Feminist Agroecology Viewed through the Lens of the Plantationocene

Abstract

In this article I use the concept of the Plantationocene to discuss contrasting contemporary narratives and practices—namely agroecology versus sustainable intensification. Drawing on long-term research in Malawi, I use the concepts of the plantation imaginary as well as the plot to consider the potential for decolonializing agrarian futures in Africa. I argue that sustainable intensification narratives are a type of plantation imaginary that mobilizes images and ideas of African agrarian knowledge as backward, and African women farmers overburdened, to be saved by modern technology and science. Feminist agroecology can be viewed as a form of plot that allows for new ways of farming and being in communities that is a kind of decolonial thinking.

我采用种植园世概念, 讨论了迥异的当代叙事和实践—农业生态学与可持续集约化。基于在马拉维开展的长期研究, 通过种植园假想和自有土地概念, 探讨了非洲农业去殖民化的潜力。我认为, 可持续集约化叙事是一个种植园假想, 它推动了非洲农业知识落后、非洲农民妇女负担过重、需要现代技术和科学来拯救的形象和思想。女权主义农业生态学是一种去殖民化思维, 可以被视为支撑新耕作方式和社区存在的自有土地形式。

En este artículo uso el concepto del Plantacionceno para discutir sobre narrativas y prácticas contemporáneas –o sea agroecología vs. intensificación sustentable. Basándome en una investigación de largo plazo en Malawi, uso los conceptos del imaginario de la plantación lo mismo que el de la trama para abordar el potencial de descolonizar los futuros agrarios en África. Sostengo que las narrativas de la intensificación sustentable son un tipo de imaginario de la plantación que moviliza imágenes e ideas sobre el conocimiento agrario africano calificado como atrasado, y sobre las agricultoras africanas como sobrecargadas, que deben ser salvadas por la tecnología y la ciencia modernas. La agroecología feminista puede entenderse como una forma de trama que permite nuevas formas de cultivar y ser en las comunidades, lo cual es un tipo de pensar decolonial.

Key Words:

• agroecology
• Black geographies
• feminist geography
• gender
• Plantationocene

关键词:

• 农业生态学
• 黑人地理学
• 女权主义地理学
• 性别
• 种植园世

Palabras clave:

• agroecología
• geografía feminista
• geografías negras
• género
• Platancionceno

Acknowledgements

A 2020–21 award from Fulbright Africa Regional Research Program made this research possible. I gratefully acknowledge the collaboration with Soils, Food and Healthy Communities which made this article possible. In particular, the inspirational support and help of the late Penjani Kanyimbo and Godfrey Mbizi is recognized, alongside the forty farmers who shared their stories and photos with me.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rachel Bezner Kerr

RACHEL BEZNER KERR is a Full Professor in the Department of Global Development, Cornell University, Ithaca NY 14850. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research interests include the historical, political, and social roots of the food system in northern Malawi; sustainable agriculture, food security, and social processes, with a focus on agroecology; social relations linked to health and nutritional outcomes; and local knowledge and climate change adaptation in rural Africa.