On 1-5 July 2019 we had the seventh Lova International Summer School. Because of the positive response to theme of the 2018 School we focused again on Unschooling the Anthropologist, this time with a special focus on Gender, Love and Sexuality (poster). 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 real 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 useful 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 academic lectures, interactive workshops and self-research, 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’ and ‘development work’. Like last year excursions and workshops stimulated the mind and body, and offered better knowledge of the history and culture of Amsterdam. Again we had a small, dedicated group of participants and experienced university teachers next to newly graduated students as tutors.
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. Emma Emily 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
Fernando Gonzalez (PhD in Latin American visual cultures at University of Amsterdam) Dystopia and Utopia in the futuristic portrayals of gender
Willemijn Krebbekx (Senior researcher at Atria, Institute on gender equality and women’s history, Amsterdam) Sex education in the Netherlands: This is how we do it
Vid Vodusek (Resident of clinical psychology and a group analysist based in Ljubljana, Slovenia) The body as cradle of uncanniness; in passion are we lost or found?
Emmy de Wit (Scholar at the Athena Institute at the VU University Amsterdam, focusing on higher education and transdisciplinary research cultures in India) Unschooling in the context of growing mental health concerns in India
Workshops
Astrit Ismaili (Multidisciplinary artist working in theatre and visual arts) Gendered movement and dance
Mona Penn-Jousset (MAKER Magazine/Podcast, a cross-pollination of good ideas and a global portrait of the art of life) New ways of seeing: Deconstructing visual symbols
Wouter Oomen (PhD candidate Media and Performance Studies Utrecht University, chair of IDleaks) Communication on developing countries
Excursion
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. Odessa, a community based (floating) platform/boat with space for a wide variety of cultural events in the Eastern Docklands neighbourhood of Amsterdam. One day, the first.
2. CEDLA, Centre for Latin American Research and Documentation of University of Amsterdam. Three days.
3. Vondelpark and The White House, a beautiful light penthouse at the run by a collective of individuals who use it for inspiring workshops, yoga classes, concerts and ceremonies. One day, the last.
Tuition fee
€350
Number of paying participants
10; from the Netherlands (3), Bolivia, Brazil, Czech Republic, Germany, India, Norway, UK.