The social solidarity economy is an approach to the production and consumption of goods, services and knowledge that promises to address contemporary economic, social and environmental crises more effectively than business as usual. The paper employs the concept of commons ecologies to examine the practices, relationships and interactions among actors and organisations in the social solidarity economy, as well as between them and the mainstream economy, which shape the field and its degree of autonomy in relation to capitalism, through a process defined as boundary commoning. Such process shapes both local and regional commons ecologies, as well as the participation of local and regional actors in wider networks at national, international and global levels. The paper takes a case study‐based approach to identify practices, relationships and interactions of commons ecologies in relation to selected community‐led initiatives in the UK, Portugal, Brazil and Senegal. Each case study illuminates different qualities of local/regional commons ecologies and their forms of engagement with wider networks. Further, the paper shows that these cases demonstrate how the social solidarity economy may facilitate delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals in a distinctive way. In each case, SSE acts as a vehicle for expressing participants' values and principles consistent with those underlying the SDGs. Local implementation of SDGs is thus an in‐built feature of these commons ecologies. The participation of community‐led initiatives in international and global networks offers opportunities to learn from local level experiences and successes, potentially strengthening SDG implementation more generally.
The concept of the keystone species has a long history in ecological analysis, although its validity remains controversial. Anthropological researchers have recently coined the term cultural keystone species, but have not demonstrated any significant differences from existing treatments of culturally important species. We define cultural keystones according to their systemic function, as having essential roles in maintaining any level of complexity within a social-ecological system. Examples include bitter cassava consumption among lowland South American groups such as the Wapishana in Guyana, and commercial cultivation of carrots in Rurukan Village in Minahasa, Indonesia. These examples are both essential at one level of systemic reproduction: within the domestic and village economy in the cassava case, and carrots within regional markets. While each is centred upon a single biological species, the cultural keystone itself is not this species, but a complex incorporating several material and non-material system elements.
ABSTRACT. In this paper I examine the relationship between resilience research and permaculture, a system for the design and creation of human habitats, organizations, and projects rooted in ethics of sustainability, well-being, and equity. I argue that applying permaculture as a tool in research design can enable research to contribute more directly, immediately, and effectively to building community resilience. I explore this argument with reference to three case studies of research projects that involve permaculture as both research topic and methodology, at multiple geographical scales. Each of these cases provides evidence that research activities contribute to community resilience, and that this can be attributed to the application of permaculture principles and methods in research design. In particular, permaculture embeds iterative processes of action learning able to enhance adaptive capacity within communities in which it is applied. This includes transdisciplinary communities that mobilize around specific research interests and communities of place and/or practice that participate in transdisciplinary research. I suggest that this may be an instance of a general situation whereby research both incorporates and enhances existing learning processes that contribute to adaptive capacity and community resilience. I tentatively propose for such collaborations the label "Mode 3" resilience research, and suggest further research be done to identify and examine further cases in both permaculture and other fields of resilience research.Key Words: community resilience; participatory action research; permaculture; transdisciplinary research; transformation INTRODUCTION: COMMUNITY RESILIENCE AND MODE 2 SCIENCEIn this paper I examine the relationship between permaculture and resilience research. Specifically, I explore how social permaculture can form the basis of transdisciplinary methodologies in which research directly and deliberately contributes to efforts to build community resilience. This exploration draws on three case studies of research collaborations in which I was personally involved. I locate the argument in a wider analysis of the nature of participation in resilience research and the methodological, epistemological, and political implications of collaboration with community-based resilience practitioners. In conclusion I suggest that increased levels of critical introspection concerning normative aspects is necessary for full realization of the applied potential of resilience research, and point toward a possible new orientation that foregrounds these reflexive dimensions.
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