Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-14-2024
Department
College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science; Department of Humanities; Department of Social Sciences
Abstract
Contemporary Earth crises are challenging ideologies that enthrone humans at the center of existence and separate from nature, problematizing common notions of sustainability. Further inquiry, particularly sustainability of what and for whom, requires decentering the human experience toward other-than-human beings (e.g., plants and animals). In this article, we, as the Kinship Circle book club, share reflections from our monthly dialogue with the five-part book series Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations, built on a foundation of partnership experiences with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Lake Superior Band of Ojibwa. Together, we discuss three major departures from our previous modes of thought at the individual, community, and global levels. First, as students, mentors, and relatives to many, we aim for (research) practices that affirm relationships to place, an approach we understand as remembering what it means to be human. Second, to rebuild shared responsibilities across communities of many kinds, we move beyond an anthropomorphization debate toward “animism," recognizing the sentience and autonomy of other-than-human beings on Earth. Third, in support of a transformative and collective human ethic, we hope to contribute to restoring relationships with the many that gift us life, using connections between migration, justice, and introduced species. Finally, we present a practical Kinship Circle framework for applying these concepts in educational settings. Our conclusion provides central kinship lessons for decentering humans in the sustainability sciences, rooted in humility, responsibility, and an Earth-centered ethics.
Publication Title
Socio-Ecological Practice Research
Recommended Citation
Thi Mai Anh, T.,
Reed-VanDam, C. M.,
Belopavlovich, K.,
Brown, E.,
Higdon, K. E.,
Lane-Clark, S. N.,
McGowen, K.,
Shaw, E.,
&
Gagnon, V.
(2024).
Decentering humans in sustainability: a framework for Earth-centered kinship and practice.
Socio-Ecological Practice Research.
http://doi.org/10.1007/s42532-024-00206-9
Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/michigantech-p2/1237
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
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Publisher's PDF
Included in
Arts and Humanities Commons, Forest Sciences Commons, Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons
Publisher's Statement
© The Author(s) 2024. Publisher’s version of record: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42532-024-00206-9