Welcome to: Queer ecology - or how to become more-than-one 

with Gizem Şentürk

What is natural? Where is nature? What does queer have anything to do with it? Queer ecology offers an intersectional perspective on nature, more-than-human and more all while deconstructing binaries. It also shows the inherent interconnectedness between things: be it the bacteria living on human gut, or mushrooms in a forest or humans living in the web of a city. In this lecture, we will look into how queer ecology as a critical theory came about, with its connections to ecofeminism and queer theory. We will also focus on symbiosis as a queer phenomenon: Through a journey from science fiction to science fact, we will look into popular media like Star Trek, symbiogenesis theory, and connect them to philosophical questions on the individual – or the lack there of. 

Date: 6 June, 2025

Time: 16:00-18:00 

Place: Gaia Plateau, the 1st floor, Wageningen University

Throughout history, breadmaking and other forms of fermentation have played a key role in the building of communities (both bacterial and human). Down to the etymology of the word 'bread', which has the same roots as the word 'companion', food sharing is a paramount and often overlooked aspect of community building. 

In this afternoon event, participants will take part in a series of workshops and events on collective breadmaking, community-building and arts performance. We ask of one another, how can we find, build and feed community, and what role can food play in it? What does it mean to belong when kneading a dough? 

Studio CoPain  will guide us on communal bread-making practices, bringing their expertise as artists and bread bakers. We will shape, decorate, and bake bread together. 

Giath Taha's performance “Restless Dialogue”  uses sourdough as a living medium to explore themes of displacement and political reality. A dialogue unfolds between the gestures of kneading and folding and the evolving wave textures shaped by sound artist Mazen Al Ashkar. Through this interplay, the performance evokes both ancestral care and sound tension.  

This event will take place on Sunday,  May 18th, 2025  from 2:00 PM till 7:00 PM .  

Because we aim for creating a sense of community, you cannot join only parts of the workshop.

Location : NuDe Toekomst ( Mennonietenweg 15A, 6702 AB Wageningen )

(Vegan) dinner will be shared, so please stick around! See you soon!  Sign up required!  

https://forms.gle/566FRebWtBjytkDq5

When? 20th May, 5.30-7.30 PM 27th May, 3-5 PM (note it previously said 6-8 PM! This was wrong!)

Where? both at the Dance room at the Clockhouse(Generaal Foulkesweg 37 Wageningen)

Register here:https://forms.gle/fnYgtFeSx3cGiAEXA

In these  two workshops  we will exchange through music, movement and conversation as is custom in the practice of Capoeira Angola. As such we will explore the capacity of our full being (hands, feet, hearts, heads) to navigate complexity, trouble and connection. For both of these workshops we extend the invitation to be open to experience something new, something strange, something 'other', to not reject this from a position of superiority or a desire for control, but rather to play with what it conveys to you, to be open to its significance and therewith its potential to negate the preconceived. How might we navigate complexity differently, inviting play, ritual and comradeship into resistance movements? What can we learn from ancestry and what ancestor do we want to become?

In the first workshop ( 20th of May ) the focus is on establishing a first contact with Capoeira Angola's movements, rhythms and making contact with the ground. For the second workshop ( 27th of May ) we are honored to have mestre Marcelo Angola joining us from Bahia, Brazil. During this workshop we go into the origins of Capoeira Angola, ancestrality, and relations between Europe and Brazil.

Curious? 
Register here: 
https://forms.gle/VXGE2K28E1UWYfHd7

📣Call for volunteers 📣 👩‍🌾The Rooting Deeper festival is three weeks away and we are looking for volunteers to work with us during the festival days. 💪🏼You can help out with a variety of tasks (including translating, welcoming guests at check-in, making sure the program runs smoothly and helping with build-up and break-down) on 30 May, 31 May, and 1 June. You'll get a free meal on May 31 and have a great experience in an amazing team! 🤙🏻Sign up here to get involved! https://lnkd.in/es8xiDdy

Join us for a poetic evening where we'll honor indigenous joy, resilience, and resistance -  Reclaiming Roots.  We are absolutely stoked to present this evening for you.

On  Wednesday, May 21st,  five outstanding artists (poets, storytellers, musicians) will share their powerful and much-needed stories. 

LINEUP: Kaley Chaibva, Dean Bowen, Max Arto de Ploeg with violin player Fá Hernandez, and AlienKid 

You will be welcomed by host and space holders Zahira Mous and Tania Sultana Shoukair, who will bring their somatic practices to create an interactive, grounding, and nourishing experience.

Date:  Wednesday, May 21st 

Doors open:  7 pm, start program 7:30 pm (until 10 pm)

Location:  Bar Bario, Bilderdijkstraat 186, Amsterdam

Tickets  - Regular tickets until Saturday, May 17th, late bird tickets after that.  33% of ticket sales will be donated to a Palestine-related mutual aid effort. 

