Inviting a decolonial praxis for future imaginaries of nature: Introducing the Entangled Time Tree

Terry, Naomi; Castro, Azucena; Chibwe, Bwalya; Karuri-Sebina, Geci; Savu, Codruţa; Pereira, Laura

doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2023.103615

Cited by 28 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…The 'Entangled Time Tree' of Terry et al (2024) resonates strongly with the diverse concepts of time as circular, of inter-connected past-present-future, a concurrent dimension of place identified in this review. In this review, the longest future timeframe of 200 years was explored in the Native sci-fi film Future Warrior (2007), which maps past colonial violence onto technological futures, representing "the Native Apocalypse" that has arguably already taken place (Lempert 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 62%

Framings in Indigenous futures thinking: barriers, opportunities, and innovations

Cheok,

van Velden,

Fulton

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Human societies face existential challenges on multiple fronts: climate change, biodiversity loss, altered biogeochemical flows, social unrest and injustices. Innovative solutions are needed to shift current trajectories towards a sustainable and just future. ‘Futures thinking’ enables people to explore and articulate alternative futures and find pathways towards these desired futures. Indigenous people have the potential to make significant contributions to futures thinking because of their/our distinctive perspectives: the viewpoint of already living in a post-apocalyptic world in the context of colonisation, unique knowledges, worldviews, and perspectives on time, as well as significant contributions to safeguarding biological and cultural diversity. Here we take an innovation-seeking and systematic approach to (1) identify patterns and processes in futures thinking with, for, and by Indigenous people; (2) highlight innovative approaches; (3) bring together diverse and sector-specific terminology; and (4) foreground emerging strengths and weaknesses. We identified four framings of Indigenous futures thinking: Adaptation-oriented, Participatory, Culturally-grounded, and Indigenising. Factors contributing to innovation include strong involvement of Indigenous people in the research team, co-design, and authorship, using Indigenous methodologies, cultural protocols, and explicitly employing decolonisation and trauma-informed approaches. We spotlight the challenges of conducting an exhaustive literature review in an emerging field with inconsistent terminology (e.g., capturing regions where Indigeneity is contested). We also create a living glossary of terms to aid other researchers and communities in using and refining the suite of methods identified here, with the aim of stimulating further innovations in this field.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 62%

Framings in Indigenous futures thinking: barriers, opportunities, and innovations

Cheok,

van Velden,

Fulton

et al. 2024

Preprint

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“…There is a critical need for researchers working on tipping points to reflect on how their findings can be used by other actors to drive either reformist or non-reformist agendas that dismantle a system (Engler and Engler, 2021). Humility rather than hubris should be a core principle when offering new research into the discourse on tipping points (see Terry et al, 2024, on futures).…”

Section: Engage With What Ptps Are Desirable and From Whose Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Equity and justice should underpin the discourse on tipping points

Pereira,

Gianelli,

Achieng

et al. 2024

Earth Syst. Dynam.

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Abstract. Radical and quick transformations towards sustainability will be fundamental to achieving a more sustainable future. However, deliberate interventions to reconfigure systems will result in winners and losers, with the potential for greater or lesser equity and justice outcomes. Positive tipping points (PTPs) have been proposed as interventions in complex systems with the aim to (a) reduce the likelihood of negative Earth system tipping points and/or (b) increase the likelihood of achieving just social foundations. However, many narratives around PTPs often do not take into account the entire spectrum of impacts the proposed alternatives could have or still rely on narratives that maintain current unsustainable behaviours and marginalize many people (i.e. do not take “b” into account). One such example is the move from petrol-based to electric vehicles. An energy transition that remains based on natural resource inputs from the Global South must be unpacked with an equity and justice lens to understand the true cost of this transition. There are two arguments why a critical engagement with these and other similar proposals needs to be made. First, the idea of transitioning through a substitution (e.g. of fuel) while maintaining the system structure (e.g. of private vehicles) may not necessarily be conceived as the kind of radical transformation being called for by global scientific bodies like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). Second, and probably more importantly, the question of positive for whom, positive where, and positive how must be considered. In this paper, we unpack these narratives using a critical decolonial view from the south and outline their implications for the concept of tipping points.

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“…The development of vulnerability projections is more common in the biophysical tradition (Garschagen et al., 2021), but community‐based assessments are increasingly using understanding of current vulnerability processes to identify and characterize potential future vulnerability (Birkmann et al., 2021; Flynn et al., 2018; Jurgilevich, 2021; Puntub et al., 2023; Terry et al., 2024). Whatever the approach used, however, projecting future trends is challenging.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increasing Trust in Climate Vulnerability Projections

Ford

2024

Earth's Future

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Projecting future trends is emerging as a key focus of community‐based climate vulnerability assessments. In these mostly qualitative studies, understanding of current vulnerability processes is used as a basis for identifying who and what are vulnerable to future changes, where, and why, and characterizing the key drivers of vulnerability and how they might change. Few, if any, of these studies engage with approaches for validating findings, reflecting the difficulties of validating mostly qualitative projections of highly uncertain futures, absence of directly measurable vulnerability outcomes, and lack of data on vulnerability drivers. Given the challenges of projecting future trends, this absence undermines trust in such work and limits opportunities to learn. This paper illustrates, with examples, how validation can be incorporated into the study design of community‐based climate vulnerability assessments through: (a) examination of retrospective projections to assess projection skill, (b) evaluation of projections made for future time periods which have since passed for consistency with what actually happened, (c) comparison of projections with empirical research that attempts to understand and constrain the effects of climate change using observed effects of weather variation, and (d) incorporation of demonstrated “best practices” into projection development, such as acknowledgment of areas of uncertainty, integration of diverse viewpoints, and utilization of multiple sources of information.

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Inviting a decolonial praxis for future imaginaries of nature: Introducing the Entangled Time Tree

Cited by 28 publications

References 44 publications

Framings in Indigenous futures thinking: barriers, opportunities, and innovations

Framings in Indigenous futures thinking: barriers, opportunities, and innovations

Equity and justice should underpin the discourse on tipping points

Increasing Trust in Climate Vulnerability Projections

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