Course curriculum

  • 1

    Introduction to the Module

    • What is the Commons module about?

    • The approach taken in this module

    • Making sense of the course content
  • 2

    Part I - What are the commons? - Understanding the commons through our local context

    • Overview
  • 3

    1. Introduction to Commons

    • Lesson Objectives and Pedagogy

    • Story Narration: The Tamarind Tree

    • Debrief of the story: Assess prior knowledge about commons

    • What are Commons?

    • Reflection and Suggested Immersive Activity

    • Homework
  • 4

    2. Interconnectedness of Life

    • Lesson Objective and Pedagogy

    • Homework Discussion

    • [Classroom Activity 1] Nature Walk

    • [Post-Activity 1 Read] Metapattern

    • [Classroom Activity 2] Observation of Behavioural Pattern

    • [Reading] One With The Land

    • [Classroom Activity 3] Mind Mapping Connections

    • Homework
  • 5

    3. Forms of Relating to the Natural Environment

    • Lesson Objective and Pedagogy

    • Homework Debrief and Prior Knowledge Assessment

    • Relating to our natural environment - an interwoven web

    • Read: "The Gift of Strawberries"

    • Reflection: "The Gift of Strawberries"

    • Homework Activity

    • Further Reading Material
  • 6

    4. Privatization, Conflict and the Cornering of the Commons

    • Lesson Objectives and Pedagogy

    • Homework Discussion

    • Introducing Key Terms

    • Urbanization and the Struggle for the Commons

    • Case Study: Mumbai, Whose city is it anyway? - Part I

    • Case Study: Mumbai, Whose city is it anyway? - Part II

    • Case Study: Mumbai, Whose city is it anyway? - Part III

    • Building Sand Castles in Singapore

    • Discussion and Reflection

    • [Classroom Activity]Role Play - I used to stay along the Cooum

    • Homework Activity
  • 7

    Part II - Commons, Communities and the Links to the Natural World

    • Overview
  • 8

    5. The Natural World as the Basis of Commons

    • Lesson Objectives and Pedagogy

    • [Classroom Activity 1]Making Sense of Time and Our Time on Earth

    • [Classroom Activity 2] Reading on Gaia

    • [Classroom Activity 2] Case Studies: The substrate of life

    • [Classroom Activity 2]The Substrate of Life: Air-connecting all of us

    • [Classroom Activity 2]The Substrate of Life: We are Bacteria

    • [Classroom Activity 2] The Substrate of Life: The Living Soil

    • [Classroom Activity 2]The Substrate of Life:

    • [Classroom Activity 2]Performance and Debrief

    • Homework Activity
  • 9

    6. Formation and Use of Commons by Human Communities

    • Lesson Objectives and Pedagogy

    • Homework Discussion and Debrief

    • [Classroom Activity 1] Coming Together

    • [Classroom Activity 2] Read Excerpts From "The Deep Anthropocene"

    • [Classroom Activity 3]Revisiting the term Commoning

    • [Classroom Activity 4] We, in our environments- Different commoning practices that sustain life

    • [Classroom Activity 4]Case study 1: The food we eat, from our forests

    • [Classroom Activity 4] Case Study 2: I follow my animals

    • [Classroom Activity 4] Case Study 3: Fishing for their survival- urbanely

    • Discussion and Reflection
  • 10

    8. Identity and the Commons

    • Lesson Objectives and Pedagogy

    • [Classroom Activity] Who am I? - Naming our identities

    • Identity and the commons

    • Part I: Commons as a shaper of identity

    • Part II: Religious identity and symbols that emerge around the commons

    • Part III: Holding on to one’s identity

    • Part IV: Identities we lose along with the loss of commons

    • Part V: Identity and Conflicts Over the Commons
  • 11

    Part III - Privatization and Conflict over the Commons

    • Overview
  • 12

    9. From the onset of settled agriculture to Colonialism in India

    • Lesson Objectives and Pedadogy

    • The politics of land ownership - how old is its history?

    • Commons in Early India-Factors that influenced Privitization

    • Case Study 1: Peasant Societies, Caste and Land Relations in early India

    • Case Study 2: Dalits in Indian Feudalism

    • Case Study 3: Relation of agrarian societies with Adivasi tribal and pastoralists

    • Case Study 4: Women, Patriarchy and Land Relations in Early India

    • Discussion and Reflection

    • Enclosure of Commons in England

    • Homework Activity
  • 13

    10. Colonialism and Imperialism in India

    • Lesson Objectives and Pedagogy

    • Homework Discussion

    • [Classroom Activity]Role Play - A Class Divided

    • Roleplay: Discussion

    • Case Studies - Forests, Famines and Revolts in Colonial India

    • Case Study I: Contestation over India’s forests

    • Case Study 2: Voices of dissent - The fight for the forests

    • Case Study 3: Famines and environmental justice under colonialism

    • Case Study 4: Mahad Satyagraha – The Revolt of the Untouchables

    • Discussion and Reflection