Embedded Files
Helpful prior knowledge and learning objectives
Helpful prior knowledge and learning objectives
Helpful prior learning:
Section 1.1.1 The economy and you, which explains what an economy is and how it is relevant to students’ lives
Section 1.1.2 The embedded economy, which explains the relationship between the economy and society and Earth’s systems
Section 1.1.4 Regenerative economies, which explains how circular, distributive and caring, needs-based and sufficient economies can meet human needs within planetary boundaries
Section 1.3.7 Care in the economy, which explains the importance of care in the economy, the types of care, and why care is undervalued
Section 4.1.1 The commons as a system, which explains the parts, relationships, and functions of the commons and the relationship between the commons and other provisioning institutions
Section S.1 What are systems?, which explains what a system is, the importance of systems boundaries, the difference between open and closed systems and the importance of systems thinking
Section S.2 Systems thinking patterns, which outlines the core components of systems thinking: distinctions (thing/other), systems (part/whole), relationships (action/reaction), and perspectives (point/view)
Section S.5 Causal loops, feedback and tipping points, which explains the feedback loops that can stabilise or destabilise systems.
Learning objectives:
explain the role of care in commoning
describe the practices that can enhance care in commoning, and the wider economy
In Odisha, India, nearly 80% of the rural population depends on subsistence farming, growing food for their own needs. Forests are vital, providing fuel, food, and other resources. When British colonists enclosed these lands for market-purposes, they disrupted traditional forest management. Logging for profits caused rapid land deterioration, leaving local communities without essential resources and struggling to survive. In response, villagers created thengapalli, a system where households took turns patrolling and protecting the forests. This system thrived because of affect.
Affect is the emotional bond people feel toward a place, community, or shared resource. It’s what makes people care deeply about something beyond their own needs. For these villagers, it wasn’t just about saving trees, but preserving their relationship with the land that sustained them for generations. This connection turned forest patrols into respected rituals, where families shared meals, stories, and experiences.
Figure 1. Women of the Dongria Kondh tribe who protect the forests in Odisha, India
(Credit: jimanish, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Over time, this collective care spread to thousands of villages across Odisha. Even when threatened by timber mafias, villagers protected their forests. Their success highlights how emotional bonds—like belonging, shared responsibility, and identity—can be as powerful as formal laws in sustaining commons. Affect inspires people to protect what they love, transforming commons into spaces of resilience and life.
How does care shape the way people relate to each other and shared resources?
How does care shape the way people relate to each other and shared resources?
Affective, emotional relationships between people and place are a core part of healthy commoning. Care is essential. But because care is so connected to emotion, we might take it for granted in creating caring communities.
This section explores more social patterns of commoning particularly relevant for care. These are related to and built on Ostrom’s eight patterns discussed in Section 4.1.4. While these social approaches are very important to commoning, they can also improve the way other provisioning institutions -- households, markets, and states -- function.
Cultivate shared purpose and values
Cultivate shared purpose and values
The Odisha villagers’ commitment to protecting the forest began with shared values and a collective purpose: to restore the forests that sustain their communities.
These values weren’t imposed from outside. They came from a history of interaction with the land and each other. Villagers patrol the forest together, they gather berries, dig for tubers and root vegetables, and collect greens for cooking. They even share meals in the forest. These activities are social events that develop shared values.
Shared values are the foundation of any commons because they help define what people care about and why they are willing to work together. When people see themselves as part of a collective endeavour, they are more likely to contribute and take responsibility.
Figure 2. Shared values and collective purpose are the foundation of any commons
(Credit: patpitchaya, licensed from Adobe stock)
Ritualise togetherness
Ritualise togetherness
Rituals are regular shared experiences that have meaning for participants and deepen their personal relationships. Through the practice of thengapalli, villagers not only safeguard the forests, but also make a ritual of their togetherness. Each patrol is an opportunity to bond, share knowledge, and create a common identity, showing how much each person values the relationships with each other and the forest. Rituals like sharing meals during patrols, turned these everyday activities into meaningful experiences.
Ritualising togetherness in commoning experiences helps build trust, social cohesion and social resilience, strengthening the emotional ties of people to one another and to the shared resource. These emotional ties in turn strengthen peoples’ commoning work in a reinforcing feedback loop (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Reinforcing feedback loops between commoning rituals like thengapolli and the emotional bonds between people, and between people and their shared resources
Contribute freely and practise gentle reciprocity
Contribute freely and practise gentle reciprocity
In the villages of Odisha, people patrol the forests not for pay or other material incentives, but out of a sense of duty and love for their land. They share a commitment to contribute freely and practise gentle reciprocity, a willingness to give without expecting anything specific in return. This approach is rooted in social norms of generosity and a belief that caring for the commons is everyone’s responsibility.
By contributing freely, villagers create a sense of abundance. They trust that their efforts will return to them in subtle, interconnected and perhaps unexpected ways. This approach prioritises the wellbeing of the whole group over individual gain, reinforcing relationships that strengthen community resilience.
Trust place-based knowledge and deep relationships with nature
Trust place-based knowledge and deep relationships with nature
The success of the Odisha villagers’ forest conservation efforts is rooted in their place-based knowledge and deep relationships with nature. For generations, they have passed down wisdom about when the forest needs rest, which species to plant, and where illegal logging might occur. This knowledge, built through years of living with and observing the land, is vital for the villagers to be able to respond to the forests’ needs. Place-based knowledge and deep relationships with nature ensure that commons are managed with wisdom, respect, and long-term care.
Figure 4. Local knowledge is essential for effective commoning
(Credit: Aishwara Mohanty, in Mongabay with permission )
Preserve relationships in addressing conflicts and reflect on governance
Preserve relationships in addressing conflicts and reflect on governance
Even the best-designed commons face conflicts and need to adapt to changing situations. In Odisha, disputes can arise over how resources are used, forest boundaries and other issues. The focus of conflict resolution isn’t on winning or losing. It is about preserving relationships and finding solutions that respect the needs of both the people and the forest. This emphasis on maintaining relationships helps prevent conflicts from weakening trust and social cohesion in the community.
The villagers of Odisha regularly reflect on their patrolling schedules, grazing rules, and strategies for forest regeneration. This reflection allows them to adapt their practices in response to changing conditions, ensuring that the commons remains fair, inclusive and abundant. All commoning requires flexibility to ensure that humans remain in the right relationship with each other and the resources they steward together.
Figure 5. When conflicts arise, it’s important to preserve relationships when seeking resolution
(Credit: Oksana Latysheva, Noun Project)
The story of Odisha’s forest commons shows that caring for shared care-wealth is about more than rules; it’s about deep connections—with the land, the resources, and each other. Engaging with the commons builds relationships that go beyond self-interest, creating a strong sense of community and purpose that makes the commons resilient and adaptable. Care and affection transform resources into a true commons—a living, interconnected community that protects what it values.
Activity 4.1.5
Activity 4.1.5
Concept: Systems
Skills: Thinking skills (transfer, creative thinking)
Time: 30 minutes
Type: Individual, pairs, or group
What does care look like in different commons contexts?
The example used in this section focuses on the care for forests in Odisha, India. If you’ve spent time in a forest, it’s not difficult to imagine how and why people become more emotionally connected to a forest, and increase care for it when they spend more time there.
But commoning doesn’t only happen with living ecosystems. Humans engage in commoning involving other kinds of resources too. Consider what a deepening emotional connection and care might look like in the following examples, using the approaches discussed in this section to help you make your ideas concrete:
A communal playground created by local residents
A communal kitchen run by local residents
The creative commons
Co-living, communal housing
You could:
Consider one or more examples on your own, in writing or through an audio recording
Discuss one or more examples with a partner
Discuss one or more examples as a group. You can also work groups where each group discusses one of the examples and then shares with others in a jigsaw format.
Checking for understanding
Checking for understanding
Further exploration
Further exploration
My Octopus Teacher - an award-winning Nexflix documentary that follows filmmaker Craig Foster as he forms a unique bond with a wild octopus in a South African kelp forest. The film explores the importance and impact of emotional connections between humans and the rest of the natural world. Difficulty level: easy
India's Indigenous Peoples organise to protect forests, waters and commons - an article in The Ecologist describing how India’s indigenous communities practise commoning to steward the forests where they live. Difficulty level: easy/medium
Dwindling forest commons leave Koraput tribal communities with little to celebrate - a 2024 article highlighting the increasing threats to the forests stewarded by the Koraput tribes. Difficulty level: easy/medium
The renaissance of the commons discourse - an interview with commons expert David Bollier about the rediscovery of commoning as a way to meet human needs in a way that prioritises fairness, inclusivity and care. Difficulty level: medium
Sources
Sources
Bollier, D. and Helfrich, S. (2019). “4. The Social Life of Commoning”. Free, Fair and Alive: The Insurgent Power of the Commons. Gabriola Island: New Society Publishers. https://freefairandalive.org/read-it/
Singh, N. (2017). “Becoming a commoner:The commons as sites for affective socio-nature encounters and co-becomings”. Ephemera. https://ephemerajournal.org/contribution/becoming-commoner-commons-sites-affective-socio-nature-encounters-and-co-becomings
Terminology (in order of appearance)
Terminology (in order of appearance)
subsistence farming: where a household or other group produces food mainly to meet their own needs
colonist: a settler in or inhabitant of a colony
enclosure: the process that ended traditional rights on common land formerly held in the open field system and restricted the use of land to the owner
market: a system where people buy and sell goods and services for a price.
profit: total revenue minus total cost
affect: a display of or feeling emotion
care: the act of providing what is necessary for the health, welfare, upkeep, and protection of someone or something
resilient: able to recover after a disturbance
value: ideas about what is important or good
ritual: ceremony consisting of a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order
social cohesion: the extent to which people in society feel connected to one another and share common values
reinforcing feedback: a situation where change in a system causes further changes that amplify the original change which can lead to tipping points in a system
gentle reciprocity: a willingness to give without expecting anything specific in return
norm: a social rule for accepted and expected behaviour, can be stated or unstated
abundant: when something is available in large quantities
regenerate: the process of restoring and revitalising something
steward: to manage or look after something
care-wealth: shared wealth that is created when people take care of forests, water, data, or urban spaces, and adopt these resources into their shared memory, culture, social lives, and identities
carbon dioxide (CO2): gas produced by burning carbon or organic compounds and through respiration, naturally present in the atmosphere and absorbed by plants in photosynthesis
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse