A common approach to transformative change centers on rethinking human-nature relations. While some Transdisciplinary Transformative Change Initiatives (TTCIs) succeed with this, they often stress ‘reconnection’ as a starting point (Abson et al. 2017), assuming that human-human relations are inconsequential and nature is something we can ‘disconnect’ from – contrasting with holistic worldviews. Other TTCIs have engaged Indigenous Peoples’ perspectives but often without addressing how power prioritizes certain forms of knowledge. As a result, these efforts can lead to problematic knowledge extraction or subordination of such perspectives (Latulippe & Klenk 2020).
We aimed to address these issues by interweaving experiences and knowledges of Indigenous and non-Indigenous academics and practitioners; inviting Indigenous Peoples’ intervention in Western lands rather than the reverse; and centering holistic understandings in Swiss nature conservation. Using adaptations of the Three Horizons Framework (3H) and Two-Eyed Seeing, we co-developed protocols, practices, and methods (PPMs) to re-visibilize human-human/-nature connections.
This 3-hour workshop facilitates mutual knowledge exchange by drawing on our experiences and working with participants’ projects. It combines short conceptual inputs with individual and small-group activities. In the first half, participants will work with 3H and Two-Eyed Seeing using one of their own projects. In the second half, they will experiment with our PPMs.
Intended outcomes include improved capacity to work with multiple knowledge systems and to ‘re-visibilize’ relations, supported by practical examples from participants’ projects. Participants will also gain hands-on experience with our methods and tools to apply in their contexts.
[Workshop] Rethinking Human-Natures: Holding Indigenous Peoples’, Practitioners’, and Researchers’ Knowledges in Parity for Transdisciplinary Transformative Change
Co-organized by FUT