Hi everyone!
I met Malika this year in Paris and I've been thinking for a while about an alternative pedagogical project. Focused on finishing my thesis I didn't go too far in considering the nomad school but I just read this forum and found many many things to say. I am very excited about it and would like to contribute.
As I come a bit late and don't know really to which extent who from the people I have read here is still considering taking part in the project, I prefer writing a single text with all my points rather than spreading them through different topics.
My goal was to travel to learn and collect from other's official and unnoficial pedagogies: ways to learn, including body and individual potencialities far away from libraries and competition.
So I just achieved my master's thesis in anthropology. Before going into social science I had two years of this french harsh studyind in humanities: litterature, philosophy, history, geography spanish litterature, and theater. A wonderful theater teacher put me into it and I had a theater company for a year and dropped it to achieve an acamedical project. I always liked to paint, more and more to dance and sing but those are desires I want to get better in tobe able to share it outside of by bedroom or of crowds of unknown bodies. Last year I've spent 5 months in a Erasmus in Copenhagen and fell in a pure irrational love for the city and notably its educacional system.
Inbetween I had some intensive experiences including travels and other discoveries: i had know an occidental shaman and an emotional practice (primal scream) when I was 18 and stayed very impacted. Then I went into a much more rationalist understanding of my reality but still giving a large space to emotions and sensations. Sensorial experiences from dance to psychedelics are a path I start exploring and want to continue in being precautionous on its sustainability. My thesis was about a european festive and alternative european community, gathering geeks, artists and mainstream guys mostly from England, they're called burners and organised a freaky interesting annual event, Nowhere- something that popped up loads of new interests in my life, from anarchism to interactive art and IT.
I don't consider I finished my studies but that this is enough with the institution. I tremendously want to learn pratices and to explore new methods. I see how travelling fills each time my body with loads of information, it makes me think so much and a project-oriented travel with other people seems to me the ideal way to combine this overwehlming storm of new ideas and mywish to organise them and to enable themto be digested and to make something with them.
Also I would like to gather the things that impacted me in those last years of studying and to share it back.
What I would like to share:
-Some anthropology courses, mostly ethnographic methods: ways to look at people, to ask them questions about them, to work on ability to listen and consider alterity. Ways to write about people in the more descriptive ways and spot judgemental thoughts is really the most valuable thing I keep from anthropology.
- Some litterature and poetry in french, english and spanish
- some stuff about nutrition
- spanish, french
I also consider organising workshops on stuff I dont consider myself being a specialist. I saw some of you writing you're interested on some topics but don't feel you know enough to "teach" them. On this I would like to mention a little anecdote.
I think we could consider organize workshops on things we don't know verywell. I start reading "The ignorant master" of Jacques Rancière: an essay on apprenticeship telling the story of a man developing a pedagogy to teach people stuff he didn't even know himself, in checking and pushing the people and himself towards inducing, deducing and working by themselves from a set of common texts and documents. This is an example to introduce my proposition. Here are those things I know a bit and have a few skills but would like not to teach but to bring material and push the group to learn together :
- drawing and painting, modeling clay
- Discussing some essays about anarchism and liberalism
- Physical theater warm-ups and exercices
- sawing your own books
- traditional folk songs in different languages
- folk dances
What I would like to learn:
- botanics and wild plants and stones, practicing ability to identify them when you find them
- singing
- german
- astronomy
- crafting (macramé, sculpting wood and clay) -> this I consider being my potential way to make money while travelling in sending small items, but I still have to get better and for instance to build a small portative hoven. (See below my viewss about vehicle and organization.)
- social reltionships
About the last one, I would really appreciate to include as a large part of the apprenticeship the collective living together. In other words, all the stuff that has been practically completely let to self-organization between people at school. Mainstream french school never organized collective spaces and times to express feelings, to learn how to put words in order to do it, how to speak with an audience, or how to relate with people to make things together in differtens ways from just frienship / love or affinity. This seems very important to me in this kind of adventure that would gather a fresh group.
Also I consider the things I would like to share as being completely included in the travel. Anthropology would be perfectly put in practice in going to meet and propose people to write little stuff about them or trying new medias and new ways as proposing them to write it themselves. Folk songs and dances can be brought to organise events with the people (it demands a few intrusments) and they can teach us their owns when they have some.
I have lots of other points but I'll keep them for a further post and replies, now I just want to add my opninion about the organization that Malika told me about lastly : meeting in September and go hitchinking.
I sincerly think this project would deserve more time, more oragnisation, and a least one vehicle to be run.
Just considering the fact that all books cannot all be found as e-books, that I don't necessarily consider everyone having a kindle, that a large board is really usefull to write things big and do mental mapping, that I really liked the felxyourte idea, and also that if you want to travel collectively and cook cheap when you have guts weakness raw food from the trash is not a sustainable option for me.
Also with the idea that I am not a musician for instance: to earn money on the way, I would like to practice some crafting that demands material to carry. Other examples, I would like to carry rare books and papers ; one crazy outfit to do some shows, warm clothes; and a lot of other stuff that we don't think about and will fast get tired to carry or frustrated not to carry, considering the experimental model of the project that might pop up new ideas and demand to pick up in a reserve of material. A van means also spatial freedom and less money to spend because of this reserve, you got more complete pharmacy and stuff to host a potential newcomer and a shelter in case of storm or somebody sick.
Because I like this project I would feel a real pity if it didn't take more time to organize and get more chance to last and engage people on a stronger basis. Just speaking for me at least, I won't have time til start of September to raise money and prepare the courses as much as I would like to. I consider more joining the project something like at the start of 2017 when I have a driving licence. Also leaving at spring 2017 asks a smaller issue for winter.
Hope to hear from you about this.
Cheers everyone !
Clara