THE WORK
IN THE RUINS
A five-part online series with Dougald Hine
STARTS 3 & 4 MAY 2023
This series is now underway. To receive announcements about future series and events, sign up for our newsletter.
Registration fee – 800 SEK*
* Approximately £62, €70 or $75
If the regular fee would be an obstacle, get in touch to arrange a reduced rate. info@aschoolcalledhome.org
Join us for a series of five live sessions, starting from the themes of Dougald’s new book, At Work in the Ruins: Finding Our Place in the Time of Science, Climate Change, Pandemics & All the Other Emergencies.
Wednesday group
20.15 CEST • 19.15 BST • 14.15 EDT • 11.15 PDT
Thursday group
10.15 CEST • 9.15 BST • 13.45 IST • 18.15 AEST
Sessions last 75 minutes followed by an afterparty for those who want to stick around.
Explore the book
At Work in the Ruins is a short book, made up of short chapters, but it covers a lot of ground. Each week we will take up one of the themes of the book. There will be a chance to discuss this with other participants and put your questions to Dougald.
• Week 1: Finding our bearings in ‘a time of endings’
• Week 2: ‘Asking too much of science’
• Week 3: What do we talk about, when we talk about climate change?
• Week 4: What came into view during the Covid time?
• Week 5: How do we find the work worth doing?
Meet other readers
We are running this series because we want to make it easier for readers to find each other and make connections. Each week, part of the session will be spent in break-out groups where you have the chance to meet other participants from around the world. There will also be a contacts directory where you have the option to share ways that people can get in touch with you to follow up on the conversations during the sessions.
Find the paths worth taking
Our hope is that, with your help, we can take things further and share ideas for how to find the work worth doing in times like these. There’s no blueprint, no single roadmap for ‘what to do’, but there are patterns and examples that can help you find paths worth exploring. So let’s use this time together to pool what we are learning about the work that lies ahead.
This series is now underway. To receive announcements about future series and events, sign up for our newsletter.
WHAT PARTICIPANTS IN EARLIER SERIES SAY…
“Dougald is an artist of the liminal. His journey has led him to extraordinary places, people and perspectives. In Homeward Bound, he takes you through mythic territory, drawing on stories and symbols from his life, to help you find your own. A deeply nourishing experience that will leave you enriched and sensitised to the mythic in your own journey.”
PHOEBE TICKELL
Founder of moral imaginations
“When I embarked on Homeward Bound, I was at a personal and professional crossroads. I hadn’t expected such an equally philosophical and practical experience – and I never would have guessed where home actually was, or been able to make my way there. But thank fuck I did, for the world looks very different now and it’s a journey I don’t think I’ll ever forget.”
SAM CONNIFF
AUTHOR OF BE MORE PIRATE & CREATOR OF THE UNCERTAINTY EXPERTS
“It was like we were all sketching in charcoal every week, making things bolder, or darker, rubbing them out and redrawing them, until, by the last session, some image emerged from all our overlapping lines. Many of us went off and began to draw parts of our lives differently using the shapes we found together. Forms we could never have imagined on our own.”
CAROLINE ROSS
Artist & Tai Chi teacher
How this series will work
We meet over Zoom for a 75-minute session each week.
There will be two groups: one that meets on a Wednesday evening (Swedish time), starting on 3 May, and the other on a Thursday morning, starting on 4 May.
The session opens with a few minutes to land together as a group. Then Dougald will introduce the week’s theme.
Midway through the session, we’ll break into small group discussions. Then we come back together for questions and reflections.
At the end of each session, following a short break, you are welcome to join us for the afterparty – this is a chance to hang out and meet each other in a more informal setting.
A video of the main session will be shared within a day or two, and these will be available for participants to view for three months after the course.
All participants will be invited to add themselves to a contacts directory which will be available during and after the series as a way to connect and follow up on conversations during the sessions.
This series is now underway. To receive announcements about future series and events, sign up for our newsletter.
Dougald Hine is one half of a school called HOME.
His latest book, At Work in the Ruins: Finding Our Place in the Time of Science, Climate Change, Pandemics & All the Other Emergencies was published by Chelsea Green in February 2023.
He has been a founder of a series of organisations including the Dark Mountain Project, Spacemakers and School of Everything. He presents The Great Humbling podcast with Ed Gillespie.
Originally from the north-east of England, since 2012 he has been settled in central Sweden where he lives with his partner Anna Björkman, the other half of this school.