Per un approccio di politica ontologica alla prefigurazione ecologica

This contribution advances a theoretical-methodological proposal for the study of ecological prefiguration, which is a form of environmental activism inspired by ecologism and characterized by an interstitial vision of social change conducive to the creation of alternative, socially and ecologically sustainable local economies. After a discussion of the current approaches to ecological prefiguration as «ecotopia» and «new environmentalism of everyday life», the article introduces an “ontological politics” perspective, centered upon, on the one hand, the analysis of the alternative value practices “performed” in prefigurative initiatives and, on the other hand, the imaginaries that relate them to a vision of ecological society. The focus on the ontological dimension shows that what is at stake in ecological prefiguration is not so much the realization of an anticipated future in the present but rather the disclosure of a potential of ontological alternative that is already inherent in the present, and whose activation allows to open a space for the radical imagination of the future. At the same time, as we discuss starting from the case of the “ecotopian” movement of permaculture, this perspective provides some interpretative keys to understand the different “transgressive” potential of ecological prefiguration initiatives.