A decolonial and participatory research approach to envision equitable transformations toward sustainability in the Amazon

Abstract

How people relate to and see themselves as part of nature relations differs worldwide and often depends on culture and worldviews. Nonetheless, challenging the dominant Euro-Western epistemic domination is needed to attain more equitable and sustainable future visions. This change entails fostering decolonial mediation between different knowledge systems in a context of intersectional difference. The collective struggles of Black, Indigenous, and other Women of Color (BIWOC) for self-determination shed light on pathways of decolonial mediations and how to attain epistemic equity when thinking about the future. Echoing the call of BIWOC to use decoloniality in knowledge co-creation, we co-created a border space together with 20 BIWOC in the Putumayo department of Colombia. In this space, we jointly envisioned three radical visions of the Amazon through scenario-building exercises between 2022 and 2023. Storytelling is a powerful tool to capture the BIWOC’s differentiated experience of the world and to explore their individual and collective emancipation from different forms of oppression. Decolonial mediations support the (co-)design of a “safe enough” space for questioning and rethinking Euro-Western domination. Our research also indicates that incorporating decolonial praxis into sustainability transformation research can allow for a more radical envisioning of the future.