PhD Teaching: Beijing to Baghdad - Commons/Communism/Communalism

Abstract

The commons is a concept that is garnering increased interest in academia and beyond. This course will critically approach this concept from a non-Western perspective based primarily on the work of the Sufi-Marxist Iraqi scholar Hadi Al-Alawi.

Objective

Students will be introduced to the concepts of the commons and musha’, they will critically explore the theory of Hadi Al-Alawi and its Asian influences, as well as the context in which this theory was produced, and will reflect on it based on diverse experiences.

Content

The commons has been gaining traction in academia and beyond, including in architecture, both as theoretical framework and as self-standing subject for examination. The trailblazing work of Elinor Ostrom has won her the Nobel Prize in economics in 2009. Radical, politically engaged researchers, such as David Harvey, Massimo De Angelis, and Stavros Stavrides, have taken up the topic of the commons as an institution of revolutionary potential. This course will bring a different perspective into conversation, namely the work of Hadi Al-Alawi, a prominent Iraqi scholar who wrote, towards the end of the 20th century, on the concept of musha’ (an Arabic word that closely resembles the commons). Based on pan-Asian history, and focusing on Chinese and Islamic civilizations, Al-Alawi theorizes the musha’(commons) and musha’iyya (communalism) as central to communism, and argues that these practices are historically rooted in Asia. In this approach, he is influenced by Maoism and its relationship to Taoism—an ancient Chinese philosophy. We will critically explore the theory of Al-Alawi, situate in its historical and intellectual context, and reflect on it in relation to various experiences and theorizations of commons and communes around the world, past and present.

Resources