The “More-than-Human Solidarity” series of meetings is a space for thinking about solidarity beyond human boundaries – practiced in the spirit of posthumanism and more-than-human ethics. The initiative is part of the trend of Solidarity Studies, the study of solidarity as a multidimensional social, cultural and ecological phenomenon. Here in Gdansk, it combines the historical legacy of Solidarity with contemporary climate and environmental challenges, opening up the field for a conversation about the idea of a shared world and multi- and inter-species coexistence.
The first meeting was held on March 11, 2026 at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Gdansk. It inaugurated an intergenerational series of meetings organized as part of the More-than-Human Studies Lab with Prof. Maria Mendel (Department of Social Pedagogy at the Institute of Pedagogy, WNS UG) and Dominika Kolenda (ISM).
The talks were held in the formula of a long table – an open space for co-thinking and dialogue. Anyone could take a seat at it, join the discussion or withdraw from it at any time. The idea was not to present ready-made positions, but to work them out together. The starting point became a “starter menu”: selected texts, quotations, art projects and visual representations of biological processes. These materials acted as inspirational, intellectual and affective impulses, opening a space for dialogue. The discussion – conducted in Polish – focused on mapping networks of interdependence in a “responsive state of coexistence,” an attitude close to the geography and cartography of the more-than-human world.
– At the long table, where thoughts become the main course, we met for the first time on March 11 and had the opportunity to hear the voices of artists, educators, academics and activists. It was an authentic democratic exchange of perspectives from our local community,” reports Dr. Irena Chawrilska, coordinator of the More-than-Human Studies Lab program of the UG Centre for Sustainable Development.
The next meetings in the series will be held:
– April 17, 3:00 pm – with participation of Dr. Justyna Stępień (UŁ)
– April 29, 3:00 pm – with participation of Prof. Dorota Koczanowicz and Prof. Leszek Koczanowicz (UWr)
More information on future meetings, we will provide soon.
