On 2-6 July 2018 the sixth Lova International Summer School was organised centred on a new central theme: Unschooling the Anthropologist. Unschooling is seen as a philosophy or educational attitude that promotes self-directed learning, as well as the acquiring of skills, knowledge and wisdom through natural life experiences, honest, meaningful dialogues, and curiosity. The Summer School was focused on helping participants to fundamentally empty themselves from acquired constructs and concepts, in order to be open to the world as it enfolds around us. This practice of ‘unschooling’ can be very helpful for researchers, and particularly anthropologists.
Jiddu Krishnamurti: I hope that you will listen, but not with the memory of what you already know; and this is very difficult to do. You listen to something, and your mind immediately reacts with its knowledge, its conclusions, its opinions, its past memories. It listens, inquiring for a future understanding. Just observe yourself, how you are listening, and you will see that this is what is taking place. Either you are listening with a conclusion, with knowledge, with certain memories, experiences, or you want an answer, and you are impatient. You want to know what it is all about, what life is all about, the extraordinary complexity of life. You are not actually listening at all.
Through self-research, interactive workshops, and inspiring lectures, the Summer School created a platform for participants to critically and playfully examine their held beliefs and attitudes towards several broad themes that commonly arise in the work of anthropologists, including ‘education’, ‘gender and sexuality’, ‘development work’ and ‘stress and (mental) health’. There were also be several excursions to stimulate the mind and body, and to offer an enjoyable encounter with the history and culture of Amsterdam. We worked with anti-hierarchical structures and invited newly graduated students to teach next to professors. We provided information about ethnographic ‘tools’ within the parameters of gender and feminist anthropology.
The school was designed for students (BA, MA, PhD) and life long learners with an interest in anthropology, ethnographic fieldwork and gender studies.
Organising committee
Academic Directors: Dr. Emmy de Wit & Irene Arends MA
Chair LOVA: Dr. Marina de Regt
E-mail : summerschool@lova.network
The programme
Lectures
Kathy Davis (Department of Sociology at the VU University Amsterdam, Senior research fellow in the PARIS research program) Unschooling emotions or: Feminist dancing with passion
Shanti George (Social anthropologist; honorary professor at the School of Education and Lifelong Learning at Aberystwyth University, Wales; Learning for Well-being Foundation) Unschooling universities and un-learning for well-being
Marijke Naezer (PhD candidate at Gender & Diversity Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen) Sexy anthropology: Exploring youth, sexuality and social media through ethnographic fieldwork. Digital peer cultures and self-presentations in the Netherlands
Hanneke Pot (PhD Candidate at the University of Oslo) and Marielle Le Mat (PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam) Unschooling development: Girls’ and sexuality education as neutral developmental goals?
Alex Thinius (PhD Candidate at the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis) Rethinking gender and sexuality: What does it mean to be of a particular gender?
Workshops
Somaye Dehban (Strategic connecter and fundraising advisor) Crash course on fundraising
Daniel Eagles (Writer, mover, and learner of life) and Emmy de Wit (Scholar at the Athena Institute at the VU University Amsterdam, focusing on Higher Education and transdisciplinary research cultures in India) Stress Management: Journeying through your own mental constitution
Astrit Ismaili (Multidisciplinary artist working in theatre and visual arts) Gendered movement and dance: Exploring the (natural) construction of binary sexed identities through dance and movement
Frank Kupper (Biologist, philosopher and theatre maker, Assistant Professor of Science Communication at the Athena Institute of the VU University) Living theatre
Abhishek Thapar (Theatre maker, performer, puppeteer, artist) Workshop decolonization at ‘Tropenmuseum’
Wouter Oomen (PhD candidate Media and Performance Studies Utrecht University, chair of IDleaks) Communication on developing countries
Emmy de Wit (Scholar at the Athena Institute at VU University Amsterdam, focusing on higher education and transdisciplinary research cultures in India) Unschooling in practice: To be (or not to be) an unschooling parent
Excursion
Carola Lammers Carola Lammers (Anthropologist, teacher cross cultural communication, and tour guide) The portrayal of 17th century women; gendered tour through the Rijksmuseum
Practical matters
The venues
The workshops and lectures were held at different locations:
1. Nelson Mandela House, a beautiful inn, located in the North of Amsterdam, alongside the river IJ. It is dedicated to celebrating and restoring interconnection, based on the Ubuntu-philosophy. Onde day, the first.
2. CEDLA, Centre for Latin American Research and Documentation is located in the Eastern part of the city centre of Amsterdam, at the Weesperplein area. Two days.
3. Cultural Melting Pot Café OKO: located in the West of Amsterdam, this art gallery, workshop space and vegan café offers an ideal setting for our Summer School program. One day, the third.
4. Tropenmuseum and Rijksmuseum, for workshop and excursion. One day, the fifth.
Tuition fee
€350
Number of paying participants
10; from the Netherlands (5), Austria/Armenia, Croatia/the Netherlands, UK (2), USA/India.