Two online workshops on methods and histories by El Cambalache

The Department of Decolonial Economics at El Cambalache, based in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, is running two online workshops, September to November 2024 (in English and Spanish). 

The first workshop, ‘Liberatory Methods for Investigating and Generating Non-Capitalist / Anti-Colonial Social Power,’ explores practices and methods that can be used to recognise and value the experiences and knowledge of those whose expression has been undermined by myriad forms of oppression, negation and gaslighting. 

The workshop is for anyone interested in breaking away from hierarchical structures of knowledge creation and practice; embracing the many forms of knowing and being that are the majority forms of existence; and dignifying hidden and untold histories while creating futures that embrace flourishing.

This workshop runs over eight two-hour sessions, on a Saturday. For a full description of the workshop (including cost), click here; to register, click here.

The second workshop, ‘An Anti-Colonial People's Economic History of the Americas,’ explores economic histories from across the Americas, including the first economies of places variously known as Abya Yala, Turtle Island, Mikinoc Waajew and Cem Anáhuac. 

The workshop is for anyone interested in decolonising our present and future by learning more about the history and wide array of ways of doing economic interactions that have historically existed—and that continue to persist and sustain lives despite the devastation of colonisation. 

Organiser Dr Erin Araujo says, “Many of these economic systems were very successful and for the most part they were collectivist, and based in many forms of decision-making and knowledge exchange; some however held high costs for the majority of the population.”

“In learning about our economic history we can pick and choose what practices we want to preserve and what practices ultimately damage our relationships.” 

This workshop runs over seven two-hour sessions, on a Sunday. For a full description of the workshop (including cost), click here; to register, click here.

El Cambalache is a project that works on decolonizing the economy. Located in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, and made by and for women and all those they know. It focuses on the exchange of things, knowledge and mutual aid through workshops, actions, publications and an emerging podcast. Cambalache was started in 2014 and has been created on a foundation of anti-systemic, anti-colonial and anti-capitalist values from local social movements towards a future of well-being for all. For more information, contact cambalach@autoproduzioni.net.