“Anyone doing research should also ask themselves.”

“There is a hole in our economy where our hearts should be,” reads the sign where Spas poses for her profile picture. “I’m not neutral. I’m committed. I stand for something and make choices about it,” says the lecturer in Shared Economics at the Center for Expertise, Broad Prosperity and New Entrepreneurship at Avanz.

One’s own position in research

She stresses that anyone conducting research should be transparent about this. “It’s a myth that science doesn’t think about this. I’m an anthropologist, and in anthropology you always indicate your position. The position of the observer is also important; it is, by definition, not neutral. So, for me, it’s very natural to think about who I am and what that means.” As for what I’m researching.

Godelieve Spaas originally comes from the world of dance, became an anthropologist, got to know the world of entrepreneurship as a consultant in large companies, did his PhD in South Africa, and actually didn’t even know what exactly a lecture did when I applied for a degree job in Avance. “If it were up to me,” I said, “I would create a free place where you can really think about the possibilities for a just economy and where art, research, and entrepreneurial practices complement each other.” Within two days I got a job; This was very special and courageous on the part of the Board.

Researchers and knowledge institutions must continue to hold themselves accountable – if only to determine their place and contribution to the major transformations required. “You can’t pretend you’re going to stay exactly the same,” Spaas says. In addition, Western science is strongly characterized by a colonial legacy. “I have to be aware of the fact that I was educated in the West, that I am white, that I am a woman, and that matters. It’s not good or bad, but it doesn’t matter. My position is different from the position of a white man or a black woman.”

I will never let this happen to me again

During her doctoral research in South Africa, with a chair investigating how indigenous and Western sciences reinforce or exclude each other, Spas looked for alternatives to economics and alternative forms of entrepreneurship. There she fully realized her position.

“I had to answer to both a group of scholars and a group of indigenous leaders. At the end of my doctoral studies, I mentioned that I had been invited as a speaker to a conference in New York, where I sat in a huge room with only men in front of me and was unable to speak for a moment. Once I was asked a question, someone cut me in. I let it happen because I didn’t feel like making a fuss about it.

When she told this in South Africa, indigenous leaders there were very angry, according to Spas. They said there: “You do not understand the position of the white woman.” During apartheid, the white man was everything, and the black man had the role of doing what the white man wanted – the traditional role of women. Black women didn’t matter at all, but white women legitimized what the white man did – even though they knew it was wrong. “And that’s exactly what you did again,” I was told, albeit in different words. Then I decided not to let that happen to me again.”

Practice-oriented and artistic research

Godileif Spaas is not only a researcher, but also an artist. She combines practice-oriented research with artistry in her Shared Economics Professorship, surrounded by an epistemological circle of scholars and artists alike, to imagine a future radically different from current economic or entrepreneurial practice.

“Avans wants to be a knowledge institution, and there is a reason for that: we want to be able to contribute to major transformations in North Brabant, but also on a broader scale. The theme of ‘Broad Prosperity and New Entrepreneurship’ fits into this, because the fundamental question we ask ourselves IS: How can you solve social issues by practicing entrepreneurship?

Research, change and practice

Spaas believes that playing by the current economic rules is not enough. “Within the Center of Expertise, Broad Prosperity and New Entrepreneurship, we have a number of professorships that are working to improve the current situation, for example by working on circular optimization, which makes a big difference in the use of raw materials.”

The professor explains that her professorship questions the rules of economics and entrepreneurship themselves. “If we don’t talk about how things could be done differently, we will never escape our captivity of economics and monetary policy, where growth is sacrosanct, and where we are busy reducing almost everything to economic quantities. It is very important to discuss what is wrong with our current economy.” Check how to change it and practice alternatives.

The final product as the beginning of the research

Practice – This is the term by which artistic research can enhance practice-oriented research. “If you want to imagine a future outside the current system, you will not get there if you keep looking at this reality and repeating the same steps. You need an alternative concreteness – not only in theoretical models, but also in practice,” stresses Spaas. “So I try to learn from practices that are radically different, for example entrepreneurship practices in Mali. We also conduct speculative, participatory and performative research: so you can imagine, think about and experience the future.

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Therefore, the research products produced by her professor are unpredictable. In fact, what may be considered a product is actually the research itself, explains the lecturer. For example, I contributed to “The Devil’s Avocado” (a study by Rijnko van Diepen), which asks the question to what extent corporate profit or profitability can come at the expense of something else. “If we create a circular clothing line, shouldn’t we cancel the other one?” Spas gives an example of this. “This film was made to bring the conversation to the table. Therefore, it is not the final product, but the beginning of the research.

Long term effect

Students also do not find mediocre assignments in a professorship. When students come in, her job is to somewhat confuse them, Spas jokes. It gives an example project.”Fair jobs” by his colleague Klaas Berger. He looks at what it would look like if the temporary employment sector – very different from now – were created according to and based on the interests of migrant workers. He starts by asking what someone from Eastern Europe wants to achieve, what work they want to do How could this be possible and what would be required for this.

“Last year I suggested to a group of HR students: ‘As an HR professional, you are also party to labor migration. What role do you want and can play in preventing abuse? Let’s dig deeper into this issue. This led to these students wanting a change in Avans’ approach to learning Credible activists And raise their voice in the company, where they will work as a human resources consultant. They took this to the Curriculum Committee, and successfully.

For the project itself, Spaas has now asked 150 entrepreneurship and retail management students to create prototypes for parts of the recruitment agency Fair Jobs. “At first they thought it was a crazy plan. They said: ‘You just have to raise money.’ Some people have made a real difference, but in principle I don’t expect such an exercise to have an immediate effect. It’s not necessary; I think some people will suddenly think about it.” “In a few years. This is also an impact.”

The new economy between art and science

In keeping with the interrelationship between artistic and practical research, Spaas, as a lecturer, curated the exhibition “Who Owns the Economy?” With Olga Mink. Last month in Den Bosch. The festival was organized by Future of Work, an organization in Den Bosch that focuses on the future of work.

“From our teacher, we say: The economy belongs to all of us. The only way to change the economy is to remember that we all bear responsibility for it – as participants, as spectators, whatever you want to be. Therefore, this exhibition is an excellent opportunity to discuss this with more people and investigate how a new economy can be created between art and science.

Ask questions, connect and make it experienceable

For example, the exhibition showed works by Arne Hendricks that propose to solve the problem of overconsumption by reducing the population by three times. In addition, there were many expressions of projects that revolved around community building – for example a ConstructLab project with simple wooden benches made using materials and people from one neighborhood.

“The nice thing is that at some point people asked if they could buy those chairs. Well, we don’t actually know,” said artist Peter Zuidervik. Why do you actually want that? How should we do it? So there is an ongoing debate about who owns something and how something can become someone else’s. Talking about this is exactly what we need.

This connects to something Spaas is investigating with dance company The100Hands and fellow lecturer Falk Hübner (Fontys). Assuming that a transaction is the smallest unit in the economy, it is possible for the economy to change by replacing the transaction, which is now primarily monetary, with many other forms of exchange. “Can we think about this together, try it and change the system step by step?” is their question.

Anyone who wants to change a system can turn on three main buttons: question yourself, connect with nature, or create a different mindset that they can imagine and experience, Spas says. “We are trying to conduct research along these three lines. This means that we are constantly communicating and entering into relationships with each other, with education and with society. This is the only way we can change the economy together.”