CONTEXT: 

The New Earth Minor explores how to relate to our planet as we exit the epoch that gave rise to our civilisation; the Holoscene. We are entering unknown territory, how can we evolve into a species suitable for the New Earth? 

Vanessa Machado de Oliviera describes three ways to organize society; individualism, collectivism and metabolism. While the former 'isms' are (over)familiar in a Western context, metabolism is closer to an indigenous perspective of understanding our roles and positions on this planet; as embedded, entangled, co-constitutive. Our capitalist-colonial human society has a sick metabolism; income and wealth inequality is ever increasing, carbon is emitted so faster than it can be absorbed, the global north mines from the global south and dumps its unprocessed waste back and industrial farming exhausts rather than replenishes the soil, stealing from the future to feed the present. Through our complicity within these globalised metabolisms, we also are brought into contact with distant actors, opening space for new agencies and solidarities.  

Amid all of the loss that eco-social crisis brings, can there also be space to find, create and feed more other metabolisms: ways to relate, to common, to resist, to tell stories, to compost, to care and understand? 

 

DESCRIPTION: 

This minor invites students to do interdisciplinary eco-social study. The course will examine how extractive, exhaustive and exploitative circuits function and invites students to research, imagine and prototype metabolic eco-social relations outside of capitalist and extractive ones (e.g commons, more than human communities, mutual aid, perma-computing, biocultural heritage, regenerative agriculture and materials and growing systems). Students are encouraged to think internationally but work as grounded, situated practitioners; from their body, their locale, their community, from what they might be able to offer to bodies they are nested with and within. The course emphasizes systemic thinking and collective approaches. Students combine practice-led and field research methods with iterative prototyping. 

The minor provides grounding in relevant theory; decolonial and critical ecology, more than human agencies, commoning, prefiguration, pluriversal perspectives, health, food and seed sovereignty. 

FORMAT: 

This program is conducted in person (IRL) selected by the teaching team. 

KEYWORDS: 

Metabolism, Commoners, Eco-social, Planetary Stewardship, multispecies.  

 

WHAT WE OFFER: 

• Field trips 

• Guest lecturers 

• Immersive workshops introducing eco-social issues 

• Interdisciplinary and experimental modes of working 

• Peer-to-peer (P2P) and collaborative work processes. 

 

LEARNING OUTCOMES: 

• Gain an understanding of systemic, complex and metabolic processes on various scales 
• earn how to place and position yourself as an eco-social agent 
• Take risks, experiment with and prototype other relations (with human and more than human others) through an iterative process. 
• Use your creativity and imagination to engage with and meaningfully respond to (eco-social) context. 
• Collaborate with peers, individuals, groups, and cultures beyond WdKA in  non-extractive, reciprocal ways. 

WHAT WE EXPECT 

This minor is designed for students who are actively interested in ecology and system change and who want to broaden their creative competencies, knowledge, and skills during the current transition to a more resilient and equitable society. We expect students to exhibit curiosity, courage, initiative, and critical engagement. 

Assessment and Deliverables:

The assignments are research-based and comprise:

• A writing component, typically as an essay or another textual format.
• The artistic component takes the shape of an interdisciplinary artistic projec
• Public presentations in the WdKA environment may be included as part of the artistic projects created in this course

PPLICATION PROCESS (KOM)

Are you a student from another educational institution and would you like to follow a minor at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences? If so, you must apply in two steps:

Step 1
Register for the minor of your choice via the blue Apply button. You can find this button at the top right of the minor’s page.
Download the learning agreement and complete it.
Submit this learning agreement to the examination board of your study programme.
Once the examination board has granted approval, register for the minor in Step 2 no later than 01-07-2025 at 9:00 a.m.

Step 2
After approval, register via OSIRIS Application of Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences using the link below (first create an account).

https://osiris.hr.nl/osiris_aanmeld_hrprd/Welkom.do?proces=KOM2609&opleiding=MINOR-WDK-VT 00

Part of the application process is uploading the following documents:

The learning agreement, signed by you and by your institution;
A scan or photo of your passport or ID card.
 
You will be informed by Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences whether your application has been approved.

In OSIRIS Application, you must also upload the Proof of Paid Tuition Fee (BBC) for the academic year in which you wish to follow the minor. This can be done from 01 May 2026onwards. You can request the BBC from your institution after you have signed or issued an authorization for the payment of the tuition fee for the relevant academic year. You may also choose the option for your institution to send the BBC directly to collegegeld@hr.nl.

You will receive a notification from Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences once your application has been approved.