Heathwood Institute & Press
HEATHWOOD INSTITUTE
& PRESS: NEW FUNDING CAMPAIGN
Dear All
We've recently launched a new fundraising campaign on Indiegogo and
are calling on everyone's support to help us reach our goal. A breakdown of our
funding campaign can be read below. If you could forward this e-mail onto
friends and colleagues, it would be greatly appreciated. (For more information
about our funding drive, please visit our campaign page: http://igg.me/at/heathwood-institute-and-press/x/4227978
Sincerely,
Robert C. Smith
Director and Researcher
Heathwood Institute and Press
Website: http://www.heathwoodpress.com
Email: robert.smith@heathwoodpress.com
Phone: +44 (0) 07919252541
Address: Barn Cottage, 7 Hempstead Road,
Holt, Norfolk, United Kingdom, NR25 6DL
***
Short Summary
Heathwood Institute and Press is a non-profit, critical
theoretical organisation that was formed by a collective of academic
researchers across a wide range of disciplines.
Motivated and inspired by Frankfurt
School critical theory,
our aim is to investigate the root causes of social, economic and environmental
inequality by offering foundational, multidimensional and holistic social
critique as well as developing concrete, critical alternatives to the type of
social policy symptomatic of today's highly unjust societies.
We delve into history, anthropology, psychology and sociology, and ask
fundamental questions about the way we as humans have historically related to
ourselves, the world and each other. We look at how we humans respond to our
experiences (emotionally, psychologically, and in our actions) and why we
organise our institutions, societies and belief systems in the ways that we do.
We ask hard questions about our theories of religion, knowledge and education,
and about how we build and perpetuate ideologies and economic systems. In
essence, we seek to understand how, why and when we relate to ourselves, the
world and each other in destructive ways, and ultimately to develop new,
healthier ways of relating and acting in the world.
To do this we bring together academics from a range of disciplines; economists,
sociologists, anthropologists, educationalists, philosophers, theologians...
One of our aims is to take what we perceive to be of value from the traditions
of the Frankfurt School, and to retrieve, redevelop,
rework and advance it to be relevant and useful in 21st Century society. In
building on and extending the traditions of Frankfurt School critical theory,
we strive to not only challenge existing fields of research and policy, but
also to fundamentally challenge from a foundational and multidisciplinary
perspective the existing social model as a whole, with a mind towards promoting
systemic change.
Through our research we are working to develop an understanding of the meaning
of healthy social progress in the 21st Century from a holistic, integrated and
methodologically unique perspective. We aim to achieve this through the
advancement of critical theoretical thought by calling for new standpoints of
critique and ultimately grounding our calls for new norms of critique according
to a foundational, multidimensional critical theory of society.
In the interests of social progress we are geared toward excellence in
scholarship and distinguished merit in terms of providing ground breaking
research in the Humanities, Social Sciences, Economics, Psychology and
Education, with the ultimate goal of communicating the findings of our research
in an engaging, practical manner that is both applicable to policy makers and
accessible to the general public.
Originally founded in December 2011 by a group of well-respected researchers,
academics and activists, we are now actively bringing together and supporting
individuals who are leaders in their area and whose research possesses the
potential to break new grounds in addressing the problems that we face in
today's world.
For more information, please see the 'About us' section of our website, where
you can find our full mission statement, statement of need, programme
description, a comprehensive breakdown of our progressive, eco-friendly (print)
publishing model, and even our (digital) democratic publishing initiative: http://www.heathwoodpress.com/advancing-frankfurt-school-critical-theory/
Mission Statement
The mission of Heathwood Institute and Press is to address
the root causes of social, economic and environmental inequality, and to also
develop healthy and sustainable alternative ways of being. In the process we
are also committed to the promotion of an informed and engaged citizenry; to
promote a foundational awareness and understanding of social, cultural,
economic and political processes; as well as to fight economic and social
injustice, and to protect the diversity of nature and society and the natural
systems upon which all life depends.
