Presentation short abstract

This contribution critically examines permaculture, focusing on its ethical principles (earthcare, peoplecare, fairshare) and its relation to Enlightenment's separation structures. Findings reveal how practitioners mediate the challenges to create social and ecological justice.

Presentation long abstract

Permaculture is a socio-ecological, international, agricultural and design approach through which practitioners aim to mitigate and adapt to the climate- and ecological crisis. Despite the fact that permaculture is currently a niche practice, a more thorough examination of the implementation of its ethical principles, earthcare, peoplecare and faireshare, may provide a profound understanding of the challenges and learning effects that occur when practitioners aim to prioritize reproduction in times of multiple crisis.

The crux of potential challenges pertains to the Western_Northern conceptualization of separation and mediation structures between dualisms, including but not limited to, nature/society, female/male, and reproduction/production. These are not neutral, as they are historically intertwined with power dynamics.

Based on the (Re)Productivity approach (Biesecker/Hofmeister), and a situational analysis (Clarke et al), this contribution is based on data of various qualitative methods which was collected in international permaculture contexts in Germany.

The findings reveal the extent to which permaculture practitioners face problems and challenges such as cultural appropriation and precarious labor conditions. They also mediate between the dualistically separated categories in alignment with the permaculture ethics. The findings of this research highlight the necessity for a nuanced comprehension of these dynamics, which helps to understand why solely natural-science based solutions may not work as crisis solutions as long as capitalist societal structures continue to persist.