Each session runs from 11 am to 1 pm on these days: This is an introductory level workshop. Think of decolonization as another form of enlightened self-interest. Join us on this exploration of both the celebrations and the challenges of permaculture as seen through the lens of three marginalized voices. All permaculture design begins with 'Observe and Interact', but even this step doesn't taking into consideration the history of the land, its peoples and the. : Episode 95 Geneen Marie Haugen. [x] In this case, settler peoples are studying and applying indigenous forms of land management, which can be positive as long as the tools and techniques are willingly shared by the indigenous peoples and not brashly stolen, like they have been so many other times throughout history. I know that sounds trite and cliche, but thats because its a truism. She is now focusing on her writing and on EarthShine, a business that exposes children and teens to the wonders of the natural world. I tell you to make the point that not everybody has access to the jobs, schools, homes, families, land, and respect that is a given in many of your lives. He helps facilitate PDCs with Lisa Fernandes of The Resilience Hub. The conversation usually goes something like this: Settler/landowner: What can I do to help the poor?, Me: Gift me a piece of land, and I will turn it into a seed sanctuary, food forest, and permaculture paradise that will feed and benefit the community for generations.. Through observation and gathering information about the site, its nearby surroundings, and the people who utilize or will utilize the site, we identify zones of use and sectors of energy that influence or affect the site. Is it possible that we can subvert patterns of abuse and oppression by forming honest, lifelong friendships across the divides? In the 1930s and again in the 60s, The National Resource Conservation Service came in and put in elk and deer-proof fences. Then they came for meand there was no one left to speak for me. I became aware of the topic of decolonization a year ago. Agriculture is usually the delineating line where people talk about civilization and non-civilization or hunter-gatherers and yeoman farmers. SOIL is the educational branch of the Earthaven Tree. The author describes the devastating effects of such research on indigenous peoples and articulates a new Indigenous Research Agenda which aims to replace former Western academic . The tragedy is that such thinking offers permaculturist white people the opportunity to replace those indigenes and complete the project of settler colonialism, without those permies realizing that theyre doing so. In our fields, there are no fences. It leaves room at the table for processes to happen because if we knew everything and if we could mimic nature, theres no imagination thats needed, theres no room for surprises, and theres no room for some of the beauty that happens by happenstance. In an ideal process here in North America, determining the future of settler people would be a separate process of negotiation between the newly repatriated indigenous governance structure and the settler peoples. Tyson Sampson We just want you to do something to change it. The World Needs an Anti-Harassment Movement: So Does Permaculture. The Earth is dying. We can observe it knowing that we can probably aid in the health of it, knowing that there is something just beyond our reach, and knowing that there is something greater out there that we must respect. We need people to understand why its important to have healthy soil and why its important that you have a healthy root system that sequesters water. We need small, steady change built upon strong, healthy connections. Right now it doesnt make a prominent habit of eating white cis-dudes because its busy making a habit of disenfranchising people of color, women, queer peoples and all those others. But as these brittle industrial systems fall apart as a result of climate change or energy shortages, those others can always be redefined to include me or you. In light of Earth Care, People Care and Future Care, how can this be a valuable concept? Special thanks to my dear friend Kiarna Boyd for holding me accountable to a high standard and compassionately aiding my evolution in this area. Accurate and contemporary information about Indigenous science, media, and curriculum for social change, Free eBooks packed with wisdom and insights from visionary voices in the Bioneers community, Our newsletters provide insights into the people, projects, and organizations creating lasting change in the world, Visionary Plant Consciousness & Psychedelics, The Fight Against Climate Change in the North, Farming with the Wild: An Interview with Jo Ann Baumgartner of the Wild Farm Alliance. [vi] And while settlers of color may experience systematic oppression at the hands of the currently designed economic-political system, they are also settler people and not members of the First Nations. They are not extinct. In order to better understand the concrete ways in which permaculture can be colonizing and generally problematic within