Industrial society has created a new kind of helplessness: human beings who have lost the ability to meet their own needs and the needs of their community. This was the argument Ivan Illich made in a series of influential books about schooling, technology, and culture.
In this workshop, Dougald Hine (co-founder of Dark Mountain and a school called HOME) will tell the story of his journey into the world of Illich’s friends and co-conspirators, how their work contributed to movements from Asset-Based Community Development to the Zapatistas, and how it can nourish the work of regenerative culture today.
Dougald Hine is a social thinker, author, teacher, and co-founder of organisations including the Dark Mountain Project and a school called HOME. He has published conversations with many of Illich’s collaborators, including Gustavo Esteva, Sajay Samuel and David Abram, and is on the advisory board of Penn State University Press’s Ivan Illich: 21st-Century Perspectives series. He teaches at institutions including the Centre for Environment and Development Studies, Uppsala, the Kaospilots School, Aarhus and Schumacher College.