Martin Pedersen

J. Martin Pedersen is an independent researcher and activist, co-founder of Knowledge Lab [1]

Bio

After spending a gap decade travelling and studying independently in India and many other places, Martin came to The School of Independent Studies at Lancaster University in England in 1999. There he completed a BA in Globalisation & Technology, as well as an MA in Applied Research and Consultancy: Free Software and Academic Curriculum Development, before commencing doctoral studies on the political economy and philosophical foundations of cyberspace. The PhD was funded as part of an EU 5th Framework Programme Research Project - on "Bioethical Implications of Globalisation" – which resulted in a thesis on “Property, Commoning and the Politics of Free Software”. The thesis will be published as part of a Two Volume Special Issue of the online journal The Commoner, Autumn 2010.

During his time at Lancaster, Martin co-founded the Knowledge Lab - a series of gatherings bringing together academics, activists, artists and practitioners in experimental settings to share ideas, knowledge and skills to further the causes of social movements and support them in their struggles. From 2006-2008 he worked with indigenous peoples in the Amazon and the Andes on issues of climate change and the protection of traditional knowledge and land commons and learned about shamanic politics.

Alongside his studies, Martin has co-produced two documentaries: “genova cittá aperta”, 2002, which reflects on the events that surrounded the G8 meeting in Genova, 2001 and which has been widely shown in community cinemas and social centres, as well as “DOGS RUN FREE”, 2004, which provides an analytical perspective on the building of Fortress Europe and portrays the social movements that have emerged to resist the EU's migration policies. He is a Free Software user and advocate, who is wary of technology fetishism. Martin lives in Lancaster, in the sunny North West England, loves improvised cooking and listening to the ingredients, and works precariously on a variety of projects, some of which are paid, some of which are in the university and many of which are unpaid, commoning projects.

Publications

• Author of PhD thesis - "Property, Commoning and the Politics of Free Software" - publication currently under negotiation with The Commoner [2]. Thesis submitted January 2010, Department of Philosophy, Lancaster University. Examined by Prof. Massimo De Angelis, UEL.

Selected presentations:

• Property Imaginaries in Cyberspace Politics, presentation at CPERC-Cesagen-Sociology Workshop on Imaginaries: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives, Lancaster University, June 2010.

• “Reflections from the Rain Forest: Property, Politics and Autonomous Development in the Amazon”, invited presentation of field work findings

with Nina Moeller at International Centre for Participation Studies, Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford, November 2008.

• “Revisiting the Circumstances of Justice in the light of Free Software: What happened to Society?”, paper presented at A World for All?: the

Ethics of Global Civil Society International Conference, School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh, September 2005.

• “Lessons from Cyberspace: The Free Software movement and the Configuration of Ownership”, paper presented at Imaging Social Movements, Edge Hill College, July 2004.

• “Free Software and Indymedia”, presentation at Wealth by Copyleft: Creativity in the Digital Age, The 3rd Oekonux Conference, Department of

Philosophy, Vienna University, Austria, May 2004.

More Information

J. Martin Pedersen is a participant at the Berlin Commons Conference