Identifying transformational space for transdisciplinarity: using art to access the hidden third

Abstract

A challenge for transdisciplinary sustainability science is learning how to bridge diverse worldviews among collaborators in respectful ways. A temptation in transdisciplinary work is to focus on improving scientific practices rather than engage research partners in spaces that mutually respect how we learn from each other and set the stage for change. We used the concept of Nicolescu’s “Hidden Third” to identify and operationalize this transformative space, because it focused on bridging “objective” and “subjective” worldviews through art. Between 2014 and 2017, we explored the engagement of indigenous peoples from three inland delta regions in Canada and as a team of interdisciplinary scholars and students who worked together to better understand long-term social–ecological change in those regions. In working together, we identified five characteristics associated with respectful, transformative transdisciplinary space. These included (1) establishing an unfiltered safe place where (2) subjective and objective experiences and (3) different world views could come together through (4) interactive and (5) multiple sensory experiences. On the whole, we were more effective in achieving characteristics 2–5—bringing together the subjective and objective experiences, where different worldviews could come together—than in achieving characteristic 1—creating a truly unfiltered and safe space for expression. The novelty of this work is in how we sought to change our own engagement practices to advance sustainability rather than improving scientific techniques. Recommendations for sustainability scientists working in similar contexts are provided.

Iñupiaq Values in Subsistence Harvesting: Applying the Community Voice Method in Northwest Alaska

“…CBPR in a transdisciplinary setting can be a powerful tool for working with Indigenous communities (Castleden, Morgan, andLamb 2012, Holzer, Carmon, andOrenstein 2018;Steelman et al 2019). Like other conversational methods used within an Indigenous research framework (Kovach 2010), we found CVM was a useful framework to engage with Indigenous and non-Indigenous stakeholders and elevate community issues around resource management.…”

“…Fourth, a "space where people with different worldviews can come together without being validated by the other" was created through the message of the film and in our community meetings, which brought together agency staff and subsistence harvesters from a range of cultural, socioeconomic, and educational backgrounds. As iterated earlier in our successes and challenges, we found art through visual media to be a very important for bridging different ways of knowing (Kovach 2010;Steelman et al 2019). We also had a wide age range of participants (18-84 years) engaged in various stages of the project; however, we tended to have younger people only involved in the audio-recorded or filmed interviews.…”

“…All of us come from a natural resource management background with experience doing community-based work, although we had varying experience with Indigenous communities. We saw an opportunity to use CVM as a way to bridge knowledge systems in a meaningful, reciprocal, and respectful way (Castleden et al 2017;Steelman et al 2019). We applied CVM through a multistep, collaborative process that included academic researchers and community members at every stage.…”

“…Several factors were critical to the success of CVM in this community. First, repeated engagement throughout the research design, interpretation, and distribution helped us to build trust and shared investment (Mistry and Berardi 2016;Steelman et al 2019;Wallerstein and Duran 2008). A common critique of environmental social science research is that researchers are non-local, conduct research in the summer, and do not return results to the community (Castleden, Morgan, and Lamb 2012; Box 1).…”

“…Transdisciplinary research uses holistic approaches and methods to deepen questions and work towards solving community-based problems (Holzer, Carmon, and Orenstein 2018;Steelman et al 2015;Steelman et al 2019). Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) is one type of transdisciplinary research that seeks to "equitably involve community members, academic researchers, and others … in all phases of the research process: all partners contribute expertise and share decision making and ownership of the project" (Burke et al 2013, 115).…”