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Learning from the Global South: Degrowth and the Limits of Modernity

Degrowth is a movement developed in the Global North and, naturally, it is influenced by some of the fundamental values of Western Modernity, such as anthropocentrism and positivism. Of course, there are also spiritual, non-anthropocentric views in the Global North, such as Deep Green philosophy. However, those exist at the margins of Western thinking and praxis. This paper is an exploration of alternative, deeply spiritual and ecocentric ways of being, stemming from the Global South. The cosmovisions of certain indigenous people from the Global South, such as Andean Buen Vivir or Maori views of the natural world, are fundamentally shaped by such values. Those views are central to their communities, and they thus shape the relationship between them and nature fundamentally. They are ways of thinking, but also lived practices by whole populations; especially by those who exist in compact, traditional communities. This paper argues that degrowth has a lot to learn from such cosmovisions. Degrowth has paid a lot of attention to reshaping the economy and achieving a convivial lifestyle. However, it still needs to embrace spirituality and a truly ecocentric worldview, borrowing from alternative cosmovisions from the Global South. Such a deep recalibration would allow it to move further away from Eurocentrism and closer to the path of sustainability.

Info

Day: 2023-08-31
Start time: 10:15
Duration: 00:15
Room: ZV-KC-Cres
Type: Paper Presentation
Theme: Feminist, decolonial, anti-racist and anti-ableist ecologies

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