the context of social justice, it is important to get the facts from a reliable source i.e. Resilience is a program of Post Carbon Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping the world transition away from fossil fuels and build sustainable, resilient communities. First Nations provides grants and technical assistance to strengthen native communities and economies. I submit that the framework of decolonization would also save permaculture from being one more happy-faced, green, eco-groovy front for the project of genocide. Our award-winning radio and podcast series highlighting diverse voices of grassroots leaders. We all have indigenous ancestors, and they were once colonized too. I think one of the most important lessons in indigenous epistemology is that natural systems have unknowns, and that man cannot know everything. I recognize that these issues need to be studied and dealt with through an intersectional lens. When we write about decolonization, we are not offering it as a metaphor; it is not an approximation of other experiences of oppression. Exploring the Permaculture Principles through an Equity Lens. I come from a background of union activism, art & philosophy, direct-action environmentalism, public school education, and building trades. A-DAE: There is an assumption that man has command of everything around us, or we are on a higher plane than the living things around us. I studied food safety law when I got my LLM [Master of Laws Degree]. Cochiti people do things differently than Pomo people. Each session runs from 11 am to 1 pm on these days: May 22: Decolonizing Permaculture Overview May 29: Principle 1: Observe and Interact June 5: Principle 2: Catch and Store Energy June 12: Principle 3: Obtain a yield Arent these all of the same qualities we want for our permaculture community at large? This workshop has five two-hour sessions. I consider this principle when recognizing how I passively benefit from the actions that my ancestors probably took to help construct this oppressive and exploitative system. When we plant corn, we dont plant just for us, we plant for the environment around us too. As a community steeped in the ecological design model known as Permaculture, Earthaven is taking a good long look at the ways in which the Earth Care, People Care, Fair Share movement has fallen short on the inclusion of black and brown voices, on addressing systemic injustices, on acknowledging where most land-based wisdom has originated. Indigenous communities embrace the environments that were in. However, because I grew up with such an unusual set of resources, I learned to be extraordinarily resourceful, and that is precisely what makes me such a good designer, teacher, and community organizer. The conversation about decolonizing agriculture is about examining the agricultural system and concepts that allow for those injustices to happen. [ii] In this article he interprets the racial homogeneity of the permaculture movement as a vulnerability. Ancestral Organics in Colombia is committed to the magic of nature, consciously-grown food, and regenerative farming. Why would I want to put that in my body? of the critical dialogue around permaculture, including its ties with cultural appropriation and white dominance (Watson 2016). Perhaps this article already has you feeling triggered, frustrated, defensive? In this sense, there is broad overlap between movements for social justice and anti-racism. We dont kill the natural systems in order to ensure that we survive, which is what food safety does. My family and I currently reside in occupied Penobscot territory, known as Midcoast Maine in the industrial nation-state known today as the United States (and this too, shall pass). Permaculture is ecological design aimed at creating systems that meet human needs while regenerating and healing the environment around us. What good does it do to impose a forest garden somewhere if it isnt a good cultural fit, or if the design process isnt sufficiently inclusive? She served as garden educator and camp director at the Truly Living Well Center for Urban Agriculture for eight years. would love to hear your thoughts on this! I see an agenda of decolonization coupled with land use based on permaculture design as a positive way forward toward a time of greater ecological and social health, in which we may rediscover how to live in right relationship to a place while simultaneously repairing and healing historic crimes against humanity. Remember the permaculture principles: Respond to feedback; Designer limits the yield; Problems are solutions; Mistakes are tools for learning. Permaculture is a process of understanding, analyzing and designing systems. Whether we turn our observational gaze to food systems, energy systems or economic and political systems, they are all overdue for a radical ecological revision. The Pueblo of Jemez said that the Caldera has always been sacred to the Jemez people, and they have always had continuous access. A-dae is a compelling voice against the injustices of colonization inflicted on Native People and for the acknowledgment of