Un/binding the ruins of Academia: Tales from compostings (with) Gender and other ruinous concepts

In this chapter we present pedagogical methodologies that emerged within academia that both explore and deconstruct grand concepts such as Gender, Nature, Culture, and Knowledge. Against the backdrop of planetary crises and anthropogenic collapse, educators and students embarked upon a journey that spans diverse landscapes—from the Danish Westcoast to urban industrial sites—transcending traditional classroom boundaries. Here we experimented with what we come to call "field-room" practices challenging conventional academic structures and promoting a form of learning that is deeply entwined with the material world and its more-than-human constituents. By engaging in speculative, experimental practices, the chapter delves into the processes of un/gendering and decompostations of entrenched anthropocentric and Western cosmologies. This approach is rooted in the understanding that<br/>grand concepts are inherently unstable and perpetually in a state of becoming. Consequently, the chapter foregrounds the necessity of sensory and embodied experiences in teaching and learning, advocating for pedagogies that prioritize relational, intercorporeal engagements. The chapter suggests a series of rituals designed to enable dynamic, inclusive environments that nurture co-learning and co-creation. The authors argue for the necessity of practices that<br/>may enable a more fluid and responsive academic ecology, adaptable to the pressing needs of our times and to the fostering of co-inhabitable futures.