Paper short abstract:

An ethnographic perspective on climate change adaptation strategies in an 'ecovillage' in Sub-Saharan Africa will be presented, engaging with global discourses on development, power relations and the different moralities underpinning socio-ecological transitions.

Paper long abstract:

Chololo 'ecovillage' is a place where 'ecological innovations' - such as 'improved stoves', 'improved seeds', 'improved livestock', and a water solar pump have been introduced in order to foster adaptation strategies to climate change. I conducted nine months of ethnographic fieldwork in the 'ecovillage' of Chololo aimed to understand how and to what extent these technologies were embedded into people's everyday life, with a practice theory approach to sustainability and socio-ecological transitions.

In the emerging context of the Anthropocene - in which adaptation to local environmental challenges, national and global discourses on climate change, poverty reduction and development are deeply entangled - I focused my research on the following questions: how are current local institutions and histories related to everyday understandings of the environment, technology, and justice? What has been the impact of the introduction of technological innovations at the village level? Why are some technologies adopted whereas others are not and how are technologies reshaped in the process? Who, within the 'community', benefits from these innovations? When is it possible to claim that adaptation and mitigation strategies are appropriate and just?' In answering to these questions (drawing on participant observation, 60 interviews and 20 focus groups), particular attention is given to power relations and the different moralities underpinning socio-ecological transitions.