Indigenous Peoples land stewardship as a basis for regenerative agriculture. Decolonizing Permaculture Whitewashed Hope: A Message from Indigenous Leaders and Organizations on Regenerative Agriculture and Permaculture "Whitewashed Hope" is an open-source document intended for sharing. Cherokee) earth-based (non-European) language, and the common uses at Earthaven Ecovillage. Instead we can deploy an alternate sentence, such as Permaculture allows us to remember how to be in right relationship to place. This phrase contains a subtle but profound difference, one that relinquishes the settler colonial replacement strategy. Now imagine what I could have done had I been connected to the right opportunities at a younger age. Rez dogs just wander in the community and people feed them. Disclaimer: The problem with this type of list is that it asks the privileged reader to discover a sense of empathy based on altruistic inclination: I am asking you to forego the privilege that seems to benefit you, and to give up some of your power and position, in order to build a more just society for everyone else. Id like to think we can err on the side of survival, however temporary it may be in the big picture. It is an ethically bounded framework of ecological design that can be used to design everything from landscapes and farms to business enterprises and other cultural projects, on nearly any scale. : Episode 96 Kritee Kanko, What Could Possibly Go Right? Good luck! There is so much that we have to learn. But I realized that saying that sentence, especially to a room full of (mostly) white people, has the effect of erasing the lived experience of contemporary indigenous North American people. Youre part of that system. While I get excited about the National Agroforestry Center looking into Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) with the interest of transitioning tillage-based agriculture to perennial agricultural systems, I cant help but notice the potential for inadvertent colonial appropriation. colonizer). She served as garden educator and camp director at the Truly Living Well Center for Urban Agriculture for eight years. Perhaps it is the willingness to play the superior that is the root of the problem? A-DAE: We need to challenge, as a community, the historical narrative of this country that begins with this idea that the farmer is the true American, and that agriculture is really how our continent was started. To find out more. Some open questions I still have revolve around issues of permaculture and its relationship to colonization. It requires different skill sets when youre managing collective resources versus individualized land plots. Those stories are just as important as the practices or the l hoe that I pick up. My teacher pulled my paper because I had all the houses together like a pueblo, which I grew up in. When we talk about decolonizing regenerative agriculture, we are looking at that initial definition. The Navajo people do different things than Kiowa people. Decolonizing Permaculture. No portion of the original content on this website may be reproduced, in any language, without express written consent. Its important to keep in mind that food is an indicator of the health of a society. The first being the idea of collective resources. Opening a heartfelt dialogue with life-A film review of Into The Soil, Start Where You are: Discovery at Zone 00, Explaining regeneration and its expansion beyond the limits ofculture. Native people continue to live and many continue to tend their council fires, which have been maintained for hundreds of continuous years. When that happens, people are disconnected from society and from the collective resources that go into making food. Decolonizing PermacultureExploring the Permaculture Principles through an Equity LensSaturdays, May 22 - June 1911am - 1pm Eastern TimeOnlinehttps://www.scho. Decoloniziation For Beginners: Inner And Outer Vision Decoloniziation for Beginners: Inner and Outer Vision Using the land and our tangible environments as the palette of living changes everything. Its also important to remember that no group of people is monolithic, whether we are talking about the permaculture movement, people of color, or Native American peoples. How can we expect to be designers of ecological culture if we dont have a clear understanding of our past? Well also discuss how to use these principles to transform ourselves, our values, our behaviors, our projects, and our society by interpreting them through a decolonized lens. Permaculture allows us to design productive loops of synergies between our technologically built environments and the surrounding ecologies within which we live. Isnt nature our best teacher? Recently the Pueblo of Jemez had a lawsuit against the forest service. Photo by AB Brand As Published in issue #98 of Permaculture Design Magazine, November 2015 ARTY: In the webinar you hosted as part of a First Nations Development Institute series on land stewardship, you said that agroecology is a non-indigenous term; its an interpretation of an indigenous way of farming, but not an interpretation