Part of URI’s fall Honors Colloquium
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| Chosen by Charlestown to run the "Solarize Charlestown" program in 2017, SolPower is a worker cooperative |
How do collective economic forms work in local economies,
and how do they work for their participants, more importantly?
Economics professor Maliha Safri will consider such questions when she
presents at the 2023 University of Rhode Island Honors Colloquium Tuesday,
Sept. 26, on “Community Economies: Organizing for the Common Good.” A professor
at Drew University in New Jersey, Safri’s academic research focuses on
collective economic practices, including worker, food, and housing
cooperatives.
Hosted by URI’s Honors Program, this is the 60th edition of the University’s premier lecture series, and it marks the centennial of the College of Business.
Safri will speak at 7 p.m. at Edwards Hall on the
Kingston Campus and online, as part of the University’s fall Honors Colloquium,
“Not Business As Usual: Business for the Common Good.” The talk will be
presented in person and streamed live (video links are available the day of
each event, at the link above).
Safri documents the work of migrant workers, along with
majority Black and Latinx communities. She teaches popular education seminars
and courses with activists, specifically with migrant workers at worker centers
about the process of forming collectives.
Safri’s research became informed by the concrete, serious
issues faced by participants in what has become known as solidarity economies,
economies prioritizing cooperation and inclusion.
She has a forthcoming co-authored manuscript
entitled Solidarity Cities: Confronting Racial Capitalism and Mapping
Transformation, which examines such economies in Worcester,
Philadelphia, and New York City.
The project shows how solidarity economies fulfill
crucial needs in food, housing, and fair finance, and contest harmful economic
forces of exploitation, gentrification, and predation.
Safri is a co-editor of the Diverse Economies and Livable Worlds book series
and a member of various collective organizations herself. She also co-directs a
New York City semester program at the United Nations focused on the impact of
nonprofits and social businesses.
The URI Honors Colloquium is free and open to the public.
Lectures will be held most Tuesday evenings, Sept. 19 through Dec. 5, and will
also be available online. Learn more about the fall colloquium. Register for updates and
reminders here or email urihonors@etal.uri.edu.