Collaborative Learning
Flourish Coalition’s collaborative learning programs offer live virtual sessions where participants have an opportunity to engage in peer-to-peer learning and reflection through educational resources, discussions, individual exercises, group activities, and practice partnerships. Inspired by the liberatory educational approach of Brazilian educator and philosopher Paulo Freire, the goal of these programs is to support our individual and collective development of a critical consciousness about our food system and society and to promote grassroots action in service of greater justice, sustainability, and compassion.
Anti-Racism in Food System Education: A Critical Approach for Liberatory Learning
This collaborative learning program provides a critical framework for bringing a racial justice and liberatory lens to food system education. The program explores how racialized systems of power and privilege have operated to create patterns of harm and injustice within the U.S. food system since its inception and possibilities for reimagining a world outside of oppressive systems. Designed for educators and advocates, the program invites participants to deepen their own understanding of race and systems of racial hierarchy, including colonialism and racial capitalism, and how these systems have led to injustices within the food system that harm racialized groups of human and nonhuman animals, including food insecurity and apartheid, forced labor and worker exploitation, and a lack of community control and direction in regard to our food system.
Beyond a Paradigm of War
Puerto Rican philosopher and critical theorist Dr. Nelson Maldonado-Torres uses the language of a “paradigm of war” to describe how social relations are constructed within a colonial worldview and framework. The paradigm of war assumes and normalizes an ongoing state and process of conflict and domination in order to maintain power, ultimately through various mechanisms of marginalization, exploitation, and oppression. Dr. Maldonado-Torres explores how this paradigm of war, that manifests through historical and contemporary colonialism and imperialism, shapes global society and dominant systems, cultural narratives, and practices. This program examines our society and food system through this paradigm of war and explores how we might envision, promote, and practice alternatives of greater justice, care, and solidarity.
Food System Transformation: A Multi-Species, Interrelated Justice Framework for Change
This collaborative learning program offers an introduction to issues of our food system through a systems- and equity-framework, grounded in a sanctuary ethos of multi-species care and community. The program features the stories of sanctuary residents, caregivers, and community members as a foundation for learning about the complex web of interrelated issues of justice in the food system, including the impacts on workers, communities, and the planet. The program includes educational presentations, readings and resources, facilitated discussions, and community-building activities related to the impacts of our food system and models for social change. The program draws upon the wisdom and experience of our participants and multi-racial coalition partners, highlighting the individuals, communities, and grassroots organizations leading food system change across movements.
Care Praxis for Justice & Liberation
This program offers a space for fostering a community of practice and support where we can each work to cultivate a liberatory and counter-oppressive care praxis in service of our individual and collective well-being as we engage in the work of social transformation for the benefit of humans, fellow animals, and our shared planet. We will explore alternatives to societal patterns and dynamics of destruction, domination, exploitation/extraction, and relational alienation that harmfully affect the well-being of ourselves and our communities, particularly as we are working to promote social change. The goal is to normalize a culture that prioritizes care, justice, and liberation and to build the tools and resources for doing so together, ultimately supporting our collective flourishing.
