Water justice & youth mental health resilience: co-creating art-based solutions with Alaskan Native and Awajun communities

对于土著人民来说，水提供了生活方式和生存空间，具有不可否认的精神意义。土著人民日益被认为是全球领导者，他们通过自己的知识和智慧积极制定国家和国际水资源政策。然而，几代人以来，土著人民继续在全球范围内为水正义而斗争，殖民遗产仍然对土著人民的自决权、社