Spiritualizing Soil: Biodynamic Agriculture and Disabled Belonging in the International Camphill Movement

Abstract

Biodynamic Agriculture is a spiritual farming technique that has been practiced all over the earth over 100 years. It invites gardeners and farmers alike to connect with a world beyond material sciences, embracing cosmic influences and tossing out pesticides while meeting fairies, gnomes, and angels in the garden. In addition to being an increasingly popular land management technique, Biodynamics is the staple farming method used across a network of intentional communities known as Camphills. In this thesis, I explore what it means to know, belong, and eat according to contemporary Biodynamic farmers, historic figures, and scholars within the Biodynamic Movement. Bolstered by 10 weeks of ethnographic field work across 4 countries, I argue that Biodynamic Agriculture as it is performed in Camphill communities appeals to a multi-tiered knowledge system that 1) is systematic and distinct from other forms of agriculture, 2) promotes belonging that entitles people with different ideological connections to Biodynamics to work alongside one another, and 3) describes nutrition as a spiritual issue, promoting morally flexible vegetarianism but not mandating the consumption of Biodynamic food. As one learns to consider science to be more than what meets the eye, so too they learn to believe more strongly in the capacity of their disabled neighbors and reflect more carefully on what they eat. An audiovisual version of this thesis is available here, in line with my project's methodological commitment to accessible scholarship: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOUkXB0wsxY