Niche knowledge systems-challenging or invigorating the AKS? An analysis of the Permaculture community in England

Ingram, Julie ORCID: 0000-0003-0712-4789 and Maye, Damian ORCID: 0000-0002-4459-6630 (2016) Niche knowledge systems-challenging or invigorating the AKS? An analysis of the Permaculture community in England. In: AgroEcological Transitions : changes and breakthroughs in the making. Wageningen University & Research, pp. 35-48.

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Abstract

This paper examines how knowledge systems within alternative innovative agricultural groups (niches) develop and interact with the mainstream AKS using the notion of boundaries. It draws on empirical data from a study of the Permaculture community in England, a sub-niche entity. Members of this community question the operations of the mainstream agricultural regime and advocate a radical shift in patterns of thinking and action towards new agri-food systems. Analysis shows that a distinctive knowledge system has emerged to support learning in the community independently of the AKS. This is strongly associated with, and coheres around, the community’s social system. The boundary between this KS and the mainstream AKS can be characterised in terms of differing sets of beliefs and values, epistemologies, ways of facilitating and supporting learning, approaches to research and modes of development. However, despite these epistemic divides, there is evidence of some interaction across the boundary. The paper explores the potential for the Permaculture’s KS to potentially invigorate and transform the AKS.

Item Type:	Book Section
Subjects:	S Agriculture > S Agriculture (General) S Agriculture > S Agriculture (General) > S589.7 Agricultural ecology (General) S Agriculture > S Agriculture (General) > S604.5 Agricultural conservation > S605.5 Organic farming. Organiculture
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > Countryside and Community Research Institute
Depositing User:	Eloise Fresnay
Date Deposited:	20 Apr 2017 10:51
Last Modified:	04 Feb 2022 11:00
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/4533

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