Environmental Governance as Knowledge Co-production: The Emergence of Permaculture Movements in Indonesia

Abstract

Current academic debate witnessed the salience of looking at the epistemic dimension of environmental governance. In such setting, this study learns from how knowledge co-production works in the emergence of permaculture movements in Indonesia. The method of this study departs from the concept of knowledge co-production and situates it within the broader literatures on social movement and counter-hegemonic politics. The data is based on the experiences of four permaculture communities in Indonesia, namely Bumi Langit Institute, Sendalu Permaculture, IDEP Foundation, and Jiwa Damai. This study argues that the formation of permaculture movements in Indonesia involves negotiated boundaries among different ways of knowing in the epistemic relations surrounding permaculture practices. The critical distancing that develops between the movements and the hegemonic knowledge structure seeks to transform agro-industrial knowledge practices toward an alternative knowledge system. The quest of epistemic leadership is constructed through the porous boundaries of knowledge co-production toward defining what permaculture means as a collective project.