Event Title

How Do We Go On? Community and Individual Self-care

Location

Diamond 223

Start Date

30-4-2015 2:54 PM

End Date

30-4-2015 3:55 PM

Project Type

Presentation

Description

Throughout my organizing, I find myself exhausted, tired, and wondering about how it is possible that I still go on without achieving any tangible changes. Last year, I had the honor to meet and collaborate with members of 350CentralMaine (350CM) - a small, isolated, but active group of people who have been fighting for climate justice for years. The more I became involved with them, the more I became amazed by their persistence, willingness to learn and understand, and optimism about the future. These encounters made me wonder about how individuals retain their energy through long time activism. I am doing this research for 350CM members and myself. This fall, I went through a very intensive training that helped me to understand my self-motivation to organize and to determine ways in which I can gain and retain energy. I hope that through in-depth interviews with the 350CM members, I will help them reveal their own self-interest (in organizing, this method is called one-on-one) and find new ways how to preserve energy. Additionally, I think that having a better understanding of how one retains her or his energy while organizing can be helpful for anybody who wants to became/is active in fighting for a better world for everyone. Research question: Which ways do community-based activists use to retain energy in long-term organizing?

Faculty Sponsor

Winifred Tate

Sponsoring Department

Colby College. Anthropology Dept.

CLAS Field of Study

Social Sciences

Event Website

http://www.colby.edu/clas

ID

1387

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Apr 30th, 2:54 PM Apr 30th, 3:55 PM

How Do We Go On? Community and Individual Self-care

Diamond 223

Throughout my organizing, I find myself exhausted, tired, and wondering about how it is possible that I still go on without achieving any tangible changes. Last year, I had the honor to meet and collaborate with members of 350CentralMaine (350CM) - a small, isolated, but active group of people who have been fighting for climate justice for years. The more I became involved with them, the more I became amazed by their persistence, willingness to learn and understand, and optimism about the future. These encounters made me wonder about how individuals retain their energy through long time activism. I am doing this research for 350CM members and myself. This fall, I went through a very intensive training that helped me to understand my self-motivation to organize and to determine ways in which I can gain and retain energy. I hope that through in-depth interviews with the 350CM members, I will help them reveal their own self-interest (in organizing, this method is called one-on-one) and find new ways how to preserve energy. Additionally, I think that having a better understanding of how one retains her or his energy while organizing can be helpful for anybody who wants to became/is active in fighting for a better world for everyone. Research question: Which ways do community-based activists use to retain energy in long-term organizing?

https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/clas/2015/program/215