It seems like so much of social ecology is centered around Bookchin. His ideas are certainly useful, and I don’t have anything major to take issue with him for. But he is still one guy, and it’s pretty inconsistent with a movement growing from anarchism to uphold individual people as heroes. He’s also a cis white man from Vermont.

I’d like to know a lot more about the theory, history, actions, etc. of social ecologists in the Global South. I know about Öcalan and Rojava, and their revolutionary implementation of social ecology in the Kurdish context. Modibo Kadalie was from coastal Georgia, but was involved with a lot of Pan-African organizing that included people from the Caribbean, the African continent, etc. And the EZLN, while not explicitly social ecologist, is a closely related movement greatly benefitting Indigenous people in Chiapas. Many indigenous theories like buen vivir and ubuntu are also being put into practice with great success in the regions they come from. And the social ecologist YouTuber Andrewism is from Trinidad.

If anyone else knows about other social ecology or social ecology-adjacent movements in the Global South, please mention them. There’s so much more to social ecology than a white person from Vermont. We should be shifting our discourse to reflect that.

  • adr1an
    link
    53 months ago

    Chico Mendes in Brazil comes to mind. Maybe Eduardo Galeano has a text about him. I think you should look into indigenous movements in general, they have a long tradition. It’s mostly about fighting, if you want to see some theoretical works, maybe some sociologists from LatAm can share some insights… Ecuador, Colombia, Chile, all have indigenous population that live in ‘natural reserves’ without being recognized as a Nation, like Mapuches in Patagonia.