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Michael Menser
Assistant Professor
Philosophy
Location: 3316 Boylan Hall
Phone: 718.951.5570
Fax: 718.951.4675
Email:
Michael Menser first started teaching at Brooklyn College as an adjunct in 1995, became full time in 2003, and was tenured in 2009. He recently served on the BC Sustainability Council and the Provost's Task Force on City-Based Sustainability Education. He advises Students for Global Justice club and is president of the Participatory Budgeting Project. He is also a member of the doctoral faculty in Earth and Environmental Sciences and Environmental Psychology at the CUNY Graduate Center.
Education:
Ph.D., Graduate School & University Center (CUNY) - 2003 (Philosophy)
B.Phil.; B.A. in Philosophy, PolSci, Economics, University of Pittsburgh - 1990 (Philosophy)
Areas of Expertise:
Menser's work critically explores different models of participatory democracy and ecological sustainability from a variety of perspectives (human rights, liberal, communitarian, anticapitalist) at a variety of levels (government, household, business) and in different venues (urban and rural, indigenous). Case studies that he has looked at include worker cooperatives and the solidarity economy, sustainable agriculture and "food sovereignty" and municipal governments and "participatory budgeting."
Books and Publications
"The Bioregion and Social Difference: Learning From Young's Metropolitan Regionalism." Environmental Ethics. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2013
"The Participatory Metropolis, or Resilience Requires Democracy." Center for Humans and Nature. www.humansandnature.org. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2013
Book review of Earthly Plenitudes, by Bruno Gulli. Capitalism, Nature, Socialism. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2012
"Transnational Self-Determination, Food Sovereignty and the State." Globalization and Food Sovereignty: Global and Local Change in the New Politics of Food. Eds. Jeffrey Ayres and Michael Bosia. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2010
"Chipko." International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest: 1500-present. Ed. Immanuel Ness. Boston: Blackwell. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2009
"Conflict, Coexistence, and the Next Global Assemblage." Democracy, States and the Struggle for Global Justice. Eds. Neil Smith, Omar Dahbour, Heather Gautney and Ashley Dawson. Routledge. (Books and Publications: Chapter) 2009
"Disarticulate the State! Maximizing Democracy in 'New' Autonomous Movements in the Americas." Democracy, States and the Struggle for Global Justice. Eds. Neil Smith, Omar Dahbour, Heather Gautney and Ashley Dawson. Routledge. (Books and Publications: Chapter) 2009
"Participatory Democracy, History of." International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest: 1500-present. Ed. Immanuel Ness. Boston: Blackwell. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2009
"Shiva, Vandana." International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest: 1500-present. Ed. Immanuel Ness. Boston: Blackwell. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2009
"Transnational Participatory Democracy in Action: The Case of La Via Campesina." Journal of Social Philosophy. 39.1, Spring: 20-41. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2008
Menser, Michael and Juscha Robinson. "Participatory Budgeting: From Porto Alegre, Brazil, to the U.S." Solidarity Economy: Building Economic Alternatives: Papers and Proceedings from the U.S. Social Forum 2007. Eds. Julie Matthaei and Jenna Allard. Chicago: Changemaker Publications. www.populareconomics.org/ussen/webfm_send/18. (Books and Publications: Chapter) 2008
"The Global Social Forum Movement, Porto Alegre's 'Participatory Budget,' and the Maximization of Democracy." Situations: A Journal of the Radical Imagination 1.1, Spring: 87-109. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2005
Menser, Michael, Randall Doane, Heather Gautney and Robert Ausch. "The Politics of Assembly: Building an Urban Ecology from A16." Found Object 9, Fall. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2000
"We Still Do Not Know What a Building Can Do." Radical Reconstruction, by Lebbeus Woods. New York: Princeton University Press. (Books and Publications: Chapter) 1997
"Becoming-Heterarch: On Technocultural Theory, Minor Science and the Production of Space." Technoscience and Cyberculture. (Books and Publications: Chapter) 1996
Aronowitz, Stanley, Barbara Martinsons and Michael Menser. Technoscience and Cyberculture. New York: Routledge. Spanish translation published in 1998. (Books and Publications: Edited Book) 1996
Menser, Michael and Stanley Aronowitz. "On Cultural Studies, Science and Technology." Technoscience and Cyberculture. (Books and Publications: Chapter) 1996
Creative Work
Menser, Michael, Josee Bienvenu and Jordan Zinovich, co-curators. Shaping Conflicts art exhibition. 123 Watts Gallery. New York, spring. 1998
Awards, Honors and Fellowships
Mellon Sawyer Faculty Fellow, CUNY Graduate Center, "Democratic Citizenship and the Recognition of Cultural Differences." (Awards and Honors) 2013
PSC-CUNY 41 Research Award. (Awards and Honors) 2010
Faculty Fellow and seminar participant in "Democracy Shrugged." Center for the Study of Place, Culture and Politics, CUNY Graduate School. Fall 2005-Spring 2006. (Grants and Fellowships) 2006
Research Activities
Member, "Utopistics" Working Group, Fernand Braudel Center, Binghamton University (SUNY). Fall 2006-Spring 2007. 2007
Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums
"Corporate Responsibility or Social Solidarity: Two Approaches to Economic Democracy." Social and Political Philosophy Seminar. CUNY Graduate Center. New York, March 28. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2012
"Participatory Budgeting, Democratic Theory and Field Philosophy." North Texas Philosophical Association Meeting. University of North Texas. April 14. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2012
"Roundtable Discussion: On the Future of Environmental Philosophy." Panelists: J. Baird Callicott, Trish Glazebrook, Eugene Hargrove, Michael Menser and Kyle Powys Whyte. North Texas Philosophical Association Meeting. University of North Texas. April 14. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2012
"How Best to Solve the Global Food Crisis? Sovereignty, the Right to Food and the Role of the State." Felician University. Feb. 18. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2011
