The PhD research was a journey in search of multiverse transformative insights emerging from the Senegalese eco-village movement and alternative anti-hegemonic experiences. The question I started from asks what can we learn from the successful socio-ecological transition experiences of Senegal's eco-villages. The first question generated reflections on which methods of emerging forms of transition to employ in order to include a plurality of voices and perspectives. The methods applied are in line with ethical-philosophical principles inspired by de-colonial thinking. These methods aim to reveal the complexity of different settlement systems and the existing differences in meanings, trajectories, visions, cosmologies, values and practices of different forms of transition. We therefore opted for the construction of a comparative multidimensional evaluative design capable of encompassing transformative cues and ethical-philosophical aspects learnt from African schools, and carry out a sensitivity analysis on the impact of anthropic practices and climatic conditions on transition dynamics. The search for correlations between forms of transition and social drives led to the identification among the case studies of anti-hegemonic experiences of resistance, those of proactive adaptation and at the opposite extreme of surrender. The latter refer to cases of migration due to irreversible environmental crises. The research applied a hybrid methodology, using theatre-forum performances as a decolonial practice to discuss issues of ecological transition with local inhabitants, and a diverse methodological itinerary, which followed a recursive evaluative design to update hypotheses in progress. The results show the co-presence of multiple endogenous African perspectives, which tend to enrich the "Africa-World" message. The message is conveyed by the language with which the niches (eco-villages) translate the term ecological transition, the forms of life they reproduce in their spatiality, the resilience of bonding connections and the sharing of social ecosystems in practices and cosmo-visions, despite the disruptions of colonialism, capitalism and poly-exposure to globalisation. Cosmo-visions relate to the imaginaries and explanations provided by communities about the origin of the world and their relationship to the earth. The self-narratives of places present alternative ways of inhabiting the earth and relating to non-humans, rather than humans. The research findings allow us to reflect on the meaning of contemporary ecological challenges from an African perspective. They are partial results obtained by tensioning field explorations with emerging 'African paradigms'. The tension has not proved painless on both sides. While experiences of connectedness and cosmologies seem to produce forms of life in partial balance with nature, connoted by social cooperation and ties that enrich their quality, the new 'African paradigms' seem to lack autonomy, but above all they encounter difficulties with continental legitimacy. It is no coincidence that attempts to translate cosmologies into life practices generate hybrid ecologies that, in addition to questioning colonial 'scientific' genealogies, raise the more general question of what Africa is today. The discovery of which resources represent levers of an endogenous ecological transition on which to focus in order to strengthen local autonomy and the meta-stability of socio-ecological systems could open up significant avenues of research for Africa and its places.
La ricerca di dottorato è stata un viaggio alla ricerca di intuizioni trasformative multiverso che emergono dal movimento degli eco-villaggi senegalese e da esperienze alternative anti-egemoniche. La domanda da cui sono partita si interroga su cosa possiamo apprendere dalle esperienze di transizione socio-ecologica di successo degli ecovillaggi del Senegal. La prima questione ha generato riflessioni su quali metodi di emersione delle forme di transizione impiegare per includere una pluralità di voci e prospettive. I metodi attivati sono in linea con principi etico-filosofici inspirati al pensiero decoloniale. Tali metodi si propongono di restituire la complessità dei diversi sistemi insediativi e le differenze esistenti in significati, traiettorie, visioni, cosmologie, valori e pratiche delle diverse forme di transizione. Si è optato pertanto per la costruzione di un disegno valutativo multidimensionale comparativo in grado di comprendere spunti trasformativi e aspetti etico-filosofici appresi dalle scuole africane, ed effettuare un’analisi di sensitività relativa all’incidenza delle pratiche antropiche e delle condizioni climatiche sulle dinamiche di transizione. La ricerca di correlazione tra forme di transizione e spinte sociali ha portato ad evidenziare tra i casi studio le esperienze anti-egemoniche di resistenza, quelle di adattamento proattivo e all’estremo opposto di resa. Questi ultimi rinviano a casi di migrazione dovuti a crisi ambientali irreversibili. La ricerca ha applicato una metodologia variegata, utilizzando spettacoli di teatro-forum come pratica decoloniale per discutere i problemi della transizione ecologica con gli abitanti dei luoghi e un itinerario metodologico diversificato, che ha seguito un disegno valutativo ricorsivo per aggiornare le ipotesi in itinere. I risultati mostrano la co-presenza di molteplici prospettive africane endogene, che tendono ad arricchire il messaggio "Africa-Mondo". Il messaggio è veicolato dal linguaggio