- 302 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
Although contemporary society seems to promote the values of individualism and mobility, this engrossing book is dedicated to the notion that human lives are enriched by participation in a social community that is integrated into the natural landscape of a particular place. The 34 contributorsāwho include David Ehrenfeld, Lynn R. Miller, Wendell Berry, Deborah Tall, David W. Orr, Robert Swann, and Susan Witt, as well as other philosophers, scientists, activists, economists, historians, farmers and ranchers, sociologists, theologians, and political scientistsāoffer an array of social and ecological perspectives on the nature of "community."
The editors, William Vitek and Wes Jackson, contend that a deeper understanding of communities is critical for the health of the planet and the human spirit. They offer a compelling collection of new and classic writingsāmany in the form of personal narrativeāthat extend E. F. Schumacher's ideas about the importance of human scale and Aldo Leopold's concept of biotic citizenship. Proposing eloquent defenses of community life and practical suggestions for becoming connected to others and native to a place, the writers explore the loss of community, the philosophical foundations of communities, and the current renewal of community life.
William VitekĀ is associate professor of philosophy at Clarkson University. He is active in promoting working landscapes, rural communities, and local economies in northern New York.Ā Wes JacksonĀ is director and cofounder of the Land Institute in Salina, Kansas, and recent recipient of a Pew Conservation Scholars award and a MacArthur Fellowship. He is currently engaged in revitalizing Matfield Green, an abandoned farm community in Kansas.
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Information
Table of contents
- Contents
- Preface
- Rediscovering the Landscape
- Part One: Standing Firm
- Leave If You Can
- The Rootless Professors
- Pseudocommunities
- From Monoculture to Polyculture
- An Amish Perspective
- The Common Life
- Living with the Land
- Defending Small Farms, Small Towns, and Good Work
- Addicted to Work
- Conserving Communities
- Does Community Have a Value?āA Reply
- Part Two: Community Foundations
- Matfield Green
- Dwelling: Making Peace with Space and Place
- Coming In to the Foodshed
- āPlacedā between Promise and Command
- Other Selves
- Aldo Leopold as Hunter and Communitarian
- Aldo Leopold and the Values of the Native
- Biological Explanations and Environmental Expectations
- Barn Raising
- Community and the Virtue of Necessity
- Defining Normative Community
- In Search of Community
- Part Three: Becoming Native
- Redeeming the Land
- Creating Social Capital
- Re-Ruralizing Education
- A Public Philosophy for Civic Culture
- Land: Challenge and Opportunity
- Community-Supported Agriculture: Rediscovering Community
- Community Farming in Massachusetts
- Works Cited
- Contributors
- Index