Reading Group

The Research & Degrowth / ICTA reading group consists of convivial gatherings every few weeks, where the participants discuss in detail a series of readings that relate to degrowth. Over the years, we have read books from Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen, Andre Gorz, Silvia Federici, Ivan Illich, Amaia Orozco, Serge Latouche, and many others. The discussions that took place in the reading group resulted in a series of joint publications, public interventions, Special Issues, and the edited volume “Degrowth. A vocabulary for a new era” (vocabulary.degrowth.org). The aim of the reading group is not only to create a deeper knowledge of the ideas of degrowth but also to connect the degrowth idea with various current affairs and emerging issues.

We want to encourage more people to create their own degrowth reading groups in their cities, universities, and institutions, for this reason, we share our reading lists. We encourage you to take a photo, write some thoughts or something you learned or are thinking about, and post it in your social media use the hashtag #degrowthreadinggroup

Degrowth and the Return of Fascism, a guest session with Prof. F. Adaman
Readings:

Neoliberal Developmentalism, authoritarian populism and extractivism in the countryside: the Soma mining disaster in Turkey. Fikret Adaman, Murat Arsel and Bengi Akbulut. Journal of Peasants Studies.

It’s not just Trump. Authoritarian populism is rising across the West. Here’s why

Understanding the global rise of the extreme right

Steve Bannon interviewed by Zanny Minton Beddoes | The Economist

André Gorz, pioneer of a post-growth society, a guest session with Fr. Gollain
Readings:

Francoise Gollain (2016) “André Gorz: wage labour, free time and ecological reconstruction”, Green Letters, Special issue: The Ecology of Labour, Vol. 20, No 2, June 2016, p. 127-139

André Gorz (1993) Political Ecology: Expertocracy versus Self-Limitation

Degrowth and Violence
Readings:

Ben Case – Beyond Violence and Non-Violence
Hannah Arendt – On Violence (Page 163 to 184)

Further Readings:

NAVCO Database on Violent and Nonviolent conflicts

Degrowth and the Catalan Question, a guest session with Prof. Pep Puig
Readings:

Degrowth to be discussed in the Catalonian Parliament: A political party argues for Degrowth
El Decrecimiento a debate en el Parlament de Catalunya. Entrevista a Sergi Saladié, parlamentario de la CUP-Crida Constituent

Ajudem a fer néixer la República catalana!

The Left and Catalonia

Extinció o rebel·lió, aquestes són les dues opcions

Degrowth and the New Left (Labour, Democratic socialism)
Readings:

Green-deal vs. De-growth (Robert Pollin)

What is the green new deal? European spring – Manifesto, chapter 2.
How the green-new deal world would look like? (Kate Aronoff)

Critiques of The Green New Deal
Readings:

A defence of degrowth (Response to Pollin’s critique)

Guillaume Pitron’s argument on damages from rare earth materials mining
A defense of degrowth (Response to Pollin’s critique)

Is wartime mobilization a suitable policy model for rapid national climate mitigation?

Degrowth, the EU and our intervention at the European institutions
Readings:

Leida Rijnhout & Riccardo Mastini (eds). 2018. Sufficiency: moving beyond the gospel of eco-efficiency. Friends of the Earth Europe.

The Guardian. 2018. The EU needs a stability and wellbeing pact, not more growth.

Tom Henfrey. 2018. Reflections from Brussels conferences.

Nina Treu et al. 2018. Are European politics compatible with post-growth?

Francesca Colli & Bart Kerremans. 2018. Searching for influence: interest groups and social movements in the European Union, Journal of European Integration, 40(1):115-121.

Eco-feminism and perceptions on growth from Ireland
Readings:

From Metabolic Rift to “Metabolic Value”: Reflections on Environmental Sociology and the Alternative Globalization Movement, Ariel Salleh

Feminism and Environmental Ethics: A Materialist Perspective, Mary Mellor

Limits- Why Malthus was wrong and why environmentalists should care
Readings:

Limits: Why Malthus Was Wrong and Why Environmentalists Should Care
Book by Giorgos Kallis (2019). Stanford Press

Debt and Degrowth
Readings:

Hartley, T. and G. Kallis. In review. Interest-Bearing Loans and Unpayable Debts in Slow-Growing Economies: Insights from Eleven Historical Cases.

Nyblom, Å, et al. 2019. Governance and Degrowth: Lessons from the 2008 Financial Crisis in Latvia and Iceland. Sustainability 11, 1734.

Mellor, M. 2016. Money – The Neglected Agent of Change. Capitalism Nature Socialism, 27:4, 28-39.

Post Growth Fashion
Readings:

Payne, A., 2019. Fashion Futuring in the Anthropocene: Sustainable Fashion as “Taming” and “Rewilding”. Fashion Theory, 23(1), pp.5-23.

Rachael Taylor (2019) Invent Your Own Fashion Economy: Post-Growth Cultures, Fashion Practice, 11:3, 397-416, DOI: 10.1080/17569370.2019.1664513

Stitched up. The anticapitalist book of Fashion. Tansy Hoskins. Chapter 6. Resisting fashion

Usership: fashion beyond consumerism. Kate Fletcher | TEDxMacclesfield

Class, Labour and Degrowth
Readings:

Working-class ecology and union politics: a conceptual topology”, S Barca, E Leonardi, Globalizations 15 (4), 487-503

Ecological Politics for the Working Class, Matthew Huber, Catalyst 2019, https://catalyst-journal.com/vol3/no1/ecological-politics-for-the-working-class

The Future of Labour defines the Future of Humanity and all Living Species, N Räthzel and S Uzzel, ILO Journal

“Batshit jobs’ – no-one should have to destroy the planet to make a living”, Bue Rübner Hansen, OpenDemocracy 2019