by Indigenous People. . They need that whole spectrum, the full body, the full room and the time to tell those stories along with their practices, which currently is hard to find in any of these multiple disciplines, whether it be agroecology, permaculture, or traditional ecological knowledge. This matters because an injury to one is an injury to all. Indigenous people are stewarding healthy systems. At the same time, the permaculture principles carry important messages that encourage us towards right-awareness, right-relationship, and right-consciousness with both the human and more-than-human world. This framework would help us discern between solidarity projects and green-missionary projects, both here and abroad. Jesse Watson is a permaculture designer, teacher and builder living and working in Midcoast Maine, occupied Penobscot territory. As such, I spent much of my childhood either homeless, living in a van, or being dropped off at a relatives house for a few months, to lighten the burden on my mom. I have had a handful of discussions about decolonization in terms of giving land back to indigenous populations. Download a sample from the Decolonizing Permaculture issue here (19MB). So, this idea that science is objective is kind of a fallacy to me because I think science is very much subject to political whims more than anything else. Friendships are the building blocks of community. ARTY: The late Joseph Campbell, professor and author of books on mythology, said that Indigenous Peoples refer to the natural world and all in it as thou, as sacred. Rather than trying to disprove or prove the functionality of these systems, science needs to take their cues and use scientific methods to explain the importance and the positives of these stewarded lands. So, this idea that Indigenous People would be welcomed in the organic community was one that I was really hopeful for. In 200 pages she presents a cogent critique not only of anthropology, but of the cultural evolution of the entire Western concept of research. Sovereignty means being free to pursue your dreams, to follow your chosen path, to share, speak, and teach your truths without fear of poverty and persecution. In an indigenous community, there are some things that just cannot be commodified land, water, air, animals, even the health of the people, all of which are considered collective resources. Another view, Front Yard Gardens: Rules for Growing Food Out Front, Gaining Ground: 8 places to grow food if you dont have access to land, Regenerating Our Reality through Circular Economy. If permaculture has as its ethical foundation Earth Care, People Care and Fair Share or Future Care, what do those words mean in this light, given the fact that people like me passively benefit from systematic forms of oppression and genocide that continue today? How does indigenous farming develop relationships and nurture life? My own history is of extreme poverty, marginalization, and struggle. I am a permaculture designer, gardener, activist and teacher. The language of science is very minute, talking about atoms and nutrients and carbon. Thats exactly how I see indigenous food systems. Friends are loyal, honest, and sincere. That is so hard for me to understand. A-DAE: Thats a loaded question because the whole idea of agriculture puts a contemporary spin on the conversation. We offer partial scholarships (50% off) to black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) who otherwise would not be able to afford to attend. Before that, they were considered hunters and gatherers, which has its own connotations. Collective resources require collective and community management. And as you describe, the thrust is to kill off the pests, kill off the weeds, destroy and kill and create the monocrop. In that sense, I think there is some awareness that there needs to be more inclusion of non-white people in the organic community. I dont have any answers, but I do care deeply about being a good neighbor and a good ancestor to my descendants. I help to facilitate and teach Permaculture Design Certification courses (PDCs) here in Maine and sometimes in Boston, partnering with the Resilience Hub. The same goes for traditional ecological knowledge. Articles covering the people, projects, and organizations creating lasting change in the world. For me, it is a process of learning how I passively benefit from my racial and gender privilege. It will get those resources and eat you along with them, if need be. As designers of bioculturally diverse ecosystems,[xiv] how can we accomplish our goals of cultural, ecological and economic sustainability without contributing to the erasure of indigenous people and their lived experiences? We need to be relevant. People with more privilege have more control over their own lives and, as such, have better opportunities to manifest what they see as their true purpose, without the burdens (and time consumption) associated with struggling to survive on a daily basis. The industrial nation-state is an omnicidal machine, and it eats everything.
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