Some
thoughts on the issues of teaching in other cultures
Cultures
are dynamic and human memory short - I have been
alarmed at the rapidity of change, at the loss and
erosion of sustainable traditional practices as
'Green Revolution' techniques and concepts introduced
only a few decades ago have been accepted and applied
unquestioningly in the 'developing' world. This has
been compounded with the introduction of centralised
education and schooling which gives the young little
opportunity to learn traditional skills in the
traditional way together with the infiltration of the
cash economy and the general devaluation of farming
as a profession.
This in turn is largely a result of the shift from
subsistence farming to commercial agriculture which
in turn is exacerbated by the corruption of local
wealthy families, their exploitation of the poor, and
the control of international markets which keep
prices artificially low - especially at the producer
end - in the name of the 'free economy' and
globalisation. The end scenario is that the rural
poor are poorer than ever before, the young are
increasingly alienated from their culture and see
little or no future in farming or village life.
In Bali one rarely sees a young person working in the
fields or rice paddies - it's the old folk out there
and one wonders what will happen when they are simply
too old to continue such hard physical labor. I'm
informed that it's not only in the relative affluence
of Bali that this is happening, it's a phenomena
occurring in all too many places, countries and
cultures.
I was invited to teach a PDC [Permaculture Design
Course] in Indonesia in March 1999. Thirty-five
participants from all over Indonesia, from very
different cultures and climates from Sumatra to
Kalimantantan to West Timor, converged in Bali for
the course. There was concern amongst some
participants and organisers as to whether the course
would be truly appropriate or whether it was just
another kind of colonialism - an Australian concept
taught by an Australian teacher. This is a trap and a
risk that I am acutely aware of and careful to avoid.
In many respects it depends upon how the teacher sees
permaculture as well as the way it is taught.
The risk is greatest when the teacher sees
permaculture as a kind of formula and teaches
sheet-mulching, banana circles, mandala gardens and
Zones 1 to 5 - there are a lot of things, ideas and
design strategies in permaculture that people can
readily turn into perma-dogmas. When this happens
then - yes - it's a new perma-colonialism. You don't
need to do a PDC to make a herb spiral, chook-tractor
or create a food forest - these things can be easily
done from the plan, from the books.
What I see as being the most valuable thing about
permaculture, and the greatest challenge for a
permaculture teacher to teach, is the process of
lateral thinking and questioning, of developing the
art of analytical observation - not just of things
but more importantly of the processes at play, of
seeking and interpreting information and applying it
appropriately to the situation at hand. The greatest
challenge is that these 'process' skills cannot be
simply taught - like one can simply teach how to make
a tyre pond - the best one can do as a teacher is to
try and facilitate the student's own learning of
these process skills through example and by providing
opportunities for the students to practice, explore
and interact.
At the end of the Bali course the most rewarding
feedback from students was "Thank you for
teaching me how to think" along with "Thank
you for helping me see my culture in a new way and
the importance of our sustainable traditions that are
being lost."
As westerners we take so much for granted, especially
our 'freedom' of thought. It was a cultural shock for
me to fully appreciate how repressed human thinking
and creativity can be. My Indonesian course
participants explained how their education is all
rote learning with no room (and severe penalties) for
original thinking, questioning or creativity, how
this is re-enforced by the day to day reality of
living in a controlled and corrupt socio-political
environment.
Living in some traditional cultures can also be
ruthlessly thought-repressive, the young (including
young adults) have no say, do as they're told, and
'you do it this way because this is the way it's done
and because it's what you've been told to do'. There
are no other reason's why and to question is to defy
authority. The opportunity for innovation is severely
limited.
This lack of analytical questioning and creative
thinking leaves a culture exceptionally vulnerable,
especially when an expert, respected as a figure of
higher authority, comes along and says 'don't do it
that way-do it this way'. Change can be, and
frequently is, accepted without question or thought.
People may feel intuitively uncomfortable with some
of the changes and concerned about the results as
they manifest over time, but lack the knowledge to
understand why it's not working and lack access to
information to look at alternatives.
Permaculture as a process of analytical observation,
lateral thinking and creative problem solving
together with a basic understanding of ecology and
natural process certainly draws upon examples of
sustainable traditional systems from around the
world. Yet it pays to remember that most of these
systems evolved countless generations ago as a result
of trial and error without necessarily understanding
the why's, or if the why's were initially understood
that information has not always been passed on.
(Beware of the 'noble-savage' syndrome).
I have found when teaching permaculture in developing
countries and with indigenous peoples that my
students are exhilarated with their awakening
awareness of process and creative thinking, and of
having a framework of principles of sustainability by
which to look afresh at their culture and measure the
relative sustainability of remaining traditions,
introduced practices and a fresh enthusiasm to
rediscover (recover) the traditional practices,
knowledge and wisdom that is rapidly being lost.
Culture is dynamic, just like an ecosystem is a
dynamic system, continuously evolving and adapting to
new influences and changing factors around and within
itself. The risk in human culture is that the good
practices that have sustained in the past can be so
easily lost and replaced with new techniques and
values that erode human security, well-being and the
environment and resource base it depends on.
In the same way Permaculture also needs to be seen
and taught as a dynamic system of thinking, planning
and design which is adapted and reinvented in each
new culture and context into which it is introduced.
Permaculture needs to constantly adjust and adapt to
the changing needs, perceptions and demands of a
changing world. Indeed, this is the only sustainable
future for permaculture as a concept and as a
movement or it risks stagnation and becoming frozen
in the dogmas created by its perpetrators.
Robyn Francis
is well known as a designer and teacher of
permaculture since 1985 and was founding director of
Permaculture International. She continues to pioneer
new frontiers in her work and share this accumulated
experience through her courses. Robyn established and
manages Djanbung Gardens Permaculture Education
Centre and the ERDA Institute Trust at Nimbin in
Northern NSW.
This article
was published in Permaculture International Journal
in 2000. Check out Robyn Francis' website at http://www.earthwise.org.au/.
