INSTEAD (Indigenous Stewardship of Environment and Alternative Development) tackles key conceptual and practical challenges faced by indigenous peoples and communities in the stewardship of their environmental and cultural heritage. Over thirty researchers from eleven disciplines working in several trans-disciplinary fields, together with nearly twenty indigenous and five non-governmental partner organizations, join forces to understand:
- The dimensions of life on their territories that indigenous partners want to maintain and those they seek to improve.
- The valued places and interspecies relations comprising indigenous territories.
- The conditions for continuity and enhancement of these relationships.
- The forces that threaten these places and relationships.
- Strategies and sources of power for advancing what is wanted, and defending against what is not.
In Latin America, as in Canada, indigenous life projects ('planes de vida') prioritize alternative models of development that emphasize 'living well' ('buen vivir') -- the quality of home environments and security of livelihoods, communities and identities -- ahead of imperatives for limitless economic growth driven by markets and state policies. In coping with escalating industrial resource extraction on their territories, indigenous partners draw inspiration from worldviews and lifeways that tie humans into wider living networks. Defending the integrity of these 'communities of life' is a precondition for living well, and a primary motivation for life projects. The co-production of knowledge fostered between the partners and researchers of INSTEAD will link research findings to practical strategies and policy formation for advancing life projects, protecting whole communities of life, and living well.
Resumen de la Investigación
La investigación de INSTEAD (Indigenous Stewardship of Environment and Alternative Development), “Manejo indígena del medio ambiente y desarrollo alternativo” aborda algunos desafíos teóricos y prácticos que enfrentan distintas comunidades indígenas en el manejo y administración de sus territorios y su tradición cultural. Alrededor de treinta investigadores pertenecientes a once disciplinas diferentes, trabajando en un esfuerzo trans-disciplinar junto con las veinte organizaciones indígenas y las cinco Organizaciones No Gubernamentales que hacen parte de este proyecto, unen sus esfuerzos para estudiar:
1) Las dimensiones de vida en los actuales territorios indígenas y en aquellos que están en disputa.
2) Los lugares significativos y las relaciones entre los diferentes seres que hacen parte de estos territorios.
3) Las condiciones sobre las que estas relaciones pueden continuar y mejorar.
4) Las fuerzas que amenazan tanto a los lugares como a las relaciones establecidas allí
5) Las estrategias y fuentes de poder que permiten avanzar en lo que estas comunidades desean así como enfrentar todo aquello que no lo es.
En Latinoamérica como en Canadá, los ‘planes de vida’ de las comunidades indígenas priorizan modelos de desarrollo que enfatizan nociones como el ‘buen vivir’ --la calidad del medio ambiente y la salvaguarda de los medios de subsistencia, de las comunidades y de sus identidades-- por encima de los imperativos de crecimiento económico que son alimentados por la lógica del mercado y las políticas de estado. Para hacer frente a la acelerada extracción industrial de los recursos de sus territorios, las comunidades indígenas se inspiran en visiones del mundo y estilos de vida en los que los humanos son sólo una parte de una red de vida mucho más amplia. Defender la integridad de estas “comunidades de vida” es una condición para el buen vivir y una motivación primordial de sus planes de vida. La producción conjunta de conocimiento que nuestro proyecto fomenta entre socios e investigadores, vinculará los resultados de la investigación a estrategias prácticas para avanzar en los planes de vida, protegiendo tanto las comunidades como su buen vivir.
Primary Research Goals
These projects are inspired, on the one hand, by indigenous ontologies (theories of the nature of being) that see reciprocity as the true relationship of humans with other life, and respect at the core of positive reciprocity. At the same time, life projects emerge from cultural landscapes transformed by the capitalist exploitation of “natural resources,” a dual intrusion on territories and peoples.
Indigenous ‘life projects/planes de vida’ respond strategically, on the one hand, to unwanted aspects of globalization (e.g. deterioration of local environments and livelihoods under capitalism; economic injustice in the flow of “development” benefits). They do so in part by mobilizing other aspects of globalization (e.g. transnational doctrines of environmental responsibility and human rights; global media). On the other hand, life projects and conceptions of ‘good living/buen vivir’ associated with alternative models for development, are anchored by ontological premises, cosmologies and lived realities of community extending beyond humans to plants, animals and other natural actors.
The dilemma facing indigenous nations is one that none of us escape. Unlimited economic growth is the default mantra of politics the world over; yet this premise bestows a cumulative legacy of environmental pathology and decline in quality of life upon ourselves, our descendants, and our fellow species. In the quarter century since the World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) identified indigenous territories, knowledge and cultural diversity as assets in the global agenda for biodiversity protection and sustainable development, these assets remain under siege. Indigenous peoples, drawn into flows of market exchange and state power, navigate rip-tides of contradiction. The need is urgent for strategies to protect indigenous socio-ecological values and relationships while achieving economic justice, and controlling doctrines of growth-driven ‘development’ that would reduce all cherished places to a measure of ‘natural resources’ as commodities to be seized, rather than gifts to be respected.
Research Topics
- Life projects, and living well in larger communities of life according to indigenous visions of the world
- Customary tenure systems and territorial rights
- Livelihoods and food security: coping with neoliberal growth
- Violence, criminalization, and dispute resolution in contexts of industrial resource extraction
- Community-based protected areas, co-management, and conservation governance
- Protection of archaeological, sacred and ceremonial sites as cultural heritage
Research Locations
Our core indigenous partner relationships are well-established throughout the Americas:
- Canada
- Cree
- Innu
- Haudenosaunee
- Hul’qumi’num
- St’at’imc
- Mitchikanibiko’inik
Latin America:
- Totonac (Mexico)
- Mayan Mam (Guatemala)
- Mayan Q'eqchi
- Cuna (Panama)
- Embera (Panama)
- Ngäbe (Panama)
- Runa (Ecuador)
- Yshiro (Paraguay)
- Mapuche (Chile and Argentina)
Collaborative Mandate
The project demands intensive and sustained collaboration between the partners. We will meet the central challenge of meaningful communication in several ways: through face-to-face meetings and a variety of electronic media; through community-based mapping that enables each partner to develop a state-of-the environment profile of their territory, and to communicate and compare with others; and through participatory video enabling each partner to assemble the stories of their people about the challenges of resource use conflicts, livelihood maintenance, and protection of ecologies and cultural landscapes. The analytical knowledge, skills and information resources acquired by communities will improve the odds of survival for lifeways and socio-ecologies that are a precious legacy for diversity and environmental integrity.
An important challenge, given geographic distances and language differences, is to maintain channels for communication and palpable relationship-building. Initially, partners are sharing key documents about their issues and territories on INSTEAD’s website. An on-line discussion forum will supplement other forms of communication. One or more of the team researchers will be responsible to work with each partner community/organization to coordinate coverage of research axes and methods, and to secure comparative dialogue, analysis and mutual support. From each partner community, a local field coordinator/researcher will collaborate with the designated university researcher(s). We will provide field coordinator/researchers with training in community mapping, participatory video, and other methods and perspectives, which they will pass on to other partner community members. Training will be offered both in Montreal and in partner communities, as appropriate, with the assistance of research professionals/technicians, professors and graduate students.
Research Partners
Our core partner relationships are already well-established in their respective world areas. The novelty and momentum of our project is to link the knowledge and experience gathered at these global nodes into a sustained alliance anchored in comparative analysis, strategy formation and policy action. We bring into play new trans-disciplinary intersections, incorporating new theoretical perspectives, and extend our partnerships to additional indigenous governments, community-based organizations (CBOs) and NGOs.