DDGC Mutual Aid Network

Overview

A mutual aid network is a network in which people share their skills and resources in solidarity to strengthen their community. Such a network assumes that all members have something to offer, but also that every member is differentially subject to various forms of vulnerability and power. 

The DDGC Mutual Aid Network, formed in 2020, responds to the precarity and vulnerability that have been a part of the profession for decades, but that have also become exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Through the network, we seek to:

• support people in meeting their basic needs (broadly defined);

• build a community that stretches beyond specific physical locations (since those folks in most insecure positions often bounce from gig to gig);

• support those in insecure positions in finding more secure professional and living situations;

• and supporting those with secure positions to wield their power effectively. 

In our work, we study and challenge the inequitable networks of power that produce precarity. Here, our goal is to outline how cultures of precarity impact everyone as well as how such precarity is not equally distributed. We act from the assumption that we perform our labor for and in educational institutions as human beings. We also understand that mutual aid cannot be an adequate substitute for humane and equitable institutions.

Find out more about Mutual Aid as Care Work in this blog post by Emily Frazier-Rath and Maggie Rosenau titled, "Mutual Aid in Our German Studies Communities: Why and How to do Collective Organizing and Care Work in Academia."

For a discussion that maps needs and capacity to meet those needs, check out this blog post by Derek Price titled, “Reflections on the DDGC Mutual Aid Action Group Survey: What do People Need, and What Can We Provide?”

How It Works

Making a Request

To request aid of any kind, fill out the Mutual Aid Request Form (at the top of this page). This is a living process that will adjust according to the needs of our community. We will respond to each request and figure out how/if it can be fulfilled through our network.

Your personal information and contact details will only be seen by the mutual aid group and will be handled with discretion. Monetary requests will be anonymized throughout the process; other requests likely require your identity be disclosed to the match, but will be anonymized in all other contexts.

Offers Pool

When a request for aid is submitted, we will search through our offers pool to find a match. If the request for aid can't be fulfilled from the pool, we will reach out to the wider DDGC network through social media and the DDGC email listserv.

To join the offers pool, you simply fill out the Offer Form (find it at the top of this page) and indicate what you are able to offer. As circumstances change, you can update your offers as needed by submitting a new response to the form. We will update the offers pool every six months and encourage you to update your response.

Aid Log

Each time a request is matched with an offer, it will be documented in our anonymized aid log. We keep track of responses to aid requests in order to ensure the transparency of the transactions and to document how needs change in our community. For monetary transactions, this transparency also allows people who offer money to follow their donation.

We will publish a DDGC Blog post reflecting on the needs of our community based on the requests we receive regularly. Check out the blog for the latest logs.

Mutual Aid Network Conveners

The network is convened collaboratively by Katrin Bahr, Paul Dobryden, Kiley Kost, Ervin Malakaj, Nichole Neuman, Maggie Rosenau, and Beverly Weber.

Contact

To contact the network, reach out to any one of the working group members. Or, send an email to the group email: mutualaid[at]ddgccollective.org. We are always eager to bring new co-conveners on board. If this is something you might be interested in exploring, contact us.