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Rhizome Fellowship 4.0

Current Status
Ended
Price
Free
Course ended


The Rhizome Fellowship is an eight-month journey designed to equip you with tools and accompany you through a process of narrative-led systems change. Rooted in the Culture Hack Method, this fellowship provides a structured yet experimental space to develop and prototype narrative interventions that disrupt extractive models and seed regenerative futures.

This year’s fellowship is centered around Pathways to Regenerative Futures. These pathways emerged from a narrative research series Beyond the Carbon Fixation: Pathways to Regenerative Futures that set out to find pathways to liberate land, waters, ecosystems, and communities from the enclosures of capitalism and colonialism.

Through this research we found that beyond the carbon-centered approaches to the climate crisis limited by reductionist metrics and market-driven solutions are alternate pathways already embodied by living examples. These pathways, when interwoven, can serve as a navigational tool for systems change.

This is a repository to help accompany you through the fellowship. Each week we will be uploading a module with the video from the session, the curriculum links to review, and any other information you may need. If you have any questions along your journey this is your resource for additional information.

This section contains key information to support your fellowship journey—including schedules, forms, links, and other essential resources. It will be regularly updated with relevant documents and announcements throughout the duration of the fellowship.

Fellowship Timeline 

 

Date Sessions Topics
12 Jun Online Session 1 Ask: Point of View & Change Hypothesis
26 Jun Online Session 2 Listen: Listening Model with Big & Small
10 Jul Online Session 3 Listen: Narrative Communities & ANP
24 Jul Online Session 4 Understand: Metaphors & Frames
7 Aug Online Session 5 Understand: Justice + Ontoshift
21 Aug Online Session 6 Understand: Window of discourse & Audiences
4 Sept Online Session 7 Reframe: Catalytic Community & Narrative Objective
15-21 Sept Costa Rica Gathering Schedule TBA
3 Oct Online Session 8 Hacking Session 1
17 Oct Online Session 9 Hacking Session 2
31 Oct Online Session 10 Hacking Session 3
28 Nov Closing Session Reflect and Review

Advisory Sessions

# Date Time Session
01 June 19th 11 to 12.30 CDT Open Time - Advisory
02 July 3rd 11 to 12.30 CDT Scheduled Advisory
03 July 17th 11 to 12.30 CDT Open Time - Advisory
04 July 31st 11 to 12.30 CDT Scheduled Advisory
05 August 14th 11 to 12.30 CDT Open Time - Advisory
06 August 28th 11 to 12.30 CDT Scheduled Advisory
07 September 11th 11 to 12.30 CDT Open Time - Advisory

You will join 3 scheduled advisory sessions. You can book extra sessions if needed.

Five Pathways to Regeneration 

The following are the five groups that represent each pathway to regeneration, along with their members, a brief description of their project, and their assigned advisor

Restoring Justice, Restoring Life

  1. Bianca Van Rooi and Ling Shephard from South Africa are creating !'Okua Hack recipe book and digital archive documenting intergenerational knowledge across Africa.
  2. Sergiu Zorger and Lu from Germany/Romania are developing analysis and tools for Eastern European social movements to challenge far-right narratives.
  3. Antonela Ferraro and Laura Sosa Micheli from Argentina are bringing eco-transfeminist approach to forest fires management through Fuegas collective.
  4. Lucas Canavarro and Nana Orlandi from Brazil are challenging colonial narratives through cultural encounters in Guanabara Bay region.

Economies of Regeneration

  1. Cynthia Wangechi Ng'ang'a and Kennedy Musembi from Kenya are remodeling freedom for queer Africans through gift economy markets, storytelling, and documentation.
  2. Kim Kamaluʻokeakua Moa and Keoni Lee from Hawaiʻi are transforming narratives around Hawai'i's just transition to regenerative ʻĀina Aloha economy.
  3. Sterling Cunio and Maria Stamas from the United States are building Ubuntu Commons Initiative for commons-based cultures and economies in balance with Mother Earth.
  4. Nicolas Petit and Abigail Stein from Belgium are creating food storytelling festivals to shift dominant narratives from extractive to regenerative food systems.

Land Back to Right Relationship

  1. Hajar Tazi and Malaury Kuhorn from Morocco are developing an 8-month Synergia Fellowship connecting changemakers to explore regenerative, place-based political economies.
  2. Tatiana Amor and Martín Zepeda from Mexico are elevating Fondo Defensores' narrative to provide resources to Indigenous defender’s territories and communities.
  3. Ivan Oksah Sawyer García and Priscila Tapojara from Brazil/Mexico are amplifying Indigenous solutions through a comprehensive Amazon narrative intervention strategy.
  4. Susan Misra and Marcela Torres from the United States are Weaving Liberation For All Beings, reimagining human relationships with the more-than-human world.

Bioregional Community Governance

  1. Sarah Queblatin and Timothy Salomon from Philippines are developing Restore-Restory project protecting biocultural heritage at risk from climate change.
  2. Marta Casilda Sala Rifà and Sergi Selvas from Spain are co-creating powerful narrative for Miceli as a Bioregional Learning Centre in rural Catalonia.
  3. Abdul Semakula and Isaac Daniel Munaaba from Uganda are restoring Nalubaaga wetlands while replacing colonial land ownership with Ubuntu-based collective stewardship.
  4. Esther Molina Olivencia and Deborah Benham from an International Network are developing a refreshed narrative for the 20-year-old Transition movement beyond peak oil framing.

Healing the Spirit, Healing the Earth

  1. Mahan Aslam and Tilyan Aslam from Pakistan are creating healing-centered spaces for Baloch women blending traditional practices with modern mental health approaches.
  2. Dexter Komakaru and Jaden Taylor from Turtle Island are creating indigenous storytelling that explores grief as regenerative force for reconnection to land and spirit.
  3. Zon Edwards-Antoine and Tricia Antoine from Trinidad and Tobago are expanding local consciousness around culture, history, and landscape through Shift TT project.
  4. Mary Thanissara and Andrés González from United States are reframing Buddhist practice from individual coping to catalyst for collective liberation.
  5. Karina Turtzo and Azadeh Momenghalibaf from Costa Rica/Canada are cultivating leaders through collective, ecological, and decolonial lenses for post-capitalist futures.
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Team Portfolios

Portfolios are where you’ll complete tasks from each session. The CHL method is cumulative—each step builds upon the last. Your portfolio will serve as a central place to document your process and track your progression over time.

Fellows Team Portfolios

 

Narrative Research

The structure for this year’s fellowship is based on our latest narrative research, Beyond the Carbon Fixation: Pathways to Regenerative Futures. You can explore the research, along with a webinar and contributing articles in our Issue