Conference Agenda

In recent decades, people have been highly engaged in collective organizing rather than individual efforts to find solutions to the multiple crises across the globe. In ever-increasing complexity, people find radically new ways to go beyond thought through creativity and imagination (Simpson & den Hond, 2022: 141). Creativity and imagination in organizing enable alternative practices emerging from different approaches, such as commons, social and solidarity economy, and degrowth movements (Weber 2022). Imagining democratic and participatory spaces by and for people creates new pathways for demolishing power hierarchies within organizing (Schröder 2018). Discussing these increasingly new patterns of organizing is worth to analyze, since the current Western-center, colonial academic debate limits our understanding of exploring alternative patterns and organizing strategies in "the colonial, gendered and racial asymmetries of the constituted order" (Bourassa, 2017: 82). Critical, feminist, and decolonial approaches seem more suitable to criticize the power relations and understand this topic rather than the dominant universalist and hierarchical approaches.

Therefore, new theoretical, empirical, and methodological discussion at the acacemic level are crucial for finding out the research on this topic. To discover diverse patterns, widening the gaze on learning, education and training in and between organizations may offer new perspectives. Commons in education (Pechtelidis & Kioupkiolis: 2020), alternative research methodologies for teaching (Dryjanska, Kostalova & Vidović 2022) and learning in and between women’s cooperatives in their networks (Cazgir 2022) are contributions addressed in this symposium in order to analyze innovative and transformative patterns of organizing.

Such alternative forms of organizing indicate an ontological shift (Bourassa, 2017). From a diversity perspective, the contrtıbutıons of the symposium address the micro-heteropolitical attempts to build open participatory democratic space and may allow us to discuss and evaluate the possibility of alternative patterns of organizing..

These theoretical, methodological and epistemological reflections address the different ways of organizational learning in, by, and between organizations (cf. Göhlich a.o. 2018). The symposium aims to bring together discussion on ontology, methodology, and epistemology in order to explore pathways, practices, and pitfalls of the alternative patterns of organizing.

- How does „organizing“ benefit from "diversity"?

- How and to what extent does diversity promote radically inclusive, democratic organizational strategies?

- How does organizational education challenge the individualistic approach?

- How does the alternative organizing process create inclusive, democratic, and sustainable possibilities? What are the main obstacles and challenges?

- How do micro-organizations trigger democratic transformations?

- Which methods are more suitable for research on organizational learning?

- How and to what extent does learning between the organizations contribute to the transformative potential of organizations?

Following these questions, the organizing of diversity and in diversity will be discussed through theoretical, empirical, and methodological lenses. The symposium addresses organizing from a micro-scale research perspective including their macro-scale transformative potentials. By this, the symposium explores patterns of alternative and diverse organizing, of researching and learning in their pathways, practices and pitfalls.

Through the implementation of several commons-based case studies in the educational field we sought to make an OntoShift to the commons which means to try to escape from the onto-political frame of the modern West where independent individuals interact with each other. The ability to act emerges from within the relationship, not from the outside, and there is no single, essential individual, but rather many different ‘I's’, each of which are implicated in many different communities and are therefore a part of ‘many we’s’, which present a challenge to the modern individualized ontology on which the institution of education is based. The purpose of this shift is to explore whether the ontology of the commons is more inclusive and beneficial for the individuals involved in the sense that it promotes equal freedom in the here and now. In so doing, we describe rituals, practices, and mentalities produced within these alternative educational social spaces, and provided an understanding on how alternative children’s subjectivities and citizenship come into being. All these practices are deemed as micro-heteropolitical attempts to build open participatory democratic spaces for being and becoming. In educational commons, the very practice of education and learning becomes a common good or resource which is collectively shaped and managed by the members of the educational community in terms of equality, freedom, active and creative participation.

Bourassa, G. N. (2017). Towards an elaboration of the pedagogical common. In A. Means, D., R. Ford, & G. Slater (Eds.), Educational commons in theory and practice (pp. 75–93). New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. De Lissovoy, N. (2011). Pedagogy in common: Democratic education in the global era. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 43(10), 1119–1134. Kioupkiolis, A., & Pechtelidis, Y. (2017). Youth Heteropolitics in Crisis-ridden Greece. In S. Pickard, & J. Bessant (Eds.), Young People and New Forms Politics in Times of Crises: Re-Generating Politics (pp.273-293). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Korsgaard, M. T. (2018). Education and the concept of commons. A pedagogical reinterpretation. Educational Philosophy and Theory, vol.50. Pechtelidis, Y. (2018). Heteropolitical Pedagogies, Citizenship and Childhood. Commoning Education in Contemporary Greece. In C. Baraldi & T. Cockburn (Eds.), Theorising Childhood: Citizenship, Rights, and Participation (pp.215-239). Palgrave Macmillan. Pechtelidis, Y., Kioupkiolis, A. (2020) ‘Education as Commons, Children as Commoners: The Case Study of the Little Tree Community,’ Democracy and Education

