Relationality and Climate Crisis: Everyday Permaculture Practices as Situated Responses to the Anthropocene

Abstract (English)

The climate crisis and the emergence of the concept of the Anthropocene have brought into question the ontological foundations upon which modern societies are built—namely, the naturalist ontology (Descola, 2001, 2017), which posits a separation between humans and “nature”. In contrast to this perspective, other ways of inhabiting the world exist—present in Indigenous communities as well as in diverse contemporary social movements—that are grounded in relational ontologies (Escobar, 2016). These propose a worldview based on interdependence between humans and non-humans.
This paper explores how the daily practices and activities of those who adopt permaculture as both a life philosophy and a design system are configured, understanding permaculture as a social movement rooted in relational ontology. This research forms part of my undergraduate thesis, carried out in collaboration with several permaculture projects in Mallorca between 2021 and 2022. Through a qualitative methodology—participant observation, open-ended interviews and focus groups—I investigated how perceptions of the naturosocial environment are articulated with practices, modes of inhabiting, and world-making based on relationality.
I would like to focus in particular on how these local and situated practices, although not always explicitly aimed at it, contribute to addressing some of the effects of climate change. These contributions include soil regeneration, water management, biodiversity promotion, and ecosystem restoration. I argue that when designing strategies to confront the climate crisis, it is essential to recognise and incorporate ontological diversity, which offers multiple ways of being and dwelling in the world.
In this sense, anthropology plays a key role as a platform for ontological diplomacy (Taddei & Hidalgo, 2016; Taddei, 2018; Carabajal et al., 2022), facilitating dialogue between different worldviews and promoting their recognition in political decision-making processes.