Overview

EHSI 2024 set out to test a model of institutional structure that would facilitate the integration of scholarship in the humanities with an engaged relationship with the land. Through this, it also aimed at cultivating a space in which the individual person of the scholar-worker might feel integrated in their various activities. By the land, we refer not only to the local nonhuman world in which the embodied lives of the scholars takes place, but also the historical context of that world, as it has been shaped by the intersecting actions of various human communities and nonhuman actors. The theme for this inaugural program was "Work, Land, Voice," which in a number of respects was a reflection on the presuppositions of this experiment itself. EHSI 2024 included a range of modes of action so that participants might personally experience various communication avenues between themselves and the land.

EHSI 2024 was co-organized and facilitated by Julia Henderson and Philippe Mesly, who took part in all the same activities as the participants. Four participants attended the program, coming from across the country and the United States to attend. Additionally, two resident farmers on the site attended certain elements of the program, and so might be considered "part-time" participants. Finally, various people from the community and others just passing through joined for open lectures, shared meals, or work projects. The program featured the voices of numerous contributors: Justin Tilson, Jan Zwicky, Tim Lilburn, Celeste Smith, Sophie Edwards, Josh To, and Christie Wong. We are grateful to all of them.

The program was hosted on Manitoulin Permaculture's 4-acre homestead near Little Current, Ontario, which includes various subspaces for growing, cooking, living and working. The program ran from July 8-26. Each participant was accommodated in a private cabin or trailer. Groceries were provided or harvested from the gardens onsite, and all cooking was undertaken by the participants.

Participants woke up daily at their own pace so as to be ready to begin work at 8am. For four hours most mornings, we took on various work projects on the site. From 12 to 1:30, participants prepared their lunches, chatted, or took care of small personal tasks. At 1:30, we entered into a "library" atmosphere, in which participants prepared for seminar discussions by reading, taking notes, or writing reflections. If a seminar was scheduled for the day, it began at 4 and usually ran to 6:15-6:30. If not, the study periods continued until 4:30, at which point participants might keep reading, begin preparing for dinner, or were free to do anything else. Dinner was usually ready around 7:00, after which the evening was open. Throughout the program, participants agreed not to use any electronic devices from 8am to 7:30pm daily.

Variations from this daily rhythm are noted in the weekly recap below.

Week 1

In our first week, we opened with some preliminary discussions of our backgorunds, interests, and preoccupations. We broached the theme of "Work, Land, Voice," noting especially how it relates to the practices we would be undertaking for the coming three weeks. We established some of the basic housekeeping and introduced our principles for convivial seminar discussions.

We got a tour of the property from Justin Tilson, the organizer of Manitoulin Permaculture, as well as a presentation introducing the principles of permaculture.

Our work this week consisted of establishing a new asparagus patch, starting by clearing a grassy area, tilling, weeding, and amending the soil, planting the baby asparagus, and mulching them in. In passing, we potted up several dozen Siberian peas, black locusts, and rhubarb plants; replaced some broken tool handles; repaired a lawn mower; and built a stone foundation for a leaning arbor.

On Tuesday, Julia facilitated the first seminar discussion in her series focusing on Simone Weil, whose spiritual and political writings grapple in particular with the concept of work. The first session dealt with her notion of "reading" as a way of relating to the world, and a selection from Waiting for God that examines various modes of love, including attention to beauty, justice, and friendship.

On Thursday, Philippe facilitated a seminar pairing Max Weber's "The Scholar's Work" with Leanne Betasamosake Simpson's "Land as Pedagogy." We explored the overlap and the differences between the versions of education they describe. In particular, we examined the tension between meaning and knowledge, and the place of intellectual culture in community.

On Friday, we took the afternoon off for a hike on the Cup & Saucer trail. We read the Anishinaabe story of how Nanabozhou came to the island, dropping his spearhead and handle, which left the limestone outcropping as it is. We stopped in various places along the trail also to read poetry and prose from Jan Zwicky and Tim Lilburn, and in so stopping, identified about 15 unique species of mushroom.

That evening, Jan and Tim joined us over Zoom to talk about the historical precedent for combining work, study, and contemplation. They outlined the difficulties of balancing this in today's world, as well as its pressing political function. And they shared some of their own poetry and ideas while also inviting thoughts and responses from us.

Week 2

After a weekend break, during which participants attended the local Weengushk Film Festival, visited the Little Current Farmer's Market, went to the beach at Providence Bay, or just relaxed and did some gardening at the homestead, we dove right back into our rhythm.

The work projects during week 2 involved establishing a haskap berry patch, similar to last week's asparagus patch. We learned that these delicious local berries require different cultivars in the same location to pollinate effectively, so we alternated two different kinds of plants in a lovely curving design suited to the location. We used recycled cardboard and cedar shavings for mulch. At the same time, we cleared several dead trees from the property and chopped them into logs for the wood burning stove, or if they were too big or too small, to establish a new hugelkultur bed. We repaired a mailbox that was knocked down by a reckless driver, fixed a wobbly handrail on a wooden bridge, and installed a new electrical outlet in the kitchen. Invasive phragmites were identified and removed along the shoreline. We also harvested several crops, processed berries for a jam, and got to enjoy cooking with those local ingredients.

