28 Jul Summer School on Pluralism & Development
Summer School on Pluralism & Development
Bogor 28th July-13th August 2015
Program
The annual Summer School on Pluralism & Development involves a 3 week full time program of lectures, excursions, seminars, literature study, discussion, guided individual – and small group work and assignments. Participants are selected from four or five participants from our Pluralism Partners in India, Indonesia, Uganda, South Africa and the Netherlands. Selected participants are required to prepare a pre-summer school assignment.
The summer school program focuses on
- Critical analysis of (1) key concepts in development theories and their normative and empowering impact, (2) human rights, its basic values and justifications and a reflection on the claims of the universality of human rights versus human rights as a western invention and (3) key issues in social theory and cultural studies with regard to civil society building and democratic empowerment
- Exploration of concrete civil society practices from perspectives of human and sustainable development
- Theories and practices of pluralism in diverse societies
- Reflection on methods and strategies which are used by civil society based organisations in the promotion of pluralism, such as educational practices, dialogue, personal and social empowerment and civil society based community action programs
- Philosophical and ethical discussions on the basic values of cosmopolitan ethics, e.g. theories of global civil society building and democratic participation, sustainable development and global social justice.
The course will be completed with a group presentation and paper as well as a design for a workshop that participants are expected to conduct after they return home.
The main aims of the Pluralism Knowledge Program
- comprehend and map existing studies and practices and generate new knowledge on core contemporary issues pertaining pluralism and fundamentalisms
- intensify links between development practitioners and academic researchers in ways that enrich both their knowledge bases with new perspectives, insights and skills
- support and empower civil society organisations to effectively design and advance new strategies, policies and practices of pluralism
- help create international networks of civil society initiatives around issues of pluralism translate acquired knowledge into strategies for promoting pluralism in practice.
Partners
The summerschool is organised by the Kosmopolis Platform of the University of Humanistic Studies, in cooperation with HIVOS (Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries), PUSAD-Paramadina and The Centre for Religious and Cross-Cultural Studies of Gadjah Mada University (Indonesia), the Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice of the University of the Free State (South Africa), the Global Centre for Pluralism (Canada) and a to be confirmed university in India.