My teacher pulled my paper because I had all the houses together like a pueblo, which I grew up in. 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. We seek to learn from it, adapt with it, and collaborate, rather than to control, manipulate, and abuse it. Photo by AB Brand As Published in issue #98 of Permaculture Design Magazine, November 2015 But we still need to learn how to adopt those ideals in our human relationships. Sometimes its public benefit; sometimes its through actual cash economy transactions. If resource extraction or industrial infrastructure needs to happen, none of us are immune to being displaced. : Episode 95 Geneen Marie Haugen. of the critical dialogue around permaculture, including its ties with cultural appropriation and white dominance (Watson 2016). But we never had enough money for rent. The Navajo people do different things than Kiowa people. How can it be a misappropriated concept? Then come back and try again. Also, places that have been stewarded and kept by California indigenous basket-weavers, those are the places where carbon is probably its most healthy. The middle of the scale reflects the value we believe the program holds and the low-end offers a more accessible entry point. To what extent is permaculture a product of a settler people? We need to be aware of white fragility if we start feeling defensive during racially charged conversations. Download a sample from the Decolonizing Permaculture issue here (19MB). But the federal agency said, Theres a fence there, and it says no trespassing. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak outBecause I was not a Jew. The list below offers tangible suggestions for how to cultivate real friendships and alliances. Call me a socialist, but isnt socialism at its heart just a community coming together? There are stark differences between agricultural systems in indigenous communities and agricultural systems in contemporary communities. When that happens, people are disconnected from society and from the collective resources that go into making food. It seems to me that the unequal distribution of wealth and opportunity, while often connected to the other -isms, is at the core of many of the bad (poorly designed) dynamics in our community. We have to have reverence and respect for those unknowns. This article is meant as a primer on decolonization in a contemporary North American context, written specifically for permaculture designers, teachers, activists and gardeners. Celebrating some of the best moments of the Bioneers conference through the last three decades. But its a fallacy to think that we can imitate a system that has been in existence for hundreds of thousands if not millions of years. It seems the observation of the tension in considering these questions of land ownership/stewardship in light of this historical and contemporary inheritance is important. Decolonization is about upholding longstanding treaties, adherence to international law, and the return of genuine sovereignty and the administration of land use to First Nations peoples. Good luck! In that sense, I think there is some awareness that there needs to be more inclusion of non-white people in the organic community. She served as garden educator and camp director at the Truly Living Well Center for Urban Agriculture for eight years. As a bridge to the challenge of bringing a decolonization framework into permaculture practice and pedagogy, I would like to start by mapping those same questions onto permaculture itself. ARTY: In your writings and talks, you seem to challenge the idea of mimicking nature, which many people in the regenerative agriculture movement use as a guiding principle. I have tried to work on group certification for tribal communities, but again these are systems that are massive, and it takes way more than me to make really lasting change. My lineage of earth skills teachers includes Mike Douglas and Mal Stevens of the Maine Primitive Skills School. In historical terms, science has been used to dispossess a lot of Indigenous Peoples of land. Decolonization is also about sovereignty. And so when somebody with money, land, and privilege seems eager to help the oppressed, I will bring it up. The word 'permaculture' was coined by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in the 1970s, from " permanent agriculture," but has come to encompass many sorts of systems: "permanent culture.". Im here to help make the world a more just and sustainable place for my daughter and all the other children in the world, those alive today as well as those of future generations. ARTY: I heard you tell the story of assisting your grandfather filling out an organic certification application and to the question of what inputs do you use, he said prayers, love, river water.. When people ask what do some young people need as an ally.this is one of the people I think of. We can probably shoot for mimicking nature, but the idea that we could actually achieve it is a fallacy to me. My mom, of Cree/Scottish heritage, who was beaten as a child and had me when she was 19, worked full-time-plus, at minimum wage, in a wide range of jobs. Its important to keep in mind that food is an indicator of the health of a society. The course will address the first four permaculture principles through the framework of African land-based wisdom. 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. 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. Its almost like the idea of wilderness being healthy if nobodys in it. 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. 