Abstract
The report is organized into five sections:
Part I outlines the strengths and limitations of sustainability science in sustaining resilient landscapes; provides a brief introduction to the development of sustainability science over the past two decades; addresses the
strengths identified by participants (a transdisciplinary approach, systems framework, scientific method and
measurement); as well as the weaknesses (politics of science, economics of sustainability management, scalar
applications of sustainability science).
Part II identifies the strengths and limitations of Indigenous science in sustaining resilient landscapes; provides a brief introduction to the development of Indigenous science within the academy over the past two decades;
address the strengths identified by participants (deep-spatial knowledge, long-term observations, an ethos of reciprocal appropriation); as well as the weaknesses (issues related to translation, finding common ground).
Part III explores successful collaborations between Indigenous and sustainability sciences in sustaining resilient landscapes; relevant theoretical work on Indigenous science and traditional ecological knowledge are referenced
alongside participants’ contributions.
Part IV discusses protocols necessary for successful collaborations between Indigenous and sustainability sciences in sustaining resilient landscapes; participant discussions regarding research protocols, principles and practices are described.
Part V contains recommendations to Indigenous and sustainability scientists as well as to funding agencies,
including NSF, for fostering collaboration between Indigenous communities and scholars and sustainability scientists, encouraging Indigenous community research leadership with an emphasis on mentoring future Indigenous scholars, and further discussions and research into appropriate research principles, protocols, and practices in order to aid collaborations.
This report summarizes the findings of the February 13-16, 2013 workshop, entitled Weaving Indigenous and Sustainability Sciences to Diversify our Methods (WIS2DOM), held in Olympia, Washington at The Evergreen State University’s Longhouse. The workshop was funded by an NSF grant from the Arctic Social Sciences Program to Drs.
Jay T. Johnson and Renee Pualani Louis, University of Kansas; and Andrew Kliskey, University of Alaska-Anchorage. The purpose of the workshop was to challenge key thinkers in the areas of Indigenous and sustainability
sciences to cultivate mutually conducive and appropriate principles, protocols, and practices that address our common concern to sustain resilient landscapes in the midst of rapid environmental change.
The WIS2DOM workshop brought together an internationally diverse set of Indigenous academics and community
scholars with non-Indigenous academics interested in advancing this discussion. Workshop participants were asked to address the following four questions in their short papers and workshop deliberations:
1. What are the strengths of these two paradigms of science in sustaining resilient landscapes?
2. What are the limitations of these two paradigms of science in successfully sustaining resilient landscapes?
3. How can these two paradigms collaborate in their efforts toward sustaining resilient landscapes?
4. What protocols will aid in the collaboration of these two paradigms toward sustaining resilient
landscapes?
National Science Foundation