Looking forward to welcoming you next week! 

Are you looking for supervisors for your Master's thesis? Brainstorming topics but not sure which one to pick? Then maybe this list will help you decide! The Cultural Geography group (GEO) has put together a nice list of possible theses options for students, and we thought we'd share them here to help you make this difficult decision. Many of these topics align with what we're doing at OtherWise, think 'Art in Climate Change', 'What does Freedom mean to you?', 'Human-nature interactions' and more. 

Does one of these topics call out to you?

Curious and want more information? Contact cheryl.vanadrichem@wur.nl for more info :) 

And if you're still looking, consider the possibility of doing a combined thesis-internship with OtherWise!

Are you still looking for a course to take in period 6? We think this will float your boat :)

This course is for MSc and PhD students in
social and environmental sciences who want
to learn and engage more with gender and
other intersecting socio-ecological differences in their study/professional domain by applying those perspectives to concrete cases. 

Topics: 

- feminist approaches (eg: history, epistemology, political ecology, more-than-human)

- care

- masculinity

- decolonization

- food

- issues in feminist research 

Contact chizu.sato@wur.nl for more info!

Movie night: Yintah on the 21st of April

The movie follows the Wet'suwet'en nation that reoccupies and protects their ancestral lands from the Canadian government and several of the largest fossil fuel companies on earth.

Their struggle against the construction of a Gas pipeline continues to this day.

Details

Screening starts at 8pm, on the 21st of April, in the Old Library of the Clockhouse, Generaal Foulkesweg 37. No need to sign up!

🪡Feminist Radical Quiltmaking Workshop for Women's day🪡

Time to reclaim traditionally 'feminine' 'crafts' for the radical act that they are!
In honor of Women's March, OtherWise and Amsterdam Dyke March are coming together to bring you a Radical Quiltmaking Workshop on March 6, 5:00 PM-8:00 PM💜
📍Location: Clockhouse (General Foulkesweg 37, 6703BL)

Each participant will embroider or paint words and doodles of resistance on themes surrounding feminism.
You will moreover have the chance to learn some simple patchwork techniques!

Together, these patches will form a feminsit radical quilt that we will parade during the Women's March in Wageningen!✊

Materials and snacks will be provided. Just sign up and bring yourself! (Sign up Link) (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf1IXjAGOh0haZPLF3K_HP5qc846T8XmvfnWhkxMI0vrY454A/viewform?usp=sharing)

Update: First session starts on the 20th!

Join us for our three-part workshop series: REST EMBODY RESIST with Zahira Mous

Workshop dates:  20, 26 February 2025, from 5-8 pm. As we build up the content and the trust in the group, we generally expect attendance in all three sessions unless communicated with us for certain circumstances.

Location: Clockhouse building Old library (Generaal Foulkesweg 37, Wageningen)

Questions to: otherwise@wur.nl

Sign up: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1HaczU_P5ne2y48ikmF6uudZU9QmsPGHyZBx7CoSWSJ4/edit

This three-part workshop is focused on movement and mind-body connection, for people who want to heal and learn in a group setting. Zahira uses decolonized healing methods to help the community cope with the demanding reality of being human. Modalities utilized: sharing and listening, EFT, moving from the wisdom of the body, and creativity. It is a three-part workshop series during which we deepen the work each session, diving into layers of our being, making an inner inquiry and creating space within (sometimes questions, sometimes answers). With this work, you'll gain tools to help regulate your nervous system, increasing self-awareness through recognizing your worth, as well as connecting to (building) community. Welcome to REST | EMBODY | RESIST.

For whom?

Rest And Resist emerged as a platform for needing a supportive and safe space for fellow activists and artists fighting for a free Palestine, and beyond. Their work focuses on fighting exhaustion, separation, burnout, harm, and disillusionment in activist movements. If you are longing for a collective space where you can rest with intent to co-regulate, build resilience, supportive networks, mutual care, and trust, this space is for you. As we will use our bodies to move and heal what needs healing, we aim to accommodate bodies of different abilities. If you have any questions or concerns weather this space is for you, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at otherwise@wur.nl .

When: Wednesday February 12 @17:30
Where: Dance room, WUR Clockhouse (Generaal Foulkesweg 37, 6703 BL Wageningen)

There are several reasons why we enroll at a university and there are several ways in which a university education contributes to our personal and professional development. A degree can open doors to many different career paths, classes can be a great opportunity to meet new people, and some university professors are great mentors. However, the same classrooms can impact us in less constructive ways: since we are compelled to prove we are better, smarter, and more special than those around us.

Tonight, we will explore how universities shape us through discussing public intellectuals, people who make a living by being visibly smarter and more special than others. (Self-reflection can only be truly effective, if we ask ourselves the toughest questions, like, do we have something in common with Jordan Peterson?;))

Vegan snacks and tea will be provided :)