We cordially Invite you to join us for the 8th Learning Societies unConference, 14-19 June 2013, Pune
See the invitation online | Download the invite here (2MB) | Register yourself here
See the invitation online | Download the invite here (2MB) | Register yourself here
Previous unConferences' Invitations:
2012 Learning Societies UnConference held from February 28 to March 4, 2012, near Mumbai, Maharashra, India (PDF, 460KB)
2011 Learning Societies UnConference held from April 4 to 9, 2011, at Bir, Himachal Pradesh, India (PDF, 7 MB)
You can find more resources on Learning Societies from http://www.swaraj.org/shikshantar/ls_discussion.html
2012 Learning Societies UnConference held from February 28 to March 4, 2012, near Mumbai, Maharashra, India (PDF, 460KB)
2011 Learning Societies UnConference held from April 4 to 9, 2011, at Bir, Himachal Pradesh, India (PDF, 7 MB)
You can find more resources on Learning Societies from http://www.swaraj.org/shikshantar/ls_discussion.html
Text-only version of invite
Learning Societies UnConference 2013
14th to 19th June 2013 at UWC Mahindra College, Pune, Maharashtra, India
Co-hosted by ·Shikshantar ·UWC Mahindra College ·Sadhana Village Pune ·Multiversity ·Abhivyakti ·Swaraj University ·CoEvolve ·Swashikshan Association of Indian Homeschoolers ·Digital Empowerment Foundation ·Banyan Tree ·Soul Spaces ·Infopace Management ·Wiser.org - Pune
With immense pleasure and enthusiasm, we invite you to participate in the 8th Learning Societies unConference 2013. The unConference will take place from June 14 - 19, 2013 at UWC(United World College) Mahindra in Pune, Maharashtra. It will be hosted in Hindi, English and regional languages. Participants are requested to join for the entire duration of the unConference so as to explore, express and nourish our creative energies together. However, those who can come for only one day are encouraged to attend the open house on June 16th or 17th. This intergenerational gathering will bring together leading "thinker-doers" from around South Asia who are active in challenging the monopoly of factory-schooling and nurturing diverse learning communities, vernacular traditions, intercultural dialogues and swaraj.
There will be organic farmers, artists, artisans, activists, designers, filmmakers, healers, alternative educators, entrepreneurs, homeschoolers, unschoolers, barefoot innovators, parents, youth, spiritual seekers, and more. As with all learning societies events, the unConference is open to families and children. We hope to build upon the reflection, dialogue and co-motion that have been initiated in the Learning Societies network already. There will be a lot of space in the unConference to explore radical ideas, proposals and projects. This is a fantastic opportunity to really think (and DO!) outside the box. Most importantly, the central purpose of this gathering is to build strong friendships and critical connections. Previous unConferences have been held in Himachal Pradesh, Udaipur, Mumbai, Brazil, Jordan, Pakistan and Iran.
14th to 19th June 2013 at UWC Mahindra College, Pune, Maharashtra, India
Co-hosted by ·Shikshantar ·UWC Mahindra College ·Sadhana Village Pune ·Multiversity ·Abhivyakti ·Swaraj University ·CoEvolve ·Swashikshan Association of Indian Homeschoolers ·Digital Empowerment Foundation ·Banyan Tree ·Soul Spaces ·Infopace Management ·Wiser.org - Pune
With immense pleasure and enthusiasm, we invite you to participate in the 8th Learning Societies unConference 2013. The unConference will take place from June 14 - 19, 2013 at UWC(United World College) Mahindra in Pune, Maharashtra. It will be hosted in Hindi, English and regional languages. Participants are requested to join for the entire duration of the unConference so as to explore, express and nourish our creative energies together. However, those who can come for only one day are encouraged to attend the open house on June 16th or 17th. This intergenerational gathering will bring together leading "thinker-doers" from around South Asia who are active in challenging the monopoly of factory-schooling and nurturing diverse learning communities, vernacular traditions, intercultural dialogues and swaraj.
There will be organic farmers, artists, artisans, activists, designers, filmmakers, healers, alternative educators, entrepreneurs, homeschoolers, unschoolers, barefoot innovators, parents, youth, spiritual seekers, and more. As with all learning societies events, the unConference is open to families and children. We hope to build upon the reflection, dialogue and co-motion that have been initiated in the Learning Societies network already. There will be a lot of space in the unConference to explore radical ideas, proposals and projects. This is a fantastic opportunity to really think (and DO!) outside the box. Most importantly, the central purpose of this gathering is to build strong friendships and critical connections. Previous unConferences have been held in Himachal Pradesh, Udaipur, Mumbai, Brazil, Jordan, Pakistan and Iran.
Visions
The LSuC is a decentralized gathering of different minds and hearts working in various sectors, so there isn't one single vision statement though there are many common threads. Here are voices from some of the past participants expressing their vision of what LSuC is. "LSuC provides a fertile, open space to explore Inter-dependence - Opportunities and Barriers ... towards evolving a world that is just and inclusive." -- Reena Ginwala "A place where intersecting communities meet and experience each other; where the 'other' is more like myself than the people I meet elsewhere, so I have a glimmering of what 'oneness' is all about, and an opening towards infinite possibilities." -- Urmila Samson
"The gathering is to challenge and walk out from the grips of modernity." -- Jinan KB
"A confluence of people who want to bring a change in their lives and around them to create a new world. In other words, a group committed to making space for human evolution." -- Shammi Nanda "A space created by the people and the dynamic interactions between us, that allows me to get clear on, and live my life - a life as an experiment. A space to move from 'mind-based' living to a more 'embodied' living." --Biren Shah
"To allow unbound self expression and co-facilitate for co-creating possibilities and break through for people to connect to their inner strength and potential; namely by self reflection, abundance of friendship and Love as a dynamic cohesive learning community" -- Kishor Jagirdar
"I see the Learning Societies gathering as a group of people who are taking bold decisions and concrete steps to create a future that is more beautiful, alive for themselves, their families, for mother earth : one with healthier livelihoods and vibrant communities enjoying diversity. We are discovering the truth of who we are beyond all our identities, stories and emotions... what are healthy relationships and what is Love. This is a space to co-create this future in the present." -- Kiran Gulrajani
"I am wanting to see if there are possibilities to open our hearts to include diversities which seem conflicting but are not... What is the underlying truth that can connect human beings at a more solid and authentic level so that compassionate communities are formed and nurtured." -- Dola Dasgupta
"A space for people to share and explore radical ideas and visions in education, with people who are not official "education experts", and meet more people looking for how to move from a schooling society to a learning society, where different learning ecosystems can be supported and nurtured" -- Manish Jain
"The gathering is to challenge and walk out from the grips of modernity." -- Jinan KB
"A confluence of people who want to bring a change in their lives and around them to create a new world. In other words, a group committed to making space for human evolution." -- Shammi Nanda "A space created by the people and the dynamic interactions between us, that allows me to get clear on, and live my life - a life as an experiment. A space to move from 'mind-based' living to a more 'embodied' living." --Biren Shah
"To allow unbound self expression and co-facilitate for co-creating possibilities and break through for people to connect to their inner strength and potential; namely by self reflection, abundance of friendship and Love as a dynamic cohesive learning community" -- Kishor Jagirdar
"I see the Learning Societies gathering as a group of people who are taking bold decisions and concrete steps to create a future that is more beautiful, alive for themselves, their families, for mother earth : one with healthier livelihoods and vibrant communities enjoying diversity. We are discovering the truth of who we are beyond all our identities, stories and emotions... what are healthy relationships and what is Love. This is a space to co-create this future in the present." -- Kiran Gulrajani
"I am wanting to see if there are possibilities to open our hearts to include diversities which seem conflicting but are not... What is the underlying truth that can connect human beings at a more solid and authentic level so that compassionate communities are formed and nurtured." -- Dola Dasgupta
"A space for people to share and explore radical ideas and visions in education, with people who are not official "education experts", and meet more people looking for how to move from a schooling society to a learning society, where different learning ecosystems can be supported and nurtured" -- Manish Jain
Some of Our Past (and Continuing) Explorations
Some exciting inquiries and explorations have emerged over the past 10 years, such as:
- How do we understand `human learning' from our own experiences?
- What new models and processes around community living and community learning are we exploring? What are challenges with it?
- How do we bring more contemplation, compassion, creativity and courage into our life and work?
- What kinds of unlearning and uplearning experiments are significant and necessary for the times we live in?
- What is the learning ecosystem and commons of each of our diverse communities? What challenges is it facing? How can we regenerate it?
- How do we connect learning with healthy food, community media, zero waste, local economy, cultural creativity, and other essential aspects of harmonious living?
- What harm has factory schooling done to us? How do we heal ourselves from this harm, individually and collectively?
- How do each of our individual learning journeys relate to one another?
- What can we do in our own lives and work to challenge the Education and Development systems which are violent, exploitative and dehumanizing?
- How can we recognize diverse forms of power, resistance, regeneration, and engage and strengthen them?
- What are the ways to deepen and expand intercultural dialogue, trust and gift culture?
- What kinds of support structures can we create for ourselves and one another to live and learn in healthy ways?