con cui le nicchie (eco-villaggi) traducono il termine transizione ecologica, dalle forme di vita che riproducono nella loro spazialità, dalla resistenza delle connessioni di legame e dalla condivisione degli ecosistemi sociali nelle prassi e nelle cosmo-visioni, nonostante le perturbazioni del colonialismo, capitalismo e la poli-esposizione alla globalizzazione. Le cosmo-visioni si relazionano con gli immaginari e le spiegazioni fornite dalle comunità sull'origine del mondo e sul loro rapporto con la terra. Le auto-narrazioni dei luoghi presentano modi alternativi di abitare la terra e di relazionarsi con i non umani, più che con gli umani. I risultati della ricerca consentono di riflettere sul senso delle sfide ecologiche contemporanee in prospettiva africana. Si tratta di risultati parziali ottenuti mettendo in tensione esplorazioni sul campo con ‘paradigmi africani’ emergenti. La tensione non si è dimostrata indolore su entrambi i versanti. Se da un lato esperienze di connessione e cosmologie sembrano produrre forme di vita in parziale equilibrio con la natura, connotate da cooperazione sociale e legami che ne arricchiscono la qualità, dall’altro i nuovi ‘paradigmi africani’ sembrano difettare in autonomia, ma soprattutto incontrano difficoltà di legittimazione continentale. Non è un caso che i tentativi di traduzione delle cosmologie nelle pratiche di vita generino ecologie ibride che, oltre a mettere in discussione genealogie ‘scientifiche’ coloniali, sollevano il più generale quesito di cosa siano oggi le Afriche. La scoperta di quali risorse rappresentino leve di una transizione ecologica endogena su cui scommettere per rafforzare l’autonomia locale e la meta-stabilità di sistemi socio-ecologiche potrebbe aprire significative piste di ricerca per l’Africa e i suoi luoghi.
Dinamiche di transizione in ecovillaggi del Senegal
MANZINI, ALESSANDRA
2022
Abstract
The PhD research was a journey in search of multiverse transformative insights emerging from the Senegalese eco-village movement and alternative anti-hegemonic experiences. The question I started from asks what can we learn from the successful socio-ecological transition experiences of Senegal's eco-villages. The first question generated reflections on which methods of emerging forms of transition to employ in order to include a plurality of voices and perspectives. The methods applied are in line with ethical-philosophical principles inspired by de-colonial thinking. These methods aim to reveal the complexity of different settlement systems and the existing differences in meanings, trajectories, visions, cosmologies, values and practices of different forms of transition. We therefore opted for the construction of a comparative multidimensional evaluative design capable of encompassing transformative cues and ethical-philosophical aspects learnt from African schools, and carry out a sensitivity analysis on the impact of anthropic practices and climatic conditions on transition dynamics. The search for correlations between forms of transition and social drives led to the identification among the case studies of anti-hegemonic experiences of resistance, those of proactive adaptation and at the opposite extreme of surrender. The latter refer to cases of migration due to irreversible environmental crises. The research applied a hybrid methodology, using theatre-forum performances as a decolonial practice to discuss issues of ecological transition with local inhabitants, and a diverse methodological itinerary, which followed a recursive evaluative design to update hypotheses in progress. The results show the co-presence of multiple endogenous African perspectives, which tend to enrich the "Africa-World" message. The message is conveyed by the language with which the niches (eco-villages) translate the term ecological transition, the forms of life they reproduce in their spatiality, the resilience of bonding connections and the sharing of social ecosystems in practices and cosmo-visions, despite the disruptions of colonialism, capitalism and poly-exposure to globalisation. Cosmo-visions relate to the imaginaries and explanations provided by communities about the origin of the world and their relationship to the earth. The self-narratives of places present alternative ways of inhabiting the earth and relating to non-humans, rather than humans. The research findings allow us to reflect on the meaning of contemporary ecological challenges from an African perspective. They are partial results obtained by tensioning field explorations with emerging 'African paradigms'. The tension has not proved painless on both sides. While experiences of connectedness and cosmologies seem to produce forms of life in partial balance with nature, connoted by social cooperation and ties that enrich their quality, the new 'African paradigms' seem to lack autonomy, but above all they encounter difficulties with continental legitimacy. It is no coincidence that attempts to translate cosmologies into life practices generate hybrid ecologies that, in addition to questioning colonial 'scientific' genealogies, raise the more general question of what Africa is today. The discovery of which resources represent levers of an endogenous ecological transition on which to focus in order to strengthen local autonomy and the meta-stability of socio-ecological systems could open up significant avenues of research for Africa and its places.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14242/63933
URN:NBN:IT:IUAV-63933