sustainability Article Transcending the Learned Ignorance of Predatory Ontologies: A Research Agenda for an Ecofeminist-Informed Ecological Economics Sarah-Louise Ruder † and Sophia Rose Sanniti *,† School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] † All authors contributed equally to this work. Received: 6 January 2019; Accepted: 6 March 2019; Published: 11 March 2019 Abstract: As a necessarily political act, the theorizing, debating and enacting of ecological economies offer pathways to radical socio-economic transformations that emphasize the ecological and prioritize justice. In response to a research agenda call for ecological economics, we propose and employ an ecofeminist frame to demonstrate how the logics of extractivist capitalism, which justify gender biased and anti-ecological power structures inherent in the growth paradigm, also directly inform the theoretical basis of ecological economics and its subsequent post-growth proposals. We offer pathways to reconcile these epistemological limitations through a synthesis of ecofeminist ethics and distributive justice imperatives, proposing leading questions to further the field. Keywords: ecological economics; ecofeminism; gender; capitalist-patriarchy; intersectionality; post-growth; transformational change; systems thinking; complexity As white-settlers in the Region of Waterloo, we acknowledge that we live and work on the traditional territory of the Attawandaron (Neutral), Anishnawbe, and Haudenosaunee peoples. The University of Waterloo is also situated on the Haldimand Tract: land promised to the Six Nations that includes ten kilometres on each side of the Grand River. We make this statement to act against the erasure of ongoing colonial legacies across Turtle Island and to acknowledge that we contribute to and benefit from the expulsion, assimilation, and genocide of Indigenous Peoples.