The Metamodern Academy: An Introduction to Metamodernism

Metamodernism? The philosophy and culture emerging at the dawn of the singularity in which hackers, hippies, and hipsters meet and co-create. Stakes rise, potentials abound, but so do risks and pitfalls of this new cultural and economic landscape. Metamodernism marries critical thinking and ethical commitment to inner work and adult development, offering a framework for seeing what’s going on: for surviving, contributing, and maybe even thriving in worlds being born.

Wonder what the hype is all about, but not in the mood for slogging through dense bricks full of highbrow parlance? Then this course is for you.

In a compact and to-the-point fashion, Emil Ejner Friis (aka. Hanzi Freinacht) presents the basic concepts you need to know to take part in this wide and complex movement. This course is for anyone interested in getting a comprehensive introduction to metamodernism. You will finish the course understanding the relevance of stage theory, know how to distinguish metamodernism from postmodernism and integral theory, and how to apply the metamodern way of thinking to your life.

The metamodern sensibility is one of sincere irony, of very serious playfulness—necessary to stay sane at the crossroads of fact and fiction. In that spirit, you are invited.

HOW IT WORKS

The course runs for two hours every Sunday, beginning November 1st at 6pm GMT (10am Pacific, 1pm Eastern, 19:00 Central European, 23:30 India), and ending November 22nd. If you miss the live sessions, you can always watch the recordings. And to those who’re interested, there will be hang-out sessions at the end of each class.

The masterclass offers great opportunities for networking and co-creating projects with the other participants.

(If you're interested in continuing your metamodern studies, or if you're already familiar with the basics and want to learn some of the more advanced stuff, the Updated Master Class in Metamodernism begins once the introduction course ends November 29th. You can check out the masterclass here.)

PROGRAM:

Week 1: What Metamodernism Is, and What It’s Not

• A brief overview of the field of metamodernism and the use of the term.
• The Six Different “Metamodernisms”, and why it’s important to know the difference
• The Difference Between Postmodernism and Metamodernism (and why most people can’t tell them apart)
• The Difference Between Metamodernism and Integral Theory (and why you should care)

Week 2: Stage Theories

• Development, why it’s real (and how it’s real) and why it’s important
• A very brief introduction to: Jean Piaget, Spiral Dynamics, Ken Wilber, Robert Kegan, Michael Common’s Model of Hierarchical complexity
• How stage theories drive people crazy and actually make them evil
• A better use of stage theories, and how not to be a jerk around them
• Why everyone’s a closet stage theorist (often without knowing it)

Week 3: Hanzi Freinacht’s The Listening Society & Nordic Ideology

• Too long didn’t read? No problem, we got you covered.
• Hipsters, Hackers, Hippies, and the Metamodern Aristocracy
• The four dimensions of psychological developments and how it adds up to the effective value meme
• The six forms of metamodern politics
• How order, freedom, and equality evolve

Week 4: Is the World Becoming Metamodern?

• How a metamodern understanding can help you predict the future
• What art can tell us about the future
• Who are the people that will shape the future?
• Personality test: Are you metamodern?
• Q&A and final discussion

PRICING:

• Standard: €150
• Student or unemployed: €75
• Global South: €40
• Mecenat: €200 (+€50 donation)

YOUR FACILITATOR:

Emil Ejner Friis (b. 1981) is a historian and futurist, a theory artist and a teacher of metamodernism. He is also a co-founder of Metamodernaand one of the writers behind Hanzi Freinacht. He has spent the past fifteen years trying to figure out how to create a listening society, a kinder and more evolved society that deeply cares for the happiness and emotional needs of every citizen.

He has tried and failed at creating a metamodern political party, he has tried and failed at leading an army of children to revolt against the untold indignities of everyday life in late-stage capitalism, and he has just plainly failed at ever getting a normal bourgeois life by being drawn to all kinds of adventures to try and save the world from itself.

He just moved to a remote tropical island where he spends his days swimming with dolphins and hanging out with bohemian artists, drinking wine and fiercely arguing about poetry, gazing at the sunset while weeping in the face of tragedy and bliss.

When he’s not writing and theorizing, he’s conspiring with other metamodernly inclined hackers, hipsters, and hippies to outcompete modern society. He lives at the crossroads of fact and fiction, and to pay the rent he sells words, all the best words.

Emil is a skilled and experienced speaker with a reputation of being entertaining and good at making complex ideas easier to digest.