Navigating Multiple Tensions for Engaged Praxis in a Complex Social-Ecological System
Navigating Multiple Tensions for Engaged Praxis in a Complex Social-Ecological System
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DOI：
10.3390/land7040129
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发表时间：
2018-11
期刊：
影响因子：
3.9
通讯作者：
J. Cockburn;C. Palmer;H. Biggs;Eureta Rosenberg
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
J. Cockburn;C. Palmer;H. Biggs;Eureta Rosenberg
需要创新、务实的方法来支持河流集水区等复杂社会生态系统（CSES）的可持续生计和景观管理。在南非的Tsitsa河流域，研究人员和自然资源管理人员共同采用了这种创新方法。由于CSES的特点是不确定性和意外，理解和管理它们需要致力于反身实践和跨学科。因此，我们促进了项目团队的集体反思和学习过程，以加深我们对CSES实践的理解。我们的研究结果表明，CSES思维创造了一个有利的框架。然而，在不同参与者之间建立新的联系以将CSES思维付诸实践是具有挑战性的，因为它需要发展新型的工作关系。现有的体制结构、权力动态和工作方式造成了重大制约。对我们的研究结果进行更深入的批判现实主义分析，揭示了一个隐喻，解释了为什么这项工作具有挑战性。在这个比喻中，Tsitsa项目团队正在一个充满辩证张力的崎岖不平的地形中航行。例如，自然科学和社会科学之间以及科学和土著知识之间的紧张关系。基于这个比喻，我们建议科学家和管理人员发挥更大的作用，并建议变革性的社会学习过程，以支持团队在如此崎岖不平的地形中航行。
Innovative, pragmatic approaches are needed to support sustainable livelihoods and landscape management in complex social-ecological systems (CSES) such as river catchments. In the Tsitsa River Catchment, South Africa, researchers and natural resource managers have come together to apply such innovative approaches. Since CSES are characterised by uncertainty and surprise, understanding and managing them requires a commitment to reflexive praxis and transdisciplinarity. Accordingly, we facilitated a collective reflection and learning process in the project team to deepen our understanding of praxis in CSES. Our findings indicate that CSES thinking created an enabling framing. However, building new linkages among diverse actors to put CSES thinking into practice is challenging, since it requires the development of novel working relationships. Existing institutional structures, power dynamics, and ways of working impose significant constraints. A deeper critical realist analysis of our findings revealed a metaphor which explains why this work is challenging. In this metaphor, the Tsitsa Project team is navigating a bumpy terrain of dialectic tensions. These are tensions for example between natural science and social science, and between science and indigenous knowledge. Based on this metaphor, we suggest an expanding role for scientists and managers, and recommend transformative social learning processes to support teams navigating such bumpy terrains.