What is an UnConference?
In an UnConference, the participants co-create the agenda together. We believe each participant is a resource person, even a child is. There will be a lot of open space for participants to self-organize in groups around questions, experiences, experiments, workshops, play, music, dance, sports, cooking food, treks, art, etc., in the spirit of deep dialogue and friendship. We encourage you to actively participate in the pre-conference online interactions in June. We feel that this process will help us to better self-organize ourselves into a vibrant learning community when we all meet ('self-organizing communities' is one of the core themes for exploration of the learning societies network). We will be using mailing groups and facebook for this. After you register online, you will receive a mail inviting you to join our mailing list. You can also join our Facebook Page on this link.
Registration and Contribution
The Venue
UWC Mahindra College occupies 175 acres of beautiful, greenery on the shoulder of a hill overlooking the Mulla river valley in the Western Ghats some 40 kilometers to the west of the city of Pune, and about 7km from Paud, the nearest village. Pune can be reached by air, road and rail from many cities throughout India, and is about 120km from Mumbai. Please go through the transport details in the FAQs section for options.
Click here to see the location map.
Accommodation:
There are clusters of rooms called `wadas' with common facilities like gas stove, fridge, oven and washing machine. The rooms will be allocated on sharing basis. The campus is quite sprawled out, but there is intercom system, and wifi internet.
Click here to see the location map.
Accommodation:
There are clusters of rooms called `wadas' with common facilities like gas stove, fridge, oven and washing machine. The rooms will be allocated on sharing basis. The campus is quite sprawled out, but there is intercom system, and wifi internet.
FAQs
Summary
In case you haven't registered yet, please do so on this link by May 25, 2013.
There are limited resources available to help cover travel scholarships for some participants within India. Please write to us at lsunconference [at] gmail.com if you require some assistance for your expenses. Lack of funds should not stop you from attending. Your insights and experiences will greatly enhance the discussion on learning societies in South Asia.
While making travel bookings, please note that we will be starting at 11:00am on 14th June and concluding by 3.00pm on 19th June.
There is an exciting learning journey (optional) planned on 20th June which will involve visiting inspiring people and projects in Pune city.
If you have any questions, please write to us at lsunconference [at] gmail.com or call Shikshantar (Udaipur): 0294-245-1303, Vidhi Jain (Udaipur): 9829724189, Reena Ginwala (Pune): 9823034544.
For more information, please visit our website or facebook page.
We look forward to welcoming you at the 8th Learning Societies unConference 2013!
Yours sincerely,
Manish and Vidhi Jain, Shikshantar
UWC Mahindra College
Claude Alvares, Multiversity
Nitin Paranjape, Abhivyakti
Khojis, Swaraj University
Kiran Gulrajani and Rohit S, CoEvolve
Urmila Samson and Dola Dasgupta, Representatives - Swashikshan Association of Indian Homeschoolers
Kishor Jagirdar - Infopace Management
Reena Ginwala Soul Spaces
Murtaza Bootwala Wiser.org, Pune
Sadhana Village Pune
Digital Empowerment Foundation
Banyan Tree
Shammi Nanda
Osama Manzar
Shaifali Chikarmane
There are limited resources available to help cover travel scholarships for some participants within India. Please write to us at lsunconference [at] gmail.com if you require some assistance for your expenses. Lack of funds should not stop you from attending. Your insights and experiences will greatly enhance the discussion on learning societies in South Asia.
While making travel bookings, please note that we will be starting at 11:00am on 14th June and concluding by 3.00pm on 19th June.
There is an exciting learning journey (optional) planned on 20th June which will involve visiting inspiring people and projects in Pune city.
If you have any questions, please write to us at lsunconference [at] gmail.com or call Shikshantar (Udaipur): 0294-245-1303, Vidhi Jain (Udaipur): 9829724189, Reena Ginwala (Pune): 9823034544.
For more information, please visit our website or facebook page.
We look forward to welcoming you at the 8th Learning Societies unConference 2013!
Yours sincerely,
Manish and Vidhi Jain, Shikshantar
UWC Mahindra College
Claude Alvares, Multiversity
Nitin Paranjape, Abhivyakti
Khojis, Swaraj University
Kiran Gulrajani and Rohit S, CoEvolve
Urmila Samson and Dola Dasgupta, Representatives - Swashikshan Association of Indian Homeschoolers
Kishor Jagirdar - Infopace Management
Reena Ginwala Soul Spaces
Murtaza Bootwala Wiser.org, Pune
Sadhana Village Pune
Digital Empowerment Foundation
Banyan Tree
Shammi Nanda
Osama Manzar
Shaifali Chikarmane