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Enabling hybrid space: epistemological diversity in socio-ecological problem-solving

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Abstract

Although it can be challenging, engagement with diverse knowledges and knowledge systems can lead to better decisions. The purpose of this paper is to open a dialog about transrational (spiritual) knowing within socio-ecological decision-making with two common interest goals in mind: (1) making better decisions for long-term sustainability for all beings, including those who are human and those who are not, and (2) animating processes for decision-making that are inclusive of ways of knowing of all peoples. I suggest that serious consideration of transrational knowing is critical to addressing the incommensurability of Western and Indigenous knowledge systems, and meeting the identified goals.

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Notes

  1. Shared with permission, January 9, 2011.

  2. I have come to rely on this question when supervising particularly intuitive students. Alternative ways of asking the question include “What does your gut tell you?” or “What does that feel like?”.

  3. In Ecuador and Bolivia, pachamama (roughly translated as “earth-beings”) “has constitutional recognition as a subject with rights” (Blaser 2012, p. 3).

  4. These include potlatches in the Northwest coastal areas of Canada, drumming in Scandinavia, and the Sundance in North America, and witchcraft in many parts of the world. Many of these practices were known to give individuals access to ways of knowing and being that might challenge the power of the governing elite, thus they were banished. Although most of these laws have now been repealed, many of the old practices and skills have been diminished, disappeared, or gone underground.

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Acknowledgments

I gratefully acknowledge the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for financial support for this research. I would also like to thank many Aboriginal colleagues who provided input on previous versions of this paper, including Marie Battiste, Jeannine Carriere, Brenda Green, Sakej Henderson, Danny Musqua and Yvonne Vizina, as well as two anonymous reviewers and policy sciences scholar Doug Clark.

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Barrett, M.J. Enabling hybrid space: epistemological diversity in socio-ecological problem-solving. Policy Sci 46, 179–197 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11077-013-9178-x

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