Community beyond capitalism : self-actualising women imagining sustainable worlds in Budapest

Sammanfattning: The present research seeks to understand interviews I have conducted with selected individuals in Budapest, Hungary. Through an analysis based on well-established feminist theory I analyse what the dimensions of quality and character of life can be like for those committed to an environmentally conscious lifestyle, and ultimately gives credence to the notion that there might be deeper psychological dimensions of self-development to such a lifestyle, rather than characterising them solely as antagonistic to an established capitalist economic order and plagued with anxiety due to climate change. Due to the broad spectrum of inquiry the topics of the interviews included elements of, for example, how climate change has affected their lives, what actions serve as response-solutions to the issue, how the family and community around them provides support, how they have changed, are changing and would like to change through their journey and what they imagine an ideal living situation and world looks like. The subsequent analysis is contextualised and constructed with reference to (eco)feminist theories, with particular inspiration from Harcourt (2017) and her framing of transformative local efforts for a good life based on care-full work which are, instead of resistance, understood rather as re-appropriation, re-construction, and re-invention of relationships with others and with nature. It would appear this framing is supported by the findings of this thesis and what my research adds to this framing, I hope, is an exploration of a deeper subjective, psychological dimension that the analysis shows in terms of reaching an ecological self through processes of self-awareness, self-development and self-actualisation.