topics ranging from reflections on personal transformations and practical examples of post growth, to interrelated global struggles, the role of post-development, and deeply political calls to action.
Knowledge, relationships, and personal journeys
Kicking off the 2023 Fellowship content, Emilio Velis shared his journey to cultivating a post-growth relationship with knowledge and why justice, sustainability, and personal connection must be prioritized and valued if we are to co-create a world where all can thrive. Relatedly, Turquoise Sound | TaoTeTurquoise.Com’s piece on heart-centered leadership revealed the magic that can emerge when we make a commitment to developing a healthy, intentional relationship with both self and others. And in a beautiful poem on video and accompanying article that emerged from a series of transformative African Liberation Dinners, Thobile Chittenden shared her profound healing journey and reflected on the beautiful yet complicated story of diversity and what it truly means to be African.
In an interview to coincide with the launch of “An Anthology of Blackness: The State of Black Design”, to which he contributed an essay, Pierce Gordon, Ph.D. explained the relationship between design methods and white supremacy, and how to approach design through a more liberatory lens. Andrew Sage, meanwhile, outlined his vision for a post-work, post-growth, library economy, exploring how capitalism and the growth imperative has led to the crises of the present, and defining degrowth as “striving for a self-determined life in dignity and abundance for all.”
And in a co-authored article accompanied by stunning photographs, Andrea gonzalez andino and Xinlin Song, who hail from the Andes and Himalayas respectively, explored the wisdom, insights, and guidance that mountains generously offer us in our effort to move towards a thriving, life-celebrating, post-growth future, and what educators can do to facilitate this new form of unlearning and relearning. The article was also published in Spanish.
Transforming business
We published a number of instructive pieces about the role of business in shaping a post-growth economy. Erinch Sahan revealed how Doughnut Economics helps businesses transform so that they belong in a future that’s regenerative and distributive; and Sheeza Shah spoke to our Executive Director, Donnie Maclurcan, about the fundamental issues with the current economic system and why businesses are at the heart of a shift towards our collective flourishing within ecological limits, and heard from other Fellows working at the intersection of business and post growth.
On the related topic of organizational culture, Farzin Farzad reflected on why our Fellowship meetings work so well and how “we leave each session feeling more connected, energized, and optimistic for a collaborative future in the middle of the most dire era of human and planetary history.” He also shared insights based on his experience of Organizational Justice — from sharing power, to balancing intention and emergence, and embracing the humanity of it all.
We were also proud to facilitate the production of a podcast, in collaboration with Affiliate Post Growth Fellow, Djémilah Hassani, about how small nations are making an outsized contribution to the development of an “economy of dignity”. In the French podcast accompanied by an English article based on a translation of the transcript, we heard from leaders from French overseas territories about how leveraging collaborations, innovations, and existing cultural practices can pioneer pathways towards economic reconciliation.
And, using learnings and examples from Civil Society Organizations in her native Colombia, Mariana Villegas-Mendoza revealed how Community Energy Initiatives are a potential tool for reducing (degrowing) energy production and consumption, while prioritizing community and the environment over profit.
Post-development
One of the most pertinent topics this year was post-development, a field that has been particularly influential in the development of our ideas and approaches here at the PGI.
In a set of wide-ranging interviews, we heard from Fellows with Global South perspectives. Tonny Nowshin explored why the movements for degrowth and ecological reparations strengthen each other, and how combining them builds political bridges and allyship between people from all over the world, while tackling systems of oppression at every level.
Pointing out that “a decolonial perspective reminds us that life is a complex tapestry of experiences, not a mirror of performance or economic gain,” Sonia Tesfaye shared her insight into how decolonial and feminist perspectives from Africa can highlight crucial pathways to a future beyond capitalism and economic growth.
And political ecologist, Arpita Bisht, revealed how sand extraction throughout the 21st century has led to ecological damage and violent operations, especially in the Global South — and why addressing the sand crisis requires systemic changes, including moving away from growth-focused models.
The politics and practicalities of post growth
What does post growth look like in practice, and how can we align it more closely and usefully with political movements?
In her inspiring video and accompanying article, Katherine Trebeck shared some glimpses of what a post-growth economy might look like in her hometown of Canberra, Australia. Meanwhile, Elena Hofferberth and co-author Matthias Schmelzer focused our attention on democratic macroeconomic coordination beyond growth, explaining that this need arises out of ambitions for a rapid social-ecological transformation of the economy and the practicalities involved.
And last but not least, Pratik Raghu, pointed out that there are relatively few engagements with fascism in the post growth and degrowth spheres, while noting that a growing body of evidence shows how far-right opportunists are more than willing to fill this gap. In a convincing call to action, he put forward proposals for explicitly integrating anti-fascist analysis and practice into post growth and degrowth, and explained why ”growth criticism cannot afford to avoid picking sides any longer.”
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