Reclaiming Permaculture and Placemaking for Liberation

5-Week Online Course

Learn how to imbue places with a sense of belonging, inter-being, justice, healing and liberation.

Course fee: $99-$249 USD

On this page:

Course description and syllabus

Recently, the field of Placemaking has been growing in worldwide recognition. Governments, architects, artists and of course community organizers have been turning to the tools and techniques that Placemaking offers to create, strengthen and reclaim places for gathering. As this movement gains momentum, it is important to pause and reflect on what place means and to ensure that we are engaging questions around who defines place, how and where we make/take/keep place, who benefits from these places and how we can more deeply imbue a sense of justice and healing into the places we inhabit, influence and impact. 

If you are committed to deepening your understanding of place and placemaking, we invite you to join us for a multimodal exploration of Place Justice as a pathway to deepening relationships with ourselves, our human family and the more than human world. We will explore multiple ways of knowing through meditations, journaling, artmaking, paired conversations and group discussions. In Reclaiming Permaculture and Placemaking for Liberation you will expand your imagination and learn how to imbue places with a sense of belonging, inter-being, justice, healing and liberation.

Live classes are hosted on Zoom. All classes are recorded and available on our learning platform within 24 hours after each class ends and through 30 days after the last class. 

Classes and topics in the Reclaiming Permaculture and Placemaking for Liberation syllabus include:

1st Class: Relationship to self

  • Exploring current relationship to inhabited places
  • Contributions to sense of place and belonging

2nd Class: Relationship to the human world

  • Identity & Intersectionality
  • Boundaries & Conflict
  • Accountability

3rd Class: Relationship to land

  • Exploring current relationship to the land
  • Contributions to sense of connection with land
  • Practices for listening to and collaborating with land

4th Class: Designing for justice, healing and liberation

  • Design values
  • Design goals
  • Design elements

5th Class: Designing ourselves back into place

  • Locating practice of place
  • Creating pathways for practice

Course schedule

  • 1st Class – TBD
  • 2nd Class – TBD
  • 3rd Class – TBD
  • 4th Class – TBD
  • 5th Class – TBD

Your instructor

Ridhi D'Cruz, Reclaiming Permaculture and Placemaking for Liberation course instructor

Ridhi D’Cruz

Ridhi (they/them) is a gender queer Malayali who grew up in the city of Bangalore in southern India and moved to Wapato Valley (Portland) in 2010. They fondly identify as a learner, facilitator and artist. Their life artistry roots at the intersections of place, healing, design and creativity. They have dedicated over a decade of their life to designing community processes that cultivate liberatory and healing senses of place. They strive to honor and benefit the sacred and stolen lands of the Chinook people and several other tribes both recognized and unrecognized that they are a guest upon. 

Ridhi has cultivated a place justice practice through over more than a decade of service on Chinook lands. Currently, they co-facilitate an annual herbal immersion program for BIPOC called the Moon & Mirror Apprenticeship Program, are an nature educator with and for QT/BIPOC community through Wild Diversity and humbly support various place justice projects including the Native Gathering Garden at Cully Park and the Justice for Justice for Keaton Otis Memorial Art Project.

Testimonials

“I felt deeply connected to these folks because of Ridhi’s adept leadership. This seemed like a wonderful way to network with others who value being engaged with real social justice and becoming decolonized from within.”

-Tonia C

“The entire [session] was conducted in a way they modeled the principles being taught, so it was extremely practical and applicable.”

-Lori Anne G

The elements of an online course

Online learning platform

Once you register, you’ll get access to our learning area that includes:

  • class slides and other course materials
  • class video recordings, audio files, and transcripts for learning on the go
  • recommended books with access to course participant discount
  • a dedicated discussion forum to connect with your classmates

Live interactive sessions

Each week you join a 2-hour live class with the course instructor, where you learn in a group setting with:

  • interactive presentations
  • break out sessions
  • group discussions
  • the opportunity for questions and answers, and personalized support

Classes are recorded if you miss one.

Journey with a cohort

You’ll join participants from around the world how, like you, want to learn how to be better communitarians. Benefits include:

  • opportunities to connect with like-minded people
  • opportunities to share ideas and stories
  • a network of support to carry your community project forward

Registration

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