Eduardo Gudynas
Centro Latinoamericano de Ecología Social, Montevideo
May 5 & 7, 2015
1) Buen Vivir and Nature’s Rights: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Tuesday, May 5, 3:00-4:30pm, GEC 4003
2) Workshop on “Transitions towards Alternatives to Development: Post-extractivism beyond Capitalism and Socialism”
With responses by Gabriela Valdivia (Geography, UNC)
and Dana Powell (Anthropology, Appalachian State University, Boone)
Thursday, May 7, 2:00-4:30, GEC 4003
Reception to Follow
Description of the events: The first event discusses prevailing trends on the concept of Buen Vivir (BV), including its origins in radical development critiques in the Andean countries; its re-appropriation by the region’s progressive governments; ethical and political debates around BV and critiques from modernist perspectives; and the limits and possibilities of linking BV with other critical notions, such as degrowth. Concrete examples will be drawn from Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru. The second event examines transitions to post-extractivism as a concrete attempt at bringing about alternatives to development focused on BV. It analyzes the radical objectives that can be imagined within a transitional democratic framework, and identifies differences with related proposals, such as the transition town initiatives, degrowth, and Sustainable Europe.
About Eduardo Gudynas: Eduardo is Director of the Latin American Center for Social Ecology (CLAES – Centro Latino Americano de Ecología Social), Montevideo, Uruguay. He has been Visiting Professor at the Universidad de la República in Montevideo. His current appointments include: Research Associate, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis; Coordinator, Latin American Alliance of Critical Studies on Development (ALECD); and member of the Expert Group on Alternatives to Development, Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Quito. Besides maintaining a very active lecturing circuit at universities in Europe and the Americas, and a program of workshops and meetings with civil society and social movement organizations, Eduardo is an extremely prolific writer. His two most recent books summarized his work of many years and the continental debates of last decade on Buen Vivir, the Rights of Nature, and transitions to post-extractivism. See: Gudynas, E. 2014. Derechos de la Naturaleza y políticas ambientales. La Paz: Plural (1st ed.); and Gudynas, E. 2015. Extractivismos. Ecología y economía política de un modo de entender el desarrollo y la Naturaleza. Cochabamba: CEDIB (1st ed.). Both books have separate editions in Perú, Colombia and Argentina.
Sponsored by: The Latin American Social Cartographies Working Group, Carolina Seminar on the Theory and Politics of Relationality, Institute for the Study of the Americas (ISA), and Curriculum in Global Studies .