Rewilding means to return to a more wild or natural state; it is the process of undoing domestication. The term emerged from green anarchism and anarcho-primitivism. The central argument is that the majority of humans have been "civilized" or "domesticated" by agrarianism and sedentarysocial stratification. Such a process is compared to how dogs have been domesticated from what was a common ancestor with wolves, resulting in a loss in health and vibrancy. Supporters of rewilding argue that through the process of domestication, human wildness has been altered by force. Rewilding encourages the conscious undoing of human domestication and returning to the lifeways of some indigenous human cultures. Though often associated with primitive skills and learning knowledge of wild plants and animals, it emphasizes regenerativeland management techniques employed by hunter-gatherers and horticulturalists, as well as development of the senses and fostering deepening personal relationships with members of other species and the natural world. Rewilding intends to create permanently wild human cultures beyond domestication. Rewilding is considered a holistic approach to living, as opposed to specific or separate skills, practices or knowledges.
Theory
Rewilding is most associated with green anarchy and anarcho-primitivism or anti-civilization and post-civilization anarchism in general. Within a modern and scientific social context, rewilding entails both experiential and "book knowledge" to produce a community that is both respectful of individual liberties and beneficial to all involved, including all non-human species. Participants in such events and communities directly reap the benefits of the communities' actions and efforts. Instead of seeking to "return" to an earlier state of human existence or go "back to the land", rewilding seeks to take the experiences and time spent here in civilization and combine the lessons that have been learned from both the past and the present to create a more ideal society.
