Julika von Stackelberg (Recent Graduate)
Previous Degrees Obtained
School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), BA in African Studies and Development Studies, Prescott College, MA in Social Justice and Community Organizing
Research Topic
I am interested in building resilient communities that regenerate well-being for people and the planet. I am looking at how an understanding of the long-term impact and implications of trauma can inform a framework that promotes healing and well-being. Climate change and technology, especially A.I. are major factors that shape our future, so I am exploring how a healing-informed sociotechnical imaginary can assist us in the transition towards sustainable, just, and well communities.
Growing up in Germany in the 1980s, with the weight of the past, the promise of We are the World, and the fall of the wall, I was convinced that the end of hunger and world peace are in our future, and I was ready to roll up my sleeves. With distrust in the relevance of mainstream education, I was set to cluster my education together through volunteer work in South Africa, non-credit courses in Waldorf School Administration in the U.S., and acting school in Berlin after graduating high school. Still hungry for knowledge and ways to better understand the world, I enrolled in the Social Anthropology and Development Studies program at the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies, at the age of 23. Holding strong objections to viewing the world through the glasses of anthropologists, I changed my degree to African Studies and Development Studies instead after my first year of study.
Moving on to a trainee program with Trickle Up in NYC, I was exposed to the concepts of micro-grants and micro-lending to support development, particularly for poor entrepreneurs worldwide. Given the desire to start a family, I began forging a career path in the U.S. in fund development, supporting education, and ending gender-based violence. With a growing understanding of the power dynamics in our world, my realization that hunger and world peace are far off also grew, shaping my career change to becoming a parenting educator so I could work on the micro level. Recognizing the entanglement of the individual with their social, political, economic, and environmental context and the impact of trauma on all spheres, I became interested in building resilient communities with mechanisms to support healing and regenerate well-being.
In 2020, as a capstone project in my master’s in social justice and community organizing, I developed a master-volunteer program for building community resilience. The program is now offered by Cornell Cooperative Extension Orange as part of a project to address climate justice and build community resilience. Recognizing the enormous transition necessary to realize communities incorporating the mechanism to regenerate well-being, I explored the possibilities that social imaginaries may offer as a tool for change. My exploration quickly made it clear that climate change and technologies like A.I. will arguably shape our future more significantly than we can imagine.
My doctoral research, therefore, addresses the nexus of resilience, climate change, and technology at the grass-roots level by engaging communities in the process of developing a healing-informed sociotechnical imaginary as a guide to transition towards a worldview that recognizes the connection between humans (Anthropos), planetary life (Eco), and technology (Techno).
Q&A
I completed my Master’s in Social Justice and Community Organizing at Prescott and loved my experience so much that I did not want to stop. Apart from the amazing course work, I also felt called to grow my academic muscle, which the online program made possible for me while working full-time, and raising my family.
Sustainability Education is a great field because it encompasses a broad range of intersectional issues like community resilience, climate change, and technology, which is what I am focusing on. My research is a combination of grass-roots organizing and existential philosophical explorations. While my real question of “how do we sustain the possibility of life on Earth as a species that thrives in groups?” is too large, the PhD in Sustainability Education program gives me the opportunity to work on parts of that question by engaging research from related fields, such as Science Technology and Society (STS). This is how I arrived at exploring the collective construction of a healing-informed sociotechnical imaginary.
I love everything about the doctoral program! The coursework, the faculty, the community, and how aligned everything is with the values that the Sustainability Program holds. The program provide a real life example of what I am hoping to extend into my work and community.
My biggest challenge is that I am working full-time, and raising three teenagers at the same time. To be honest, I have not overcome that challenge, but I am learning to live with it. This requires that I walk my talk in the most practical way, incorporating intentional practices of self-care, building in time to move my body, being diligent about my sleep, and, believe it or not, taking lots of breaks! I also worked on my mindset recognizing that I have control over my timeline, which reduces a great deal of pressure. My goal is not just my degree, but to find joy in my research, writing, and the growth opportunities that present themselves.
I’ve worked in international development, fund development, as a parenting educator, and now as a project manager and resilience educator. This PhD is somehow bringing me full circle and I hope to teach and build resilient communities at the same time once I have earned my degree. I am also interested in action research as a way to continue to develop my ideas and remain connected to my community. I actually have an idea for a post-doc program… I’d love to explore ways to make that happen!
I think part of my path is to bring my whole self into everything I do, so I don’t have much of a separation of in school and outside of school/work. I love reading, organizing, learning, socializing, being creative together and alone whether through writing, drawing, or sewing. As part of my self-care, I need to spend time outside, moving my body, connecting with nature, the universe… Too much routine can make me feel stuck, so engaging in diverse activities and experiences fills me up personally, and professionally. With time to breathe and break 😉
Do it! Just do it! Bring your full self, leave your limiting beliefs about what you can do, and enjoy the ride. Make room for self-care and intentionally cultivate connections and relationships that allow you to explore your ideas, share your thoughts, and sometimes rant. Find a rhythm that works for you, and be open to adapting it as needed. Progress is not linear and your inner transformation needs as much space as what you are working on bringing into the world. My personal journal is currently longer than my dissertation 😉