By investigating more generally the idea of ‘damaged society’ our goal is to
produce highly respectable, critical works, whose seminal theses offer more
broad foundations for concrete, critical alternatives which affirm the notion
of systemic change and the need for fundamental public policy shifts. We seek
to further this mission by advancing Frankfurt
School critical theory in
the 21st Century.
In principle, our mission is three-fold:
1) To understand the fundamental human issues that prevent individual and collective
harmony and well-being, and that impede social progress as well as the healthy
development of Western civilization;
2) To identify catalysts for change on a fundamental level across the different
spheres of society;
3) To engage with researchers, policy makers and most importantly the general
public in effort to promote critical dialogue as well as active leadership and
participation in the manifestation of social change
We're an independent, autonomous research organisation in
the truest sense
Heathwood is a non-profit organisation that works hard to
maintain independent status as well as a respectable distance from corporate
and market forces.
In order to maintain our critical stance, we choose to adopt a wholly
autonomous economic and political position in the face of society’s present
socioeconomic-political circumstance. For these reasons we do not have
shareholders or trustees. Nor do we have ties with multinational corporations
or to the more general distortions of the global market.
In the same sentiment, Heathwood does not under any circumstance accept
conditional funding. In this respect we are proud and, indeed, humbled to be
one of the few remaining independent academic groups left.
But as a wholly independent organisation it is not always easy to financially
sustain the type of autonomous practice we believe in, especially as
predominant economic policy continues to strangle the independent and public
spheres of our society.
Therefore if you would like to support Heathwood, its growing list of authors
and researchers, and the development of new works, any amount of financial
support will go a long way toward sustaining the daily practice of our
organisation.
What We Need: A
breakdown of funding requirements
Every donation, big or small, is highly valued and goes a
long way in supporting both new research and the publication of new works as
well as contributing toward the daily operating costs of the organisation.
Our funding campaign can be broken down as follows:
Our goal is to raise £40,000 for the following academic year, which will
support the organisation's operational costs until more sustainable funding
sources can be identified. It will also contribute significantly to future
publication costs, website maintenance, the salary of its director Robert C.
Smith, and the part-time employment of two academic research associates.
In addition, this money will not only help support the organisation's key
project, which centers around investigating the roots of social, economic and
environmental inequality. It will also enable the organisation to continue to
its (free) online publication programme, which supports the democratic rights
of citizens to have free access to information without any sort of monetary
barriers or discriminations.
The funds you donate will also assist us in expanding our roster of
international academics and researchers from all disciplines. This is crucial
because the more researchers we're able to support from across all academic
disciplines, the greater our multidisciplinary voice and the better our ability
to ultimately break new grounds in understanding the fundamental problems of
contemporary society.
A large portion of our total funding goal will also go toward costs for much
needed editorial support and the translation of new works from German to
English. It will also assist us in the continuing development of the
organisation's Frankfurt
School (digital)
archives, which has become a valuable resource for students, academics,
researchers, and engaged citizens.
If the organisation does not reach its total goal in obtaining £40,000, the
money that is donated will still be put toward the needs stated above.
The Impact
Your contribution will make a significant impact in terms of
supporting Heathwood's project when it comes to understanding the meaning of
'social progress' in 21st Century society. It will support further research
developments in the areas of foundational social critique as well as the
generation of new works that deal with concrete, critical alternatives in the
areas of economics, philosophy, psychology, anthropology and education.
Already our organisation has gained extremely positive feedback from academic
circles all over the world. With a large and continuously growing readership
ranging from academics to 'everyday citizens', your financial support will have
a direct impact on the future of our collective project and will allow us to
continue to establish an open, alternative democratic dialogue with readers,
researchers and policy makers.
Other Ways You Can
Help
If you cannot contribute financially, there are still other
ways you can support Heathwood and its members:
Help us speread the word via social media
Contribute to discussions on our website - share your
thoughts on important social matters.
**END**
Posted here by Glenn
Rikowski
Critical Pedagogy and
the Constitution of Capitalist Society, by Glenn Rikowski is at Heathwood Press and can be viewed at:
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