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Focusing on the various practices of women's co-operatives, this study aims to reveal different strategies for organizing towards a diverse economy and their possible contribution to democratic transformation. In this study, findings, basis on the semi-structured interviews with women's cooperatives in Izmir Province may provide insight to discuss and evaluate the potentials and pitfalls of organizational learning in, by, and between (cf. Göhlich a.o. 2018) the women's cooperatives. The most distinctive feature of women's cooperatives from for-profit enterprises is creating an alternative organizing process. This paper proposes to discuss the impact of women's cooperatives as a new imaginary of the economy by and for women beyond the Western notion and concept. The existing literature on women's cooperatives in Turkish mainly focuses on the empowerment of women, however, this research attempts to discuss women's co-operatives by positioning those as diverse economies. By articulating democratic values into work and employment, women create a viable and diverse organizational model. This potential reveals mostly in relations of production and redistribution, the participatory and democratic management processes. Within and amongst the organizations, the diversity in women's backgrounds, the organizing purposes, the scale of organizations, the areas of the activities, and the rural-urban spaces have resulted in a variety of strategies. Women, as an agent, create hetero-political spaces. Here, the agent is a "normal" woman, not a prominent social, economic, or political actor who has the power to act and transform. In the women's cooperatives, women not only transforming the economy but also, transforming themselves in, by, and between the women's cooperatives. At the same time, their organizing strategies inspire other "possible" organizing potentials. By creating their networks, women exchange their knowledge, learn together and advocate around common goals. Apart from the potentials, the internal and external pitfalls in, by, and between the women's cooperatives will be discussed to better understand the main obstacles to creating transformative pathways. They may not be able to struggle with for-profit organizations within the market economy. To reach their main goals, the leadership of a few people may come to the fore, and democratic processes may be disrupted. Or, as recognized and promoted structures, public authorities may pose a threat to their independence by instrumentalizing them for their political purposes.

Cazgir, K. D. (2020). Covid-19’la Mücadelede Sosyal Dayanışma Ekonomileri: İzmir Kadın Kooperatifleri. Strata İlişkisel Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, No.5, September 2020, 59-88. Cazgir, K. D. (2022). WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT THROUGH CO-OPERATIVES: THE CASE OF WOMEN’S CO-OPERATIVES IN IZMIR [M.S. - Master of Science]. Middle East Technical University. Cinar, K., Akyuz, S., Ugur-Cinar, M. & Onculer-Yayalar, E. (2019) Faces and Phases of Women’s Empowerment: The Case of Women’s Cooperatives in Turkey, Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State&Society, 1-28. Duguid, F., Durutaş, G., Wodzicki. M. (2015). The current state of women’s cooperatives in Turkey. Washington, DC: World Bank. Göhlich, M.; Novotný, P.: Revsbæk, L.; Schröer, A.; Weber, S. M.; Yi, B. J. (2018): Research Memorandum Organizational Education. In: Studia Paedagogica. 23 (2), pp. 205–215. Ryder, G. (2015). Leveraging the cooperative advantage for women’s empowerment and gender equality. International Labour Organization: Cooperatives and The World of Work No.1.

Equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives are a regular feature of organisational diversity strategies, yet often receive backlash (Flood et al., 2021). In some cases, this backlash can include allegations that a secret, malevolent group are using such initiatives to further their own agenda or gain power (Douglas et al., 2019). In male-dominated sectors such as Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), this most often applies to gender equality initiatives, which conspiracy theories accuse of being a front for extreme feminist or Marxist ideologies. These conspiracy theories have potential to undermine organisational progress on equality and diversity issues, yet often remain unchallenged. One promising intervention against various types of misinformation, including conspiracy theories, is attitude inoculation (Lewandowsky & van der Linden, 2021). In this, strategies used to spread conspiracy theories are highlighted in order to raise awareness of them and promote critical thinking about their content. However, its effectiveness for conspiracy theories linked to equality, diversity and inclusion issues remains untested.