Material Practice and Resistance to Power

Abstract

This chapter examines how critiques of, and resistance to, conventional power structures are a key element of sustainable materialist practice. In particular, we show how sustainable materialist practice goes beyond simple resistance to include both the creation of counterflows of power connected to the circulation of material goods, and a collective and systemic consciousness that sees the creation of new sustainable mega-circulations as its ultimate goal. The ideal is to physically embody, practice, and replicate a real alternative flow, a separate and dynamic food, energy, or fashion system in everyday life. Such an understanding of practice as both resistance and rebuilding of power illustrates how these movements are both innovative and highly political.