Prospectus

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Strategies of Resilience: embodied acts of empowerment

Course
2022-2023

Disclaimer: due to the coronavirus pandemic, this course description might be subject to changes. For the latest updates regarding corona virus, please check this link.

Topics: Individual & community; interest-loaded environments; personal empowerment; resilience building; strategies of resistance.
Disciplines: Sociology, anthropology, philosophy, psychology, martial arts, music
Skills: Analysing, Generating Solutions, Collaborating, Oral communication, Written communication, Presenting, Societal awareness, Reflecting, Resilience

Admission requirements:

This course is an (extracurricular) Honours Class: an elective course within the Honours College programme. Third year students who don’t participate in the Honours College, have the opportunity to apply for a Bachelor Honours Class. Students will be selected based on i.a. their motivation and average grade.

Description:

How to remain your own person, hold your own position and principles? Professional and social environments not only require certain basic communication and negotiating skills, or expertise of content, but also something more - something underlying, at times elusive, but nonetheless essential to conclude successful and personally satisfying encounters with others, especially in situations where several (personal) interests are in play – which we call “interest-loaded”. How to overcome obstacles related to conflicting interests, outside pressures and personal characters? How to be resilient? In this workshop we will analyze different strategies of resilience, theoretically as well as through physical engagements, inciting you into building your own strategies of resilience in a variety of situations. Did you ever get frustrated while engaging with others, because you got diverted from what you planned to do? Would you have wanted to be better able to protect and articulate your own interests? Then this course might be just for you.

Course objectives:

At the end of this workshop you will have:

  • developed your skills in staying centered in your own personal identity and position in interest-loaded interactions with others;

  • developed your skills in achieving personally satisfying results during in interest-loaded interactions with others;

  • become familiar with different strategies of resilience and how to put them to your own use.

Programme and timetable:

Meetings will be held on Tuesday evening from 18.00-20.00. The preliminary programme is:

Session 1: February 7
Introduction and autonomy: Charles Taylor on authenticity - mindfulness-workshop on finding and staying with one’s own core. (M. van den Brandhof)

Session2: February 14
Social interactions and relations: Bruno Latour and Actor Network Theory – improvisation workshop on relations

Session3: February 21
Nature’s resilience: adaption and regeneration: Lisa Pennisi. – workshop on Tai Chi movements

Session 4: March 7
Cultural resilience: the story of afro-Brazilian culture Pedro Abib, Matthias Assunção – workshop on capoeira

Session 5: March 14
Artistic resilience: performativity: Ricard Schechner – music and performance workshop

Session 6: March 21
Moral resilience: choice theory. Glasser, Bentham, Sen – workshop to be announced

Session 7: April 18
Closure: presentation of personal projects / assessment

Location:

Schouwburgstraat, Living Lab at Campus The Hague.

Reading list:

(To be completed)
Taylor, C. (1989) Sources of the Self
Latour, B. (2005) Reassembling the social: an introduction to Actor-Network Theory
Pennisi, E. (2018) Nature’s strategies: resilience by regeneration
Assunção, M. R. (2002) Capoeira: the history of an Afro-Brazilian martial art.
Schechner, R. (2003) Performance Theory
Nancy, J-L (1986) The inoperative community
Rancière, J. (2011) The thinking of Dissensus: Politics and Aesthetics

Course load and teaching method:

Course load will be 5 EC, which means 140 hours, 16 of which are done in class.

Teaching methods will be group discussions based upon own personal experience of course members; (group – and individual) activities consisting of workshops, given by several specialists in their respective fields; and short theoretical explanations.

Assessment methods:

TBA

Brightspace and uSis:

Brightspace will be used in this course. Upon admission students will be enrolled in Brightspace by the teaching administration.

Please note: students are not required to register through uSis for the Bachelor Honours Classes. Your registration will be done centrally.

Registration process:

Submitting an application for this course is possible from Monday 31 October 2022 up to and including Sunday 20 November 2022 23:59 through the link on the Honours Academy student website.

Note: students don’t have to register for the Bachelor Honours Classes in uSis. The registration is done centrally before the start of the class.

Contact:
course lecturer Dolf van der Schoot: dolfvanderschoot@gmail.com