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. And when we publicly use ceremonies or songs from other cultures, we must be absolutely clear exactly how we got permission to use those ceremonies or songs. Before that, people werent considered agriculturalists. [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. The Earth is dying. And if we have privilege and agency within that unjust and atrocious system, we must commit to using that access to dismantle that system. Tyson is a two-hearted and two-spirited person descended from the local indigenous matriarchy called the (A-ni-gi-lo-hi) based here in their aboriginal territory most commonly known as the Great Smoky Mountainsides. What I found is there are not a lot of non-white people in the organic community. It started long before that event happened in our country, and regenerative agriculture needs to challenge that narrative that has led us astray thus far. We dont need a Hero. Something to think about. Faculty and SOIL Co-Founder We want to create systems that are rebirthing a healthy environment. Indigenous people are stewarding healthy systems. This lack of discernment is a blind spot. So an injury to one is an injury to all should be understood in light of Neimollers poem First they came for the Socialists: First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak outBecause I was not a Socialist. The industrial nation-state is an omnicidal machine, and it eats everything. One of the design methods used in permaculture that takes place early on in a site design is Zone and Sector Analysis. No previous permaculture experience is necessary to attend. EarthShine also includes her Eco-Hood Design-and-Build Project along with Soulstice, which introduces young folks to careers theyve never heard of. Nobody should feel like a slave. 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 To find out more. Hey everyone! It is offered so that we may think critically and philosophically about sustainability and our role in our culture as designers of novel ecosystems. Please consider your needs and resources to determine what might be a stretch, but not a strain. A-DAE: Thats a loaded question because the whole idea of agriculture puts a contemporary spin on the conversation. They said you need to put fences around your fields so you can keep out all the animals that are going to eat your crops. How do we remember that we are all indigenous to this planet, our Earth Mother, our Gaia? Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak outBecause I was not a Trade Unionist. She is now focusing on her writing and on EarthShine, a business that exposes children and teens to the wonders of the natural world. These are a few thoughts Im left with. I have had a handful of discussions about decolonization in terms of giving land back to indigenous populations. 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. 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. I just didnt understand the concept of making the food supply so clean to prevent sickness. Decolonizing Permaculture - A Letter From Starhawk Please give generously to support a more resilient and regenerative world. They know how to see the health of the soil without needing a microscope. Allan Savory, the founder of holistic livestock management, was criticized by scientists because initially he didnt use scientific metrics to measure his success, but instead he used the overall improved health and biodiversity of the landscape. SOIL is the educational branch of the Earthaven Tree. The reason this matters is because the industrial systems we are embedded within and dependent upon are often deeply flawed and corrupt, in addition to being quite brittle. No portion of the original content on this website may be reproduced, in any language, without express written consent. Dear Friends, A school on the Standing Rock Reserve surrounded by a garden of traditional foods and healing herbs, where students can learn immersed in nature 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. 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. He suggests that the response to this weakness should not be one of recruitment or tokenism, but rather requires some deeper reflection on how we can be relevant to communities of color. Full Profile Page. The language of science is very minute, talking about atoms and nutrients and carbon. Is regenerative agriculture a place where traditional indigenous knowledge and science can complement each other? 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. On the surface, permaculture is often about designing eco-groovy, perennially edible landscapes, gardens and farms. In light of Earth Care, People Care and Future Care, how can this be a valuable concept? Many of them continue to resist the process of settler colonization and assimilation. But the real remedy is more diverse above-and-below ground living systems. Join us on this exploration of both the celebrations and the challenges of permaculture as seen through the lens of three marginalized voices. I am a permaculture designer, gardener, activist and teacher. 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. 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? We can whisper the names of the beasts: racism, sexism, ageism, xenophobia, misogyny, hate, fear, anger we all experience these things from time to time, and we see the resulting backlash and judgmental attitudes. Decolonizing Permaculture The Eco-Institute at Pickards Mountain Permaculture and Indigenous Wisdom December 6, 2021 Decolonizing Permaculture: Steps Forward in Acknowledging the Past By: Meg Toben A few months ago, I posted a request to Facebook for an indigenous permaculture co-teacher for our Permaculture Foundations Certificate Program. Think of decolonization as another form of enlightened self-interest. Perhaps this article already has you feeling triggered, frustrated, defensive? By the time I dropped out in 10th grade at the age of 15, I had attended 19 different schools and lived in at least 30 different houses. A podcast series featuring deep and engaging dialogue with Native culture bearers, scholars, movement leaders bringing Indigenous voices and solutions to global conversations. [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. In an American or contemporary agricultural system, the way to access those things is through money or some form of money. In a literal and legal sense, decolonization brings about the repatriation of Indigenous land and life.[iv] It is important to note here that Native American peoples are not mythical relics of the precolonial or pre-Columbian Americas. This concept is complicated by the fact that the ancestors of some settlers of color have been brought here against their will, in the slave trade or as indentured servants. 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. Id like to think we can err on the side of survival, however temporary it may be in the big picture. In the sense of some kinds of strict land management and home economics, its kind of true. [xi] Daniel Quinn, Ishmael (Bantam/Turner, 1992) and Beyond Civilization (Harmony, 1999). But it is very much the opposite of what agricultural systems are today, which tries to kill everything except the plant that you want to grow. Decolonization is not a swappable term for other things we want to do to improve our societies and schools. For example, you talked about growing corn for the deer. That means that when people are talking about correcting agriculture to a time when it was better, were going back to that definition of when settlers came to America and started agriculture. By using this lens of understanding, you can look at these systems and choose your leverage points. 