Community Economies

Ethan Miller

Contact Details:

University of Western Sydney (Australia)
JED Collective (Greene, Maine, US)

Email: ethanmiller (at) riseup.net

Qualifications

PhD (in progress), Centre for Citizenship and Public Policy, University of Western Sydney
MS, Geography (University of Massachusetts Amherst), 2011
BA, Environmental Studies (Bates College, Lewiston, ME), 2000

Research Areas:
  • Rethinking economy and ecology; "economy as ecological livelihood"
  • Cooperative and democratic processes for non-capitalist community and regional development
  • Postructuralist political theory, radical democracy, and actor-network theory
  • Solidarity economics; networking and synergy-building between cooperative economic projects
  • Social movement strategy and democratic practice
Publications

Occupy! Connect! Create! Imagining Life Beyond 'The Economy'

Ethan Miller

Inspired by and written for the global #Occupy Movement, this text is part theory, part strategy and part call-to-action for the immediate and long-term work of identifying and seizing spaces of democratic practice (occupy!), linking them together in networks of mutual support and recognition (connect!), and drawing on our collective strength to actively create new ways of meeting our needs and making our livings (create!).

Ethan Miller. 2011. Occupy! Connect! Create! Imagining Life Beyond "The Economy." Grassroots Economic Organizing.

Rethinking Economy for Regional Development: Ontology, Performativity and Enabling Frameworks for Participatory Vision and Action

Ethan Miller

This thesis involves three interrelated projects: first, a critique of conventional regional development literature; second, an exploration of the "performativity" of (economic) discourse at both conceptual and material levels; and third, a survey of alternative economic ontologies that might help us to imagine more diverse, ecological, equitable and democratic livelihoods.

 

Miller, Ethan. 2011. Rethinking Economy for Regional Development: Ontology, Performativity and Enabling Frameworks for Participatory Vision and Action. MS Thesis. Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst MA, USA.

Solidarity Economy: Key Concepts and Issues

Ethan Miller

An overview of concepts and strategic organizing practices of the emerging solidarity economy movement.

 

Miller, E. 2010. Solidarity Economy: Key Concepts and Issues, in E. Kawano and T. Masterson and J. Teller-Ellsberg (eds), Solidarity Economy I: Building Alternatives for People and Planet. Center for Popular Economics: Amherst, MA.

Independence from the Corporate Economy

Ethan Miller

This article discusses the power of telling different economic stories, and making connections between diverse initiatives, in the work of imagining and enacting more just and joyful community economies.

 

Miller, E. 2007. Independence from the Corporate Economy, Yes! Magazine Winter Issue.

Other Economies Are Possible

Ethan Miller

Discussion of the history and concept of "solidarity economy" and possible implementations in the U.S. context.

 

Miller, E. 2006. Other Economies Are Possible: Organizing Toward an Economy of Cooperation and Solidarity, Dollars and Sense 266(July/August).

Solidarity Economics: Building New Economies From the Bottom-Up and the Inside-Out

Ethan Miller

A pamphlet discussing the concept of "solidarity economy" as a tool for linking and strengthening emerging networks of cooperative economic projects. Written for use in community and popular education contexts.

 

Miller, E. 2005. Solidarity Economics: Building Other Economies from the Bottom-Up and the Inside-Out, Greene, ME: JED Collective.