Understanding socio-technological systems change through an indigenous community-based participatory framework

Authors

Marie Schaefer, Michigan State University
Laura Schmitt Olabisi, Michigan State University
Kristin Arola, Michigan State University
Christie M. Poitra, Michigan State University
Elise Matz, Michigan Technological University
Marika Seigel, Michigan Technological UniversityFollow
Chelsea Schelly, Michigan Technological UniversityFollow
Adewale Aremu Adesanya, Michigan Technological UniversityFollow
Doug Bessette, Michigan State University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-19-2021

Department

Department of Humanities; Department of Social Sciences

Abstract

Moving toward a sustainable global society requires substantial change in both social and technological systems. This sustainability is dependent not only on addressing the environmental impacts of current social and technological systems, but also on addressing the social, economic and political harms that continue to be perpetuated through systematic forms of oppression and the exclusion of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities. To adequately identify and address these harms, we argue that scientists, practitioners, and communities need a transdis-ciplinary framework that integrates multiple types of knowledge, in particular, Indigenous and experiential knowledge. Indigenous knowledge systems embrace relationality and reciprocity rather than extraction and oppression, and experiential knowledge grounds transition priorities in lived experiences rather than expert assessments. Here, we demonstrate how an Indigenous, experiential, and community-based participatory framework for understanding and advancing socio-technolog-ical system transitions can facilitate the co-design and co-development of community-owned energy systems.

Publisher's Statement

© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). Publisher’s version of record: https://doi.org/10.3390/su13042257

Publication Title

Sustainability (Switzerland)

Recommended Citation

Schaefer, M., Olabisi, L., Arola, K., Poitra, C., Matz, E., Seigel, M., Schelly, C., Adesanya, A. A., & Bessette, D. (2021). Understanding socio-technological systems change through an indigenous community-based participatory framework. Sustainability (Switzerland), 13(4), 1-13. http://doi.org/10.3390/su13042257
Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/michigantech-p/14725

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Version

Publisher's PDF