"Sustainable Agriculture, the Concept of Territory and the Status of Nonhumans: Organic Agriculture Versus Agroecology." International Association of Environmental Philosophy annual meeting. Philadelphia, Oct. 22. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2011
"The Bioregion and Social Difference: What Might Environmental Philosophy Learn from Iris Young's Metropolitan Regionalism?" American Philosophical Association Eastern Meeting. Dec. 28. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2011
"Using Climate Change to Reintegrate the Humanities and Social Sciences and Reterritorialize Economy and Ecology." Nature, Ecology, Society Conference. CUNY Graduate Center. New York, March 10. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2011
"Food Sovereignty: Concepts and Places." Left Forum. New York, March 20. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010
"Participatory Budgeting as Economic Democracy." Left Forum. New York, March 20. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2010
"Territory, Social Reproduction and Food Sovereignty: The Brooklyn Food Coalition and La Via Campesina." Environmental Psychology, CUNY Graduate Center. Feb. 25. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2010
"The Solidarity Economy as a Response to the Current Crisis" debate with David Harvey. Left Forum. New York, March 21. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2010
"The Solidarity Economy Framework as Organizing Project at an Urban Public University." Forum on the Solidarity Economy. University of Massachusetts at Amherst. March 20. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2009
"The Solidarity Economy in Brooklyn and NYC." Union for Radical Political Economy Conference. St. Francis College. Brooklyn, N.Y., Oct. 6. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2009
"There Was, Is, and Always Will Be an 'Alternative': Antagonisms and Reterritorialization." Center for the Study of Place, Culture and Politics, CUNY Graduate Center. Nov. 30. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2009
Presenter at Town Hall Meeting on Sustainability. Brooklyn College. Dec. 8. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2009
"Autonomy as Transnational Democratic Self-Determination: 1968-2008." Annual Global Studies Association Professional Meeting. Pace University. New York, June 6. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2008
"Autonomy, Social Change, and the Global Justice Movement." Left Forum. Cooper Union. New York, March 16. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2008
"Social Forums and the (Inter)nationalization of the Solidarity Economy." Annual Global Studies Association Professional Meeting. Pace University. New York, June 4. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008
"Whither the World Social Forum." Left Forum. Cooper Union. New York, March 15. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2008
"Disarticulate the State! Bioregionalism, Transnational Anticapitalism and the Maximization of Democracy." American Philosophical Association, Eastern Meeting. Baltimore, Dec. 28. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2007
"Disarticulate the State." Seminar on Political Economy and Contemporary Social Issues. Columbia University. New York, Dec. 6. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2007
"Insurgent Cosmopolitanism: The Reinvention of Participatory Democracy in the Global Justice Movement." Fernand Braudel Center, Binghamton University (SUNY). Binghamton, N.Y., April 20. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2007
"The Global Justice Movement and the Reinvention of Participatory Democracy." International Social Philosophy Conference Annual Meeting. Millersville, Pa., July 14. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2007
"Transnational Dehegemonization in Practice: Via Campesina as Six Dimensional Democratic Combat." Dehegemonization Conference. George Mason University. Fairfax, Va., April 5. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2006
"Toward U.S. and North American Social Forums." World Social Forum V. Organized by the Network Institute for Global Democratisation (an NGO based in Finland and Peru). Porto Alegre, Brazil, Jan. 30. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2005
"Bioregionalism." Green Festival Conference. Wagner College. Staten Island, N.Y., April 24. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2003
Professional Leadership
Member, Honors and Awards Committee, Philosophy Department. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2013
Departmental Curriculum Committee, 2001-08. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2008
Grade Grievance Committee, 2008-present. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2008
Member, executive board, Center for the Study of Place, Culture and Politics, CUNY Graduate School, 2007-present. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2008
Member, executive board, Environmental Studies, 2000-present. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2008
Honors and Awards Committee. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2005
Grade Grievance Committee. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2003
Honors and Awards Committee. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2003
Associate director (acting), Center for the Study of Culture, Technology and Work (formerly the Center for Cultural Studies), CUNY Grauduate School, 1997-2002. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2002
Community Activities
Member, Alliance for a Just Rebuilding (working on Hurricane Sandy redevelopment). 2013
Named chair, board of directors, Participatory Budgeting Project. 2012
Provided technical and logistical support to Councilmember Jumaane Williams and District 45 Participatory Budgeting District Committee. Helped to organize the Neighborhood Assemblies (In October) and support the Delegate Committee, November-December. 2011
Member, Brooklyn Food Coalition. 2010
Member, U.S. Solidarity Economy Network since its formation in 2007. Currently serving on Education and Outreach Working Group. 2010
Other Professional Activities
Appointed to the doctoral faculty of Earth and Environmental Sciences Department, CUNY Graduate Center. 2009
Interviewed on KPFA radio program Against the Grain, on the World Social Forum and Participatory Democracy, Jan. 30. http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/40105. 2008
Referee, New Political Science Journal. 2008
Referee, Journal of Nietzsche Studies. 2007
