Decentering humans in sustainability: a framework for Earth-centered kinship and practice

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2024

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

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