Weaving Indigenous and Sustainability Sciences: Diversifying our Methods (WIS2DOM) Workshop

Abstract

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?