Srishti School of Art Design and
Technology
Introduction to Art and Design(
Foundation Studies program)
Semester
1
Study of social ecology
Group :Wood as tree and forest
Course content, planning and design : Narendra Raghunath
Course content, planning and design : Narendra Raghunath
Faculty cordinators : Narendra Raghunath,
Course abstract :
“Men and trees are similar. The
first step of becoming a tree is the roots. The first step of becoming human is
umbilical cord. Second step of becoming a tree is fighting against nature and
growing vertical. Second step of becoming a human is fighting against nature
and growing vertical. Third step of becoming a tree is colonizing and
conquering the world; earth, water and air. Third step of becoming a human is
colonizing and conquering the world; earth, water and air. Strange but we
parted at third step. We supplemented our inabilities with our
intelligence and trees unfortunately in that intelligence became only a wood-
just a another tool for human to survive the life and conquer the world”
More than the above superficial
narrative, there are many connections and disconnection, learning and
unlearning in our relation to trees as an individual and community. This
course will try to understand this connection between the wood as tree and
us. During the three weeks of course, we will try to explore the socio political
ecology of tree through its semantics, myths, narratives, sociology, habitat
and material. This will include the study of the concept “co-operative forest”
in Salem district in Tamil Nadu.
Course plan :
What is social
ecology: Social ecology is a critical theory founded by
Brookchin Murry, a social
libertarian political theorist from America who
through establishment of social
ecology advocated a harmonious human society in natural world celebrating
diversity, freedom and creative existence.
He argued in his theory “in hierarchical models of societal organization,
individual actions alone cannot resist the systemic issues of hierarchy in
society, but must be addressed by a
collective conscience of society rooted in democratic ideals. The complexity of
relationship between people and nature is emphasized along with importance of
establishing more mutualistic social structure where each constituent becomes
an essential and integral micro ecological system than an individual private component.
Why social ecology: Brookchin Murray, the founder of social ecology argues in his
acclaimed book Ecology of freedom that nearly all of the world's
ecological problems stem from social problems; with these social problems in
turn arising from structures and relationships of dominating hierarchy. He
argues that apart from those produced by natural catastrophes, the most serious
ecological dislocations of the 20th and 21st centuries have as their cause
economic, ethnic, cultural, and gender conflicts, among many others. Present
ecological problems, social ecologists maintain, cannot be clearly understood,
much less resolved, without resolutely dealing with problems within society.
This position is completely different from the sustainability argument of
ethical consumerism, where the conversation still revolves around structural
hierarchy.
What
does this course envisage?
Espousing
the social ecology argument of collective social conscience of democratic and
mutualistic social structure where nature is emphasized, this course will try
to understand such socio-economic and political structure of one to one and one
to many and many to many relationship of ecology of human society and
environment.
Why wood as tree and forest
The
idea of wood from tree from forest exemplifies the relationship human society
developed over a period with nature, where the consumerist economic structure of
political hierarchy override ecological necessity, where forest becomes the
place of trees that can be used as material for utility. Since
wood is an utilitarian material economically production linked to yields and
profit, bigger has become the extraction, bigger has become the utility and
bigger has become the extinction- of both tree and forest in nature. This
defies the geographical nature and demographical demand of local ecology for a centralized
socio-economic and political structure, where micro ecological system becomes only
individual component with a possibility of production, yield and profit.
Under
such system, relationships among individual constituents often get reduced to
productive competence that are validated against economic monetary value, an
act against perceived notions of humanity where weakest of the weak should have
been standing among the strongest as equal.
Unfortunately
all socio- economic and political systems of the day, be it capitalistic, communist, socialistic or
democratic are operationalized under this premise may be at varied level as a
system. This has led to the present
state of our environment where human society is paying a huge cost to for
survival on account of assumed worth of
development.
This
calls for a radically alternate approach towards nature and society, an approach
far beyond the usual arguments of sustainability of ethical consumerism such as
save tree, reduction of use, recycle and up cycle. Social ecology argues for such an ecological
system of ownership based on collective conscience against individual ownership
and property where wood also becomes an
extension of micro ecological system of tree from a macro ecological system of
forest.
Course structure:
Course
will evolve as a collaborative learning where students will explore the
multiple systems that are operational in wood, tree and forest and the ecology
around it.
A
comparative study is expected to emerge through the study of student’s immediate neighborhood, nation at large and through the idea of
collective ownership of cooperative forest.
