Transcending the Learned Ignorance of Predatory Ontologies: A Research Agenda for an Ecofeminist-Informed Ecological Economics

Abstract

As a necessarily political act, the theorizing, debating and enacting of ecological economies offer pathways to radical socio-economic transformations that emphasize the ecological and prioritize justice. In response to a research agenda call for ecological economics, we propose and employ an ecofeminist frame to demonstrate how the logics of extractivist capitalism, which justify gender biased and anti-ecological power structures inherent in the growth paradigm, also directly inform the theoretical basis of ecological economics and its subsequent post-growth proposals. We offer pathways to reconcile these epistemological limitations through a synthesis of ecofeminist ethics and distributive justice imperatives, proposing leading questions to further the field.

Sharing Cities and Commoning: An Alternative Narrative for Just and Sustainable Cities

“…While most cases reviewed do display some commons elements, only less than a third depict a clear-cut commons as understood by the Ostrom tradition and its rather naturalist epistemology. However, as discussed a more-than-human and relational understanding of (urban) commoning focuses on commoning-communities [71] rather than resources and may prove more useful in understanding the nature of the sharing transformation at the intersection of the cyber and urban spaces that are characterized by complexity, as suggested in previous work [25].The discussion of this article proposes that following Gibson-Graham et al's [71] epistemological approach would benefit the analysis of sharing and commoning in cities, and it would appropriately reflect the emergence of a worldview based on interdependence as a response to the challenges of the Anthropocene as identified by Ruder and Sanniti [85]. Anchoring the Sharing Cities discourse in such an understanding of commoning could answer Klein's [86] call to go beyond the articulation of a set of policy proposals and practices by exploring avenues to translate an alternative and emerging worldview based on interdependence, reciprocity, and cooperation into the urban context.…”

A Research Agenda for the Future of Ecological Economics by Emerging Scholars

“…Like all the articles in this Special Issue, Ruder and Sanniti [106] recognize that achieving a just and sustainable socioeconomic system will require radical transformative change. Utilizing the gendered analysis of ecofeminism, they argue that one of the main drivers of our current predicament is a hierarchical, dualistic Western worldview in which reality is divided into distinct parts with one superior to and dominant over the other: humans over nature, mind over body, men over women, rationality over emotion, and of the powerful over the weak.…”

Sustainability and the real value of care in times of a global pandemic: SDG5 and Covid-19

“…18). Ruder and Sanniti [ 21 ] adds that it can mean child care, elderly care, teaching, household work, cooking, cleaning and also water collection. This work is largely unpaid although it is one of the biggest economic sectors, it is naturalized, feminized and racialized [ 21 ].…”

“…Ruder and Sanniti [ 21 ], McMahon [ 23 ] Katz and Kirby [ 24 ] and Green [ 25 ] use the term capitalist-patriarchy as a socio-economic system, that is based on the limitless ‘resourcing’ of women and nature. These researcher state, that this concept is relevant to sustainability research and ecological economics, because it is exploiting nature’s resources as well.…”

“…These researcher state, that this concept is relevant to sustainability research and ecological economics, because it is exploiting nature’s resources as well. Ruder and Sanniti [ 21 ] describe the term as the manifestation of dominance over women and nature. They highlight, that gender biased and anti-ecological structures of power in the capitalist-patriarchy are grounded in the denial of dependency and interdependency.…”