This book chapter goes over the basics of what a worker cooperative is, and the variety of govern... more This book chapter goes over the basics of what a worker cooperative is, and the variety of governance and economic structures they take on.
In this article, we present a method for valuing the multidimensional aspects of urban commons. T... more In this article, we present a method for valuing the multidimensional aspects of urban commons. This method draws from and contributes to a broader conception of social or community returns on investment, using the case and data of a vibrant project, strategy, and model of ecological resilience, R-Urban, on the outskirts of Paris. R-Urban is based on networks of urban commons and collective hubs supporting civic resilience practices. We use data from 2015, the year before one of the hubs was evicted from its site by a municipal administration that could not see the value of an "urban farm" compared to a parking lot. We combine estimates of the direct revenues generated for a host of activities that took place in R-Urban, including an urban farm, community recycling centre, a greenhouse, community kitchen, compost school, café, a teaching space, and a mini-market. We then estimate the market value of volunteer labour put into running the sites, in addition to the value of training and education conducted through formal and informal channels, and the new jobs and earnings that were generated due to R-Urban activity. Finally, we estimate the monetary value of the savings made by an environmentally conscious design that focused on water recycling, soil and biodiversity improvement, and social and health benefits, breaking them down by savings to the organization, participants and households involved in R-Urban itself, as well as savings to the state and the planet. Although our article is built on specific quantities from a concrete project, the method has wide applicability to urban commons of many types seeking to demonstrate the worth and value of all their many facets and activities.
This framing chapter explores how a diverse economies approach is different than a conventional a... more This framing chapter explores how a diverse economies approach is different than a conventional approach to finance. There are a broad range of actors, institutions, arrangements, and markets that comprise the domestic financial sphere and equally there are numerous channels through which financial intermediation occurs. Finance can be extractive or wasteful (as when assets are traded without increasing productive capacities), or finance can be emancipatory and solidaristic such that it nurtures and sustains community-oriented activities and ethical commitments. By seeing finance through a lens of diversity, new political possibilities are generated for supporting communities, deepening social relations and solidarity, rebalancing power, and promoting resilience and stability.
Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 2019
About 6,000 financial cooperatives, called credit unions, with more than 103 million members mana... more About 6,000 financial cooperatives, called credit unions, with more than 103 million members manage over $1 trillion in collective assets in the United States but are largely invisible and seen as inferior to private banks. In contrast to banks that generate profit for outside investors and do not give voice to customers, these not-for-profit institutions have a democratic governance structure and a mission to provide good services to their members. We use diverse economies and critical/feminist geographic information system (GIS) approaches to theorize them as noncapitalist alternatives to banks and possible sites of social transformation toward a solidarity economy. Using the case of cooperative finance in New York City, we analyze spatial patterns, characteristics, and placemaking practices of credit unions with different kinds of the common bond, a principle that unites a financial community, and in relation to urban geographies of class and race. We find that credit unions provide a historically proven mechanism for collective resistance to marginalization by racial capitalism and, depending on the common bond type, make place by (1) providing financial inclusion in poor and minority neighborhoods; (2) scaling up solidarity finance through participation of middle classes; and (3) diverting assets from capitalist investment into social reproduction and livelihoods. Credit unions express the racialized wealth of their communities, however, and create spatial exclusions that pose a challenge to postcapitalist movements such as solidarity economy. These findings are applicable to other places marked by segregation and call for further inquiry into possibilities and barriers to solidarity finance.
In debates over post-capitalist politics, growing attention has been paid to the solidarity econo... more In debates over post-capitalist politics, growing attention has been paid to the solidarity economy (SE), a framework that draws together diverse practices ranging from coops to community gardens. Despite proponents' commitment to inclusion, racial and class divides suffuse the SE movement. Using qualitative fieldwork and an original SE dataset, this article examines the geospatial composition of the SE within the segregated geography of Philadelphia. We find that though the SE as a whole is widely distributed across the city, it is, with the exception of community gardens, largely absent from poor neighborhoods of color. We also identify SE clusters in racially and economically diverse border areas rather than in predominantly affluent White neighborhoods. Such findings complicate claims about the SE's emancipatory potential and underscore the need for its realignment towards people of color and the poor. We conclude with examples of how the SE might more fully address racial injustice.
The Journal of Design Strategies, Cooperative Cities, 2017
This article goes over the construction of the first openly accessible national map and database ... more This article goes over the construction of the first openly accessible national map and database of the Solidarity Economy in the United States.
