Health and law-making: collectively re-creating narratives

On March 10 2022, from 13:30 to 15:00 CET, an online workshop will be organized by the International Association for the Study of the Commons.

This event is part of a colloquia series "dedicated to the policy issues related to the commons and importance of bringing the commons discussion to policy makers' attention in Europe & CIS and for engaging our community in a wider policy dialogue."

Blurb

Since childhood, we learn that knowledge does not come from ourselves (schoolchildren), but from a 'master'. When a crisis happens – a disease, a change in our environment – we similarly rely on external authorities, who are usually prompt to provide us with directives.

But is this really the most effective way to take care of our very needs, to overcome complex challenges? Can a few really be more knowledgeable than the multitude? Is the centralization of power during an emergency still legitimate when most of the population has the means to make collective decisions within hours?

During this participatory workshop, we will explore the narratives behind 'health' and 'law'. We will explore how we can reclaim ownership of ourselves (health commons, critical public health), and of the rules that affect us (legal commons, democratic constitutionalism).

We will reflect on Elinor Ostrom's saying that "a core goal of public policy should  be to facilitate the development of institutions that bring out the best in humans," and will introduce the work done by legal scholars working on indigenous law (Canada) and on civil law (Italy).

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What is health? A series of behaviours to follow, or a process of defining the rules that affect us?

What is the law? A book of rules to comply to, or a process of collectively agreeing on rules that can bring out the best of society?

During this participatory workshop, we will collectively reflect on the narratives behind health and law.

narratives tacit framework that normal - education

can think differently thourhg emergence to relcaiming ownership of Is knowledge owned by third-party experts or is it emerging from the group? Does innovation require private resources, or is access to resources is a fundamental right?

Proposal

Content (draft)

• Worldviews about the Law
  • a book of rules to comply to → Napoleon civil code (post-positivism, universalism)
  • a process of collectively agreeing on the rules that bring out the best of society → indigenous customs (social constructivism, contextual)
• Origins in Education
  • Knowledge owned by third-party experts → hierarchy, state vs market
  • Knowledge emerging from the group → self-organization, commons
• Narratives about the Social Contract
  • Innovation requires private resources → intellectual property, exclusion
  • Access to resources is a fundamental right → participatory governance, pluralism (Rodotà, Italy Supreme Court)

Approach

• Emergence of participants' knowledge on the topic enriched by inputs from experts.

References

• Banville MS, Lapalme J. Property Rights / Property Wrongs: Micro-Treaties with the Earth Rethinking our responsibilities towards nature through land stewardship. Dark Matters Laboratories 2020.
• Boal A. Legislative Theatre. Using Performance to Make Politics. Routledge 1999.
• Capra F, Mattei U. The Ecology of Law: Toward a legal system in tune with Nature and Community. Berrett-Koehler 2015.
• Falkvinge R. Swarmwise. The tactical manual to changing the world. CreateSpace 2013.
• Italian Court of Cassassion. Blue Valley Srl vs Ministero delle Infrastrutture e dei Trasporti, Ministero dell'Economia e delle Finanze. 2011.
• Italian Ministry of Justice. Commissione Rodotà - per la modifica delle norme del codice civile in materia di beni pubblici. 2007.
• Knoepfel P, Schweizer R. Le local et le global : quatre défis de la codification du droit foncier dans le cadre du processus de rédaction du code civil suisse de 1907. In Ponsonnet M, Travési C. Les conceptions de la propriété foncière à l'épreuve des revendications autochtones : possession, propriété et leurs avatars. Pacific-Credo 2015.
• Laugeri M. Les clés du dialogue hiérarchique. InterEditions 2015.
• Vercellone A. The italian experience of the commons: rithg to the city, private property, fundamental rights. The Cardozo Electronic Law Bulletin 2020.

Further readings

• Medina J. The Epistemology of Resistance – Gender and Racial Oppression, Epistemic Injustice, and the Social Imagination. Oxford 2013.
• Okolloh O. Ushahidi or ’testimony’: Web 2.0 tools for crowdsourcing crisis information. Participatory Learning and Action 2009.
• Ostrom E. Beyond markets and states: polycentric governance of complex economic systems. Prize lecture. The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2009.
• Oxfam. The hunger virus multiplies: deadly recipe of conflict, covid19 and climate accelerate world hunger. 2021.
• Pearce JM. Cut costs with open-source hardware. Nature 2014.
• Raymond E. The cathedral and the bazaar. Knowledge, Technology & Policy 1999; 12(3).
• Rushkoff D. Team Human. WW Norton 2019.
• V-Dem Institute. Autocratization Turns Viral. Democracy Report 2021. 2021.

People

Participants

• ...

Facilitators

• Fabio Balli, IUC Turin, Italy
• very short bio of max 2 sentences about the key affiliation and research interest

Series hosts

• Tobias Haller, University of Bern, Switzerland
• Ilkhom Soliev, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Germany