Pedagogies for the Anthropocene/Ecozoic 

         An Interdisciplinary Dialogue  

 

 

From the Anthropocene to the Ecozoic 

Drs. Peter Brown & Dina Spigelski 

 

Leadership for the Ecozoic (L4E) is a McGill-based initiative dedicated to helping humanity, and the rest of life’s commonwealth escape the [well-known] failures of the Anthropocene to a more promising future. Thomas Berry envisaged the Ecozoic where human societies and the global community of life live in mutually enhancing relationships. We are a partnership of universities aimed at higher education reform with three primary goals: 1) to advance transdisciplinary scholarship to educate and empower new leaders; 2) to co-create a global research-to-action network; and 3) to build a global network of campuses that mobilize higher education resources to mitigate multi-faceted, human-induced, planetary declines in life support capacity. L4E courses, a rigorous PhD program, internships and field trips provide students with the background, tools and leadership skills to design and bring into being a flourishing of life on our planet.

 

 

Decolonial Epistemologies for Indigenous Territories of Life 

Dr. Colin Scott 

 

Decolonial action in domains of conservation demand a further leap from interdisciplinarity to trans-epistemic dialogue and learning. Relational ontologies underwrite the knowledge, norms and institutional processes of Indigenous ‘territories of life,” as these are coming to be recognized in global discourse. The premise is that Indigenous ontologies and epistemologies are vital decolonial keys for nurturing biocultural diversity and socio-ecological integrity. In such a context, how do we shift pedagogy from visions of ‘universe’ and ‘university’ to ‘pluriverse’ and ‘pluriversity?

 

 

Community Conservation and Local Livelihoods: The Institutional Canopy of Conservation (I-CAN) Project and its Findings 

Dr. John Galaty 

 

I-CAN is a partnership project involving universities in Canada (McGill, Carleton and Victoria) and East Africa (Nairobi in Kenya and Sokoine in Tanzania), the African Conservation Centre (ACC), and pastoral development and conservation NGO’s working in the eight regional sites where the project has carried out research over the last six years. It has involved faculty researchers, Ph.D students, MA students, and a research associate, Dr. Jacques Pollini.  The major focus has been on investigating social and political factors involved in the governance of community-based conservation organizations, or Conservancies, and reconciliation between goals of resource conservation and local livelihoods, primarily of pastoral communities. 

 

The project has addressed issues in Kenya regarding the inclusion of conservation in common or group holdings (Olkiramatian), local ontologies of conservation (Olkiramatian), how conservation goals take account of the aspirations and economic pursuits of youth (Laikipia), economic dimensions of community-investor partnerships (Samburu), the governance role of women in Conservancies (Laikipia), and in Tanzania, tensions between villages, investors and government in conservation (Loliondo), community-government co-management of Wildlife Management Areas (Enduimet), and conflict over land use in a wildlife corridor (Tarangire).  

 

Dr. Pollini’s research complements that conducted by PhD and MA students by being comprehensive in scope, addressing all I-CAN research topics (livelihoods strategies, community conservation initiatives, conservation policies, institutional changes, land tenure changes, land and resources conflicts, governmentality and environmentality) in all I-CAN research sites in Kenya and Tanzania. 

 

 

 

Attendance will take place via ZOOM 

https://mcgill.zoom.us/j/82939446723 

Meeting ID: 829 3944 6723

 

 

 

Date: Friday, October 23rd, 2020 Time: 12:30-2:30 pm 

standd.anthro@mcgill.ca www.mcgill.ca/standd