On Monday, Julia reprised her seminar on Simone Weil, looking this time at her writings on the intersection of mathematics, ethics, and metaphysics. (Later on, this led to a spontaneous lecture on mathematics by one of our participants, a scholar of Applied Category Theory.) We debated the merits and limitations of spiritual writing, and explored the nature of creativity and creation.

This segued nicely into a field trip on Tuesday to the Kagawong river, where Sophie Edwards led an arts workshop, in which we attended to the sights, sounds and relationships present in this beautiful body of water. We used charcoal and watercolours to explore not only the patterns, textures, sounds, and connections in the environment, but also how the medium itself is heard in our art practices. Sophie tied our practice to the history of Indigenous presence, treaty-making, and colonization in the area, and gave context for the sculptures along the riverside trail. The workshop concluded with a swim at the base of the Bridal Veils waterfall.

On Thursday, Philippe led a conversation on Hannah Arendt's disctinction between work and labour. We explored the way our treatment of the natural world differs according to our different activities, and the different values associated with different lifestyles. And we observed how the same activity might be treated differently and offered varying levels of dignity in different historical and political contexts.

On Friday, we were welcomed to Ga Gitigemi Gamik, or We Will Plant Lodge, a new project on Manitoulin which seeks to revive traditional Indigenous agricultural practices, particularly for Indigenous women. Celeste Smith, the organization's director, treated us to homemade sweetgrass tea and spoke to us of the challenges faced by Indigenous people today, what led her to Manitoulin Island and the Lodge, and the work she is currently doing in education and activism. We participated in the life of the Lodge by helping with various tasks including clearing and leveling an outdoor gathering space, setting up shade structures, and doing work in the greenhouse.

That evening, some of us enjoyed a lovely dinner on the marina, followed by live music and a swim at the beach.

Week 3

We regrouped again for the final week after another relaxing weekend checking out the shops and restaurants in Little Current, going for swims in the North Channel, and otherwise resting up.

In the third week, we accomplished the completion of the hugelkultur bed, the establishment of a rhubarb bed along the edge of the driveway, and the construction of a platform that will act as the base for a new cabin that will allow for more accommodations in the future. Some participants also went out on short work visits to help with other community members' gardens.

In Julia's final session on Simone Weil, we read from her political writings, especially The Need for Roots, relating her work to the upheavals of her time and asking in what ways they parallel ours. We returned to the question of community, while asking what the implications of a rooted political community would mean for technology, science, administration, and education. In particular, we became interested in the appropriate level of specialization in society, and in the need to clarify our goals for political action.

On Wednesday evening, Christie Wong and Josh To joined us over Zoom to discuss Indigenous and peasant agricultural movements. They related our work in Canada to other projects around the world, and shared their own personal experiences of learning from the land. In particular, they emphasized the role of narrative in changing perceptions and discussed how media advocacy can support community projects.

On Thursday, we received an impromptu tour of Heartwood Mushrooms, a enterprise that grows mushrooms using largely by-products of industrial processes. Shane O'Donnell, the founder of Heartwood, shared his vast knowledge of fungus biology & culture, and put us to work building outdoor beds for continued growing of mushroom cultures after the main harvest has passed.

Later on Thursday, Philippe facilitated a final seminar discussion on a paired reading of Édouard Glissant and Bruno Latour, in which we addressed the major social and environmental implications of a globalized world. We focused on the need for translation and diplomacy in a pluralist world where a common ground is never a given. And we considered the challenges of giving voice to underrepresented cultures and the nonhuman world, specifically through fostering an "aesthetics of the earth."

On Friday, after a final work session in the morning, we spent the afternoon reflecting on the experience and preparing to head out, whether back home or to another venture. After the concerted efforts and restrictions of three weeks' thinking, working, and communal living, we capped the night with a large feast and festivities.

Testimony from our participants

On work

I've been in a number of places which prioritize labor as an essential component to learning and development, and I felt that the labor component here was one of the most beneficial instantiations of this idea. I think this was due to a number of factors the most important of which was how connected our work was to where we lived. Being able to see how our efforts actively improved the place we lived always made the work feel rewarding and not superfluous.
Justin was a gift to work with. He was so willing to explain anything I asked him about and would follow up on conversations having clearly kept in mind what interested me.
From the work and the Arendt reading, manual labor now seems less like a waste of time – I have more of an appreciation of its value.

On reading

The readings were always very compelling. They nearly always touched on questions that I have actively been considering. The Weil texts spoke to me in subtle ways that I have a hard time articulating but which practically always rung intuitively true to me. I liked the side-by-side readings that Philippe offered. I think this way of comparison can really bring out elements in texts beyond which either alone can offer. I particularly enjoyed the readings on scholarship and pedagogy by Weber and Simpson for this. Never was I bored or uninterested in any of the readings.
Something that developed over time was that I felt more confident in how everyone else spoke and listened; in understanding that I began to feel more comfortable communicating in return. I learned what it meant for one person to hear me vs another person.

Overall

It is amazing how much work 6 people can accomplish in just the mornings, and how much reading can be done every day.
I always felt that I was learning something new every day.
After leaving this program, I feel like this form of life is viable and really is something that should be pursued. There is no need for scholarship in the humanities to be something that requires much expense, and in a time when there is an overproduction of PhDs and not enough places to do this form of work there should be alternative spaces for people who want to pursue scholarship in a more embodied form. Furthermore, in a time of environmental and societal crisis, there is a great need for scholars (and anyone for that matter) to remain grounded in the context of community and the cycles of the Earth.