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. 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.
Join us on this exploration of both the celebrations and the challenges of permaculture as seen through the lens of three “marginalized” voices. We’ll explore how the concepts of colonization, power-over, and dominator thinking have pervaded modern culture and offer suggestions about how to move towards a more holistic, equitable, integrated, and life-centered mindset.
The course will address the first four permaculture principles through the framework of African land-based wisdom, ᏣᎳᎩ (Cherokee) earth-based (non-European) language, and the common uses at Earthaven Ecovillage. We’ll 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.