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). 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. 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 . If the deer are coming, its because theyre hungry. 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. What is my experience with this topic? Indigenous people, in general, dont use pesticides. The first being the idea of collective resources. We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website. A-DAE: One of the things that comes to mind is food safety. How do we incorporate righting this egregious, unresolved, and ongoing historical crime into our culture jamming work? A friendship asks you to go out of your way to see someone, to help them, and to support their work and their emotions. permaculture.co.uk/articles . The interactions between climate change, energy peak and economic contraction mean that the stakes are very high. When you look at the whole of time, it becomes overwhelming. Its much more nuanced than these terms that are in vogue or not in vogue depending on the time and audience. My response to that? My term is coming to an end, and I hope they replace me with another indigenous person, but thats a political process, which is pretty crazy presently. Tuition includes instruction and lifetime access to the class recordings. Understanding our place in the universe requires us to actually look at those time frames. My economic forms of production include designing, teaching, gardening and construction trades (carpentry, painting). The bread and butter of the permaculture movement is the PDC, or permaculture design course. We cant sell everything. We are a very young society and nation. . Fair Shares, anyone? : Episode 96 Kritee Kanko, What Could Possibly Go Right? Document access and instructions can be found here. 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. I am deeply grateful for the space to explore this important topic in these pages, and I am grateful to the other participants in this conversation for their help in unpacking these ideas and figuring out how to apply them to our permaculture organizing efforts. Working at the permaculture edge and to provide information useful to people working on the ground. How do Native voices become authentically included in the regenerative agriculture conversation? Decolonization matters because of mountaintop removal, water mining and fracking. It was a topic whose initial catalyst came from Rafter Sass Fergusons article, Critical Questions, Early Answers, which is an overview of the permaculture movement. Wouldnt you do just about anything for them? Amakiasu has been an educator for over 30 years. Website + Marketing Support by Viking Mountain Marketing, Exploring the Permaculture Principles through an Equity Lens. Bioneers 2023: Transformation, Regeneration, Celebration, Bioneers Statement on 2023 Conference Dates, 30+ years of leading edge/inspiring talks, conversations and shorts. There are many reports that say carbon sequestration is happening in indigenous stewarded lands. 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? A-DAE: Yes. This workshop has five two-hour sessions. By choosing a higher price point, you are helping make the program more accessible to others for whom the low-end may be cost-prohibitive. When I was a little girl in second grade, we were asked to draw a picture of our house. Youre part of that system. In this sense, there is broad overlap between movements for social justice and anti-racism. Wikipedia; Wikipedias Plastic shaman entry; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_shaman, FreeFactFinder; FreeFactFinders Pretindian entry; http://freefactfinder.com/definition/Pretindian.html. Isnt nature our best teacher? Permaculture is ecological design aimed at creating systems that meet human needs while regenerating and healing the environment around us. When we farm, were thinking about natural cycles, and how do we become more embedded into those natural systems. A-DAE: Invite them to the table. We need to be relevant. For me, it is a process of learning how I passively benefit from my racial and gender privilege. It informs how I think about what part I can play to heal historical traumas. Our bi-weekly newsletter provides insights into the people, projects, and organizations creating lasting change in the world. We are probably the youngest species on our planet and in our environments; the trees and the plants and the animals are much older. I thought it was fascinating, the idea that you pretty much kill everything so that nothing living goes inside your body as a preventative to making you sick. Blogger, coach and permaculture consultant exploring the evolving edges and intersections of permaculture, social justice, radical ecopsychology and resilience PermacultureWomen Follow Im asking people to stop and say, Look at how we think about agriculture in America and think about whether it included Indigenous People. The answer is it doesnt. I am here to learn how to be of better service to all people. When I see basket-weavers who are weaving from roots that have been affected by pesticides, I worry about them. First of all, I want to say that I do not represent anyone but myself, and though I have vetted this article with several peers and mentors, I do not presume to know the needs and desires of anyone else. I googled it and found a powerful, provocative body of work centered around a 2012 essay by Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang. Copyright 2023 Permaculture Women's Guild & Heather Jo Flores. Decolonizing Permaculture Permaculture = Relationship by Stella Strega Scoz & Jose' Lorenzo Zamora Living Naturally: A Black Woman Practicing Permaculture by Kirtrina Baxter People of Color Statement from the NAPC by POC Caucus, NAPC 2014 Permaculture and the Patrix by Andrew Langford In another sense, a cultural sense, decolonization is about the process of removing colonizing thoughts from your own mind and colonizing behavior from your own lifeway.