I'm trying to understand permaculture using the lens of Actor Network Theory. Findings of my study in the Philippines have shown that permaculture is a growing social network, a network of heterogenous and biodiverse farm landscapes, and a perspective or paradigm for sustainable living. People, resources, design ideas, worldviews are shared in this network and these manifest on the biophysical and socio-cultural landscapes as farm/garden projects and community initiatives. Any thoughts about this? Thank you.
Permaculture is a set of design principles centered on whole systems thinking, simulating, or directly utilizing the patterns and resilient features observed in natural ecosystems. It uses these principles in a growing number of fields from regenerative agriculture, rewilding, and community resilience
There are 12 design principles in perm culture. I think they can be applied to daily life, work and play which will allow us to live happier and healthier, to work more effectively and to create a more sustainable world.
Observe and interact, Catch and store energy, Obtain a yield, Apply self-regulation and accept feedback, Use and value renewable resources and services, Produce no waste, Design from patterns to details, Integrate rather than segregate ,Use small and slow solutions, Use and value diversity, Use edges and value the marginal, Creatively use and respond to change.
Actor-Network Theory needs to be used pragmatically with an appreciation of its shortcomings
Actor–network theory (ANT) is a theoretical and methodological approach to social theory where everything in the social and natural worlds exists in constantly shifting networks of relationships. It posits that nothing exists outside those relationships. All the factors involved in a social situation are on the same level, and thus there are no external social forces beyond what and how the network participants interact at present.
Actor-Network Theory (ANT) is an increasingly influential, but still deeply contested, approach to understand humans and their interactions with inanimate objects. We argue that health services research, and in particular evaluations of complex IT systems in health service organisations, may benefit from being informed by Actor-Network Theory perspectives.
Jabez Joshua M. Flores , try to implement instruments to gauge and interpret quantitative and qualitative changes, e.g. maybe pre and post assessments to changes over time, education assessment, semi-structured interviews to better understand interactions, etc.
I would say it is important to first situate the term "permaculture" with a thorough sociology of the sciences approach. To what extent is this term employed explicitly by local actors and not just academics/exterior intellectuals and what relation do these actors have with others in the region. It seems to me that permaculture is first and foremost a social concept, with a specific intellectual genealogy, that needs to be examined as such before being inserted in a non-human network analysis.
To my understanding, the value in applying ANT to a sociotechnical network is that it focuses analysis on questions of representation and resistance, particularly the ways in which claims to speak for non-human elements-- in your case, landscapes, plant assemblages, nutrient flows, and so on-- either "stick", are contested by other claimants, or are undermined by those actants themselves. For example, in the latter case, if a particular silvicultural arrangement fails to produce, or gets overrun with pests, or some other notable departure from the expectations of those who set out to claim, "this is permaculture, I speak for permaculture, this is how this system works, and this is why you should listen to me". What I've always been drawn to about ANT is the way that it can reveal reconfigurations of the power relations that flow through and are to a certain extent locked-in to the material artifacts and actants of a network, particularly in cases where you can trace a formation of or shift in obligatory passage points -- or, in principle, the dissolution of such chokepoints to achieve a more horizontal distribution of power within the network. So I suppose I would encourage you to consider how ANT may help you map the distribution of power, authority, and privilege (as well as exclusion, marginalization, and burden) within the growing social network that you mention.
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