Permaculture on the Iberian Peninsula: Networks and praxis

Master's thesis submitted at the Department of Social Anthropology, autumn 2023.

By: Irmlin Johansen
Supervisor: Professor Eldar Bråten

This thesis explores the networks of permaculture, those that are natural, social and a mix of the two. Permaculture design is one of several alternative agricultural practices, made in response to climate change and living in the late industrial society. I examine permaculturalists’ view of networks and compare it to the ideas of network within social theory, to show the complexity of the networks within permaculture and what they may teach us about the world. I compare the permaculturalists view of networks to Actor-Network-Theory and discuss how permaculturalists communicate with other beings within the network using the theories of Kohn. I argue that when permaculture speak of things such as “nature”, “the soil” and “permaculture designs”, they are not things at all, but rather complex networks of beings. Viewing the world through these complex networks leads to a certain type of practice, which I show empirically throughout the thesis. From the natural networks I move on to the interhuman networks of permaculture, and how they are influenced by permaculture ideals and praxis. The discussion of networks within permaculture leads to an understanding of their practice, ideals, and values, and how they influence everyday life. Lastly, I discuss permaculture networks in regard to the term scalability, questioning the meaning of the word and how permaculture praxis is interpreted through it.