Tasting the Soil and Mobilizing the Future: Pedagogies of Hope in Timor-Leste’s Permaculture Youth Camps

Abstract

This article localizes the traveling concept of permaculture in Timor-Leste as a pathway into studying the juventude permakultura (permaculture youth) movement, its pedagogies of hope, sensory learning, and emotional mobilization. Focusing on permaculture-based community gardening and water conservation projects in Timor-Leste in relation to projects implemented by the nation’s significant government-NGO nexus opens up anthropological inquiries into various social, political, and ecological phenomena. It contrasts divergent imaginaries of shaping young persons’ selves and futures and taps into issues of food security, environmental awareness, and alternative knowledge construction. Although ongoing research localizes the traveling concept of “permaculture” in Timor-Leste through tracing, exploring, and juxtaposing methodologies, this article focuses on the practice-oriented sensorial pedagogy of permaculture youth camps. It inquires how the eco-social youth movement contests the marginalization of vulnerable communities by acknowledging local knowledge and connecting it with translocal permaculture techniques. More precisely, the article focuses on the sensory and affective dimensions of learning in vulnerable communities and disaster-prone landscapes. It zeroes in on tasting the soil and mobilizing the future as pedagogies of hope and considers these powerful ways of securing (future) livelihood.