Olive Jones and The Tyranny of Structurelessness

After the interview with Adam Brock on Invisible Structures, I went looking for more information about Jo Freeman's “The Tyranny of Structurelessness” article, which Adam mentioned. Doing a search on that subject lead me to a series of videos by the same name featuring an interview Olive Jones about the history of Renaissance, a commune in New Zealand which she helped found, and how the lack of structure impacted the reality of the communal living arrangement.

Of interest for me when it comes to invisible structures and these videos is how public welfare changed the group, the role of community, the struggles of a lack of structure and the successes for some of the core members, and the need for a shared focus to bind the group together. These provide places to understand as we move forward and re-shape the world we live in to a smaller and more local scale.

The need for human connection that Olive touches on near the end of the final video is a message that resonates with me as I move forward and connect with more people in the permaculture community and begin investing in the relationships that hold the most meaning for me. There's the sentiment that “it takes a village to raise a child”, which I agree with, but I also think it takes a village, a community, to help individuals be complete and well-rounded.

Also, I highly recommend checking out all the videos by RedPharmacist. Lots of great interviews and other media.