Cooperative
forest is a place near Dharmapuri district, where environmental activist Piyush
Manush is developing a cooperative forest with the collaboration of local
community and goverment. The students will have the opportunity to learn the
overarching vision, practical socio-political issues of developing collective ownership
of cooperative forest and socio-ecology around it from direct experience and
exploration- an essential learning for DESIGN FOR HUMANITY.
Reading
: E F Schumacher: Small is
beautiful
P Sainath : Everybody loves a
Good draught
Relevant
links :
http://www.atree.org/
http://www.idealist.org/
http://www.upassoc.org/conference/2011/index_alt.html
http://www.design-concepts-and-concerns.blogspot.in/
http://www.navnirmiti.org/
http://paramaparaproject.org/
http://www.swaraj.org/
http://visionpehle.wordpress.com/
Course plan premise and methodology
In every society classrooms often becomes the training
ground for obedience that socio-political structures command over the society.
This is in contrast to the spirit of willful adherence of law of the land by
free will that education envisages to achieve. This hierarchical
structure in conventional classroom relationship between institution, teacher
and student is often precipitated as the basic social order contrary to
democratic tenets that is socio ecology proposes. Also we could identify the strains
of patriarchy being reflected in this relationship, as it is evident from the
political structure of our democratic state where leaders exhibit the
dictatorial and dynastic traits and popular support towards it.
The practical difficulty to understand liberty of free
will under mutuality of social ecology one will have to be aware of collective
conscience to exercise the freedom. Otherwise one will tend to confuse
individual advancement, as conceived in capitalism, as the idea of
freedom of liberty. This is a precarious situation where one can trip the idea
of training in education from the awareness to obedience,
Considering these facts in mind, this social
ecology class proposes to develop a methodology of knowledge building where it
will be operationalised at two levels of engagement simultaneously.
- Each student will be considered
as a micro socio ecological system whereby one will be allowed to
negotiate with the subject of focus on their willful capacity under macro
socio ecological system of class,
- Models of exercises will be
defined to design that willful capacity under collective
synergy.
While the first part will evolve during the class, the
teacher will organize taking the pointers of second paragraph into
consideration second part.
Part 2 Exercises:
- Immersion : (initially
conceived knowing the forest first)
Knowing the tree: Observe trees in around their place of
stay or Yelahanka, how does it exist, type, structure, height, branches,
joineries, leaves, colour, light, wind, water, location, surroundings,
how it is being appropriated in habitat both in human and other living
inhabitants and organisms.
Record & capture the observations, specification and
the details through drawing, other visual mediums.
Corroborate and confirm the information from other
sources including books and Internet tree as a habitat and a ecological system
Make the presentation in classroom with
display of their observations for a debate about the tree gravitating towards
an understanding of micro- ecological system.
Show the findings of Prof Suzanne Simard about how tree
communicate and make family of mother and children
- Construct a tall structure
inspired by the vertical growth against gravity, by studying
either phylogettics (eg: http://plus.maths.org/content/reconstructing-tree-life),
or biological structure of tree or chemical structure of tree, using plastic straws.
Debate the outcome considering exercise 1 also into
consideration including the carbon structure of both wood and plastic.
- Locate the utilitarian space of
wood in our life and create a visual map of it followed by a wood workshop
on nail less joineries and the idea of joinery as an extension.
Discuss the outcome based on the learning from exercise
1,2 and 3 considering joineries, structures and extension are part of the
whole.
- Tree as a forest : Site visit
to forest/cooperative forest to understand the idea of forest as
abode of habitat where the same learning from exercise 1,2,3 are being
practiced as an evolutionary process.
Observe the tree as forest with all its bio diversity as
macro ecological system and map the same with visual mediums and discussion
with local community.
(If in cooperative forest also learn process of
understanding, Bio farming, Vermi- composting Rainwater harvesting, bio
char, agro foresting to understand the possibilities of designed intervention
of bio-diversity when habitat depletes and the livelihood issues)
Group discussion every day
- Create a visual map of all
connections one can make about the tree as an ecological system.
Create a visual map of each student with all his
connection to life,world and nature as an ecological system draw the parallels
between the two maps.
6. An exhibition
of exercise outcome for peer/faculty crit
Apart from these exercises students are expected to
maintain a diary and contribute to blog a final reflective piece with all
digitise course works
Toos : Group discussions, Hands on
works, documentaries, classroom presentations,
visual documentation, environment exposure tours, Mapping
tools