This essay presents a critical overview of Marxian scholarship addressing the interrelation betwe... more This essay presents a critical overview of Marxian scholarship addressing the interrelation between class and migration. Certainly, how migration affects the logic of exploitation is a central theme, as is the history of labor, xenophobia, strike-breaking and striking that involves migrants. We cannot do full justice to the rich variation of migration patterns across the globe and readily admit that our geographical situatedness (in the U.S. and Europe) heavily affects the material we select. Ultimately, though, we argue that the conceptualization of migration contributes to Marxian theory as it crystallizes tensions in and issues concerning the conceptualization of unemployment, the reserve army, exploitation and the capitalist/ postcapitalist divide.
NYC Worker Cooperative Survey Round 1 Report By Solidarity Economy Research Project (SERP) Prepared for Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA), 2016
This report prepared for the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies presents data of a survey ... more This report prepared for the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies presents data of a survey of worker cooperatives in New York City in 2016. We present data on wages, revenues, race, and gender composition of workers from all participating worker cooperatives.
In the last 30 years, the social and linguistic articulation of the Afghan in Paki-stan and Iran ... more In the last 30 years, the social and linguistic articulation of the Afghan in Paki-stan and Iran has gone from muhajir [refugee], to migrant, and even to terrorist. This article provides an overview of the transformation to demonstrate that it depends more on external factors rather than any fundamental change in the conditions structuring Afghan migration. Examining the migration regime operating between Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran further confirms the problems of a refugee/migrant dualism.
To mark the twentieth anniversary of Rethinking Marxism's publication, the founding and current e... more To mark the twentieth anniversary of Rethinking Marxism's publication, the founding and current editors of the journal (Jack Amariglio and David F. Ruccio, respectively) take stock of the past two decades in an interview conducted by three members of the editorial collective. From the naming of the journal to its origins at the University of Massachusetts, from the journal as a site of collective praxis to the journal as a commodity, from the journal's affiliation with postmodern Marxism to its relation to art, the participants cover a wide range of topics and do not shy away from autocritique. While taking the journal as its entry point, the interview is as much a reflection on Rethinking Marxism's past as it is on the vicissitudes of keeping the project of rethinking Marxism alive in the world of the academy, publishing, and leftist politics.
This book chapter goes over the basics of what a worker cooperative is, and the variety of govern... more This book chapter goes over the basics of what a worker cooperative is, and the variety of governance and economic structures they take on.
In this article, we present a method for valuing the multidimensional aspects of urban commons. T... more In this article, we present a method for valuing the multidimensional aspects of urban commons. This method draws from and contributes to a broader conception of social or community returns on investment, using the case and data of a vibrant project, strategy, and model of ecological resilience, R-Urban, on the outskirts of Paris. R-Urban is based on networks of urban commons and collective hubs supporting civic resilience practices. We use data from 2015, the year before one of the hubs was evicted from its site by a municipal administration that could not see the value of an "urban farm" compared to a parking lot. We combine estimates of the direct revenues generated for a host of activities that took place in R-Urban, including an urban farm, community recycling centre, a greenhouse, community kitchen, compost school, café, a teaching space, and a mini-market. We then estimate the market value of volunteer labour put into running the sites, in addition to the value of training and education conducted through formal and informal channels, and the new jobs and earnings that were generated due to R-Urban activity. Finally, we estimate the monetary value of the savings made by an environmentally conscious design that focused on water recycling, soil and biodiversity improvement, and social and health benefits, breaking them down by savings to the organization, participants and households involved in R-Urban itself, as well as savings to the state and the planet. Although our article is built on specific quantities from a concrete project, the method has wide applicability to urban commons of many types seeking to demonstrate the worth and value of all their many facets and activities.
This framing chapter explores how a diverse economies approach is different than a conventional a... more This framing chapter explores how a diverse economies approach is different than a conventional approach to finance. There are a broad range of actors, institutions, arrangements, and markets that comprise the domestic financial sphere and equally there are numerous channels through which financial intermediation occurs. Finance can be extractive or wasteful (as when assets are traded without increasing productive capacities), or finance can be emancipatory and solidaristic such that it nurtures and sustains community-oriented activities and ethical commitments. By seeing finance through a lens of diversity, new political possibilities are generated for supporting communities, deepening social relations and solidarity, rebalancing power, and promoting resilience and stability.
Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 2019
About 6,000 financial cooperatives, called credit unions, with more than 103 million members mana... more About 6,000 financial cooperatives, called credit unions, with more than 103 million members manage over $1 trillion in collective assets in the United States but are largely invisible and seen as inferior to private banks. In contrast to banks that generate profit for outside investors and do not give voice to customers, these not-for-profit institutions have a democratic governance structure and a mission to provide good services to their members. We use diverse economies and critical/feminist geographic information system (GIS) approaches to theorize them as noncapitalist alternatives to banks and possible sites of social transformation toward a solidarity economy. Using the case of cooperative finance in New York City, we analyze spatial patterns, characteristics, and placemaking practices of credit unions with different kinds of the common bond, a principle that unites a financial community, and in relation to urban geographies of class and race. We find that credit unions provide a historically proven mechanism for collective resistance to marginalization by racial capitalism and, depending on the common bond type, make place by (1) providing financial inclusion in poor and minority neighborhoods; (2) scaling up solidarity finance through participation of middle classes; and (3) diverting assets from capitalist investment into social reproduction and livelihoods. Credit unions express the racialized wealth of their communities, however, and create spatial exclusions that pose a challenge to postcapitalist movements such as solidarity economy. These findings are applicable to other places marked by segregation and call for further inquiry into possibilities and barriers to solidarity finance.
In debates over post-capitalist politics, growing attention has been paid to the solidarity econo... more In debates over post-capitalist politics, growing attention has been paid to the solidarity economy (SE), a framework that draws together diverse practices ranging from coops to community gardens. Despite proponents' commitment to inclusion, racial and class divides suffuse the SE movement. Using qualitative fieldwork and an original SE dataset, this article examines the geospatial composition of the SE within the segregated geography of Philadelphia. We find that though the SE as a whole is widely distributed across the city, it is, with the exception of community gardens, largely absent from poor neighborhoods of color. We also identify SE clusters in racially and economically diverse border areas rather than in predominantly affluent White neighborhoods. Such findings complicate claims about the SE's emancipatory potential and underscore the need for its realignment towards people of color and the poor. We conclude with examples of how the SE might more fully address racial injustice.
The Journal of Design Strategies, Cooperative Cities, 2017
This article goes over the construction of the first openly accessible national map and database ... more This article goes over the construction of the first openly accessible national map and database of the Solidarity Economy in the United States.
This essay presents a critical overview of Marxian scholarship addressing the interrelation betwe... more This essay presents a critical overview of Marxian scholarship addressing the interrelation between class and migration. Certainly, how migration affects the logic of exploitation is a central theme, as is the history of labor, xenophobia, strike-breaking and striking that involves migrants. We cannot do full justice to the rich variation of migration patterns across the globe and readily admit that our geographical situatedness (in the U.S. and Europe) heavily affects the material we select. Ultimately, though, we argue that the conceptualization of migration contributes to Marxian theory as it crystallizes tensions in and issues concerning the conceptualization of unemployment, the reserve army, exploitation and the capitalist/ postcapitalist divide.
NYC Worker Cooperative Survey Round 1 Report By Solidarity Economy Research Project (SERP) Prepared for Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA), 2016
This report prepared for the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies presents data of a survey ... more This report prepared for the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies presents data of a survey of worker cooperatives in New York City in 2016. We present data on wages, revenues, race, and gender composition of workers from all participating worker cooperatives.
In the last 30 years, the social and linguistic articulation of the Afghan in Paki-stan and Iran ... more In the last 30 years, the social and linguistic articulation of the Afghan in Paki-stan and Iran has gone from muhajir [refugee], to migrant, and even to terrorist. This article provides an overview of the transformation to demonstrate that it depends more on external factors rather than any fundamental change in the conditions structuring Afghan migration. Examining the migration regime operating between Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran further confirms the problems of a refugee/migrant dualism.
To mark the twentieth anniversary of Rethinking Marxism's publication, the founding and current e... more To mark the twentieth anniversary of Rethinking Marxism's publication, the founding and current editors of the journal (Jack Amariglio and David F. Ruccio, respectively) take stock of the past two decades in an interview conducted by three members of the editorial collective. From the naming of the journal to its origins at the University of Massachusetts, from the journal as a site of collective praxis to the journal as a commodity, from the journal's affiliation with postmodern Marxism to its relation to art, the participants cover a wide range of topics and do not shy away from autocritique. While taking the journal as its entry point, the interview is as much a reflection on Rethinking Marxism's past as it is on the vicissitudes of keeping the project of rethinking Marxism alive in the world of the academy, publishing, and leftist politics.
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