The BRIDGES project aims to combat racial discrimination and structural racism in higher education institutions in the European Union. To do so, it starts from the idea that any possible solutions will only be possible thanks to a series of alliances between dissimilar organisations. Taking this framework as a starting point, this workshop draws on the experience of political organisation of the PAR Barcelona and proposes the idea of a Pedagogy of the Alliance as a means to explore the importance of establishing connections and carrying on care politics in anti-racist work within universities. To this end, work will be carried out at two different levels. On the one hand, during the preparation of the activity by the teacher, through the creation of connections with relevant social agents outside the higher education institution where the course is being held. These “allies” will be co-dynamizers and participants in the activity that will take place in class — the second level of work in the workshop. This 1.5-2 hour exercise, explained below, is aimed at reflecting in small groups on alliances building as a pedagogical tool. You will do this through 3 levels.

The first level of reflection (“We are already made of alliances”) aims to reflect on alliances from the point of view of our own composition as persons. Alliances are inherent to us throughout our life cycle, we are made of them. This part draws on the broad legacy of feminist literature to think of ontologies as relational, trying to make visible the networks, inter-dependencies and care work that make it possible for us to exist, to gestate an idea, or to act politically.

The second level of the group work (“The life cycles of alliances”) the group will work on the learning that is possible thanks to alliances. Knowledge is something that is made possible thanks to partial connections that generate situated knowledge, knowledge that is collectivised remains localised to that time and place. The alliances we refer to go against extractivism and seek a horizontal way of doing things, they are based on respect, on creating and sustaining relationships of mutual support over time. The alliance teaches us to work on the basis of respect, to face and value the discomfort and tensions of building a common front; alliances are finite, they are built and deconstructed like all links to enrich the parties. In other words, we do not have to essentialise and romanticise them, but rather generate a practice of listening in relation to issues that occupy us and are common to us.

Finally, the third level (“Strategic alliances and possible futures”) will be aimed at working on the political and proactive dimension of alliances. Initially, this may refer to how alliances are intentional and strategic. Some are chosen over others for political agency. An example of this is the construction of political identities, formed through alliances of groups united in difference. At the same time, the construction of alliances refers to the construction of a particular political horizon, also offering fictions about the worlds we would like to build.

The BRIDGES project aims to combat racial discrimination and structural racism in higher education institutions in the European Union. To do so, it starts from the idea that any possible solutions will only be possible thanks to a series of alliances between dissimilar organisations. Taking this framework as a starting point, this workshop draws on  the experience of political organisation of the PAR Barcelona and proposes the idea of a Pedagogy of the Alliance as a means to explore the importance of establishing connections and carrying on care politics in anti-racist work within universities. To this end, work will be carried out at two different levels. On the one hand, during the preparation of the activity by the teacher, through the creation of connections with relevant social agents outside the higher education institution where the course is being held. These “allies” will be co-dynamizers and participants in the activity that will take place in class — the second level of work in the workshop. This workshop, of 1,5 hours of recommended duration for its online modality, is aimed at reflecting in small groups on the creation of alliances as a pedagogical and transformative tool. They will do this through 3 thematic blocks or levels of reflection.

The first level of reflection  (“We are already made of alliances”) aims to reflect on the alliance from the point of view of our own composition as individuals. Alliances are inherent to us throughout our life cycle, we are made up of them. This part draws on the broad legacy of feminist literature to think of ontologies as relational, trying to make visible the networks, inter-dependencies and care work that makes it possible for us to exist, to develop an idea, or to act politically.

At the second level of group work (“What do we learn with alliances?”), the group will reflect on the kind of knowledge that alliances enable. Knowledge is something that is made possible only thanks to the partial connections that generate situated knowledge, a knowledge that is collectivized and located at a given time and place. The alliances to which we refer go against extractivism and seek a horizontal way of doing things. They are based on respect, on creating and sustaining relationships of mutual support over time. Alliances teach us to work based on respect, to face and value the discomforts and tensions implied in building a common front. Nevertheless, alliances are also finite. They are built and deconstructed to enrich the parties. That is, we should not essentialize and romanticize them, but rather generate a listening and revision practice in relation to issues we share a concern for. 

Finally, the third level (“Strategic alliances and possible futures”) will be aimed at working on the political and purposeful dimension that alliances carry with them. At first this may refer to how intentional and strategic alliances are. They are chosen one over the other to get together politically. An example of this is the construction of political identities, formed through alliances of groups united in difference. At the same time, the construction of alliances refers to the construction of a specific political horizon, also offering fictions about the worlds that we would like to build. Based on this, in this last level of the workshop the small groups will try to formulate a draft of concrete proposals for alliances that can help build a more anti-racist university. 

After these three moments of work in small groups, participants will come back to the large group. At this point, facilitators will bring the discussion on the added value of that invited facilitators from civil society organisations brought to the discussion on a pedagogy of the alliance. They will have participated in the group work as yet another together with the students of the course, thus contributing with their experience on the subject. Moreover, they will have also contributed, in situ, to generate possible plans for alliances to transform racism inside and outside the university. In this way, the workshop seeks to show performatively the implicit value of alliances between different organizations, at the same time as contributing de facto to establish and reinforce these links.