Human Economy Programme

The Human Economy Group was created as part of an international programme designed to bring back human concerns into economic studies. It is presently located at the University of Pretoria in Pretoria, South Africa, and is bringing together researchers from around the world with research experience in diverse disciplines.

Through our case studies, we examine how people insert themselves into economic life. What people practically do has often been obscured, marginalised or repressed by dominant economic ideologies that privilege the market. We are interested in the ways people engage with economy and respond to institutional forms that perpetuate structures of inequality (creating, challenging, or even trying to ignore them). The human economy is conceived of as being made and remade by people themselves, being based on a holistic conception of human needs and with the interests of humanity as a whole in mind.

Join us! 

Apply here for a 2013 Human Economy Postdoctoral Fellowship

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Become an Associate of the Human Economy Programme

The Human Economy Programme at the University of Pretoria (web.up.ac.za/humaneconomy) welcomes your expression of interest in what we do and encourages you to become an Associate of the programme, whether you are based at UP or anywhere in the world. We are an exciting interdisciplinary initiative launched in the global South in 2011 to carry out research into how the economy might more fully express human interests.

There are four kinds of HE Associates:

Research Associate: Anyone who has done, is doing or will do research through the HE Programme and retains an active interest.

Visiting Research Associate: Short-term visitors doing research through the HE Programme.

Associate: Friends of the HE Programme who wish to be involved or just informed of our activities.

Student Associate: Mainly, but not exclusively, for UP students with an interest in the HE programme.

How to sign-up as an associate and what you get:

Send your full name and title, department, institutional affiliation and email address to corena.garnas@up.ac.za and indicate which status you would like to be registered as.  It would help us if you could indicate the nature of your interest in our programme, how you hope to interact with us and what we can do for you.   

Our aim is to inform all kinds of associates about our activities; to facilitate relevant research; and to encourage participation in developing our programme.  Associates will join a mailing list to receive news of what is going on and are invited to attend or comment on quarterly advisory meetings, where they may propose and discuss ways of taking the HE Programme forward on a collaborative basis.  

Associates who want to participate in informal intellectual exchange may join email discussion groups, the Human Economy Facebook page and similar media.  We look forward to your contributions!

Tell your friends and colleagues that we are open to their participation and do not hesitate to contact  us to learn more.