"Action and learning for social change"

The class offers an exploration into how knowledge is and can be generated through everyday (sometimes deliberate) action, how different "knowledges" are accessed through different means and methods, and how to make better design choices in international development projects and consulting based on how we understand "whose knowledge is most relevant" in different social situations. We will use a range of tools which engage different knowledges: Debates, drawings, music, skits & theater, reflective and creative writing, life history interviews, historical scans, systematization of experiences, and many others. We may use some creative linguistics tools as well in collaboration with GSTILE language professors.

Students will be able to explain how different methods engage different knowledges differently (e.g. rational, emotional, embodied, etc.). They will be able to make better design choices based on this knowledge, yielding a practical "how to" knowledge, while connecting our experiences to theories of organizational and social learning, complexity theory, and action-learning/action-research.