Nature as praxis: Kitchen gardens and naturalization in Alájar (Sierra de Aracena,Spain)

Abstract

To enhance our understanding of processes of environment naturalization, we must go beyond the discursive, political and perceptive dimensions. Nature is also praxis: a specific form of bond and relationship established between humans and the environments they inhabit, closely related to processes of naturalization. To analyse these practices that substantiate nature, this article examines kitchen gardens in Alájar, a locality set within a natural park in the south west of Spain. This specific ethnography is used in order to shed light on the meaning and significance of nature for those living in a ‘naturalized space’, how it translates from the perspective of praxis and, more precisely, how the natural character attributed to the environment from a human–environment relational perspective is substantiated. More generally, the aim is to ascertain the utility of this methodological strategy in understanding processes of naturalization and the meaning of nature in the Western world.