RIS+Historicizing+a+Project


 * Diachronic**

In 10,000 B.C. there were approximately 10 million human beings, who sustained themselves as hunter gatherers. Within the next 2000 years, people had started to herd sheep and other such animals for their meat, fur, and milk. At a similar timeframe, those in the Middle East began to purposefully grow cereals. Over the next few thousand years this “farming frontier” spread until by 3500 BC the majority of human beings were farmers. This remained the case until the 20th century, when the industrial revolution changed the paradigm. According to Greer's //The Druidry Handbook,// the modern Druid revival was started around 1717, although the official organization he writes about, the Ancient Order of Druids in America (AODA), was not formed until 1912. The Wiccan tradition that is the basis for much of what is practiced today was outed by Gerald Gardner in his 1954 book //Witchcraft Today // (Zimmermann & Gleason, 2006). However, as I mentioned, he just outed it to the public, or "came out of the broom closet." People had been practicing this craft beforehand; some even trace the religion of Wicca to the ancient Druids and Shamans as well. Permaculture was founded in 1975 or 1976 (Mollison). Bill Mollison and David Holmgren wrote a thesis together about permaculture, and published it as a book called Permaculture One, in 1981.

Greer, J. M. (2006). The Druidry Handbook: Spiritual Practice Rooted in the Living Earth. York Beach, ME: Weiser Books. Mollison, B. (1988). Permaculture: A Designers’ Manual. Tyalgum, Australia: Tagari Publications. The Coming of Farming. (2014). TimeMaps Ltd. Retrieved from http://www.timemaps.com/farming Zimmermann, D., & Gleason, K. A. (2006). The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Wicca and Witchcraft: 3rd Ediition (3 edition.). Indianapolis, IN: ALPHA.


 * Synchronic: 1975 **

In 1975, Bill Mollison and David Holmgren founded permaculture (A short...). I feel that permaculture may have existed before, but perhaps not on the scale that it exists now, nor for the same reasons that it exists now. Before modern agriculture, humans took advantage of the earth as we do now, but not at the scale that it is being decimated now (due to new technologies). Yet some of permaculture is the idea that this is how things would naturally work together. In the same year, the Covenant of the Goddess, one of the oldest and largest Wiccan groups, was formed (About CoG). Starhawk, a prominent feminist, evironmentalist, and Wiccan, is a member of the CoG (Starhawk). CAT Scans were invented in 1975. Novellist Ernest Callenbach wrote a book titled //Ecotopia//, about a "fictional country where environmental concerns were paramount." The word was soon used in general about cultures where balance with nature was important. In alternative medicine, reiki first came to the USA from Japan in 1975. Additionally, feminists created the word "womyn," to refer to multiple adult females without using the word "men" (Wilton). It was also declared the International Women's Year by the UN (International...).

About CoG. (n.d.). Covenant of the Goddess. Retrieved from http://www.cog.org/index.php?p=content/CoGWeb/About.html A short and incomplete history of permaculture. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://pacific-edge.info/2007/07/a-short-and-incomplete-history-of-permaculture/ International Women’s Day, 8 March, 2010: Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities, Progress for All. (n.d.). Retrieved October 14, 2014, from http://www.un.org/en/events/womensday/2010/history.shtml Starhawk. (2005). Starhawk: Goddess and Pagan Resources. Terrapin. Retrieved from http://www.starhawk.org/pagan/pagan-goddess.html Wilton, D. (2012, May 20). 1975 Words. Expression Engine. Retrieved from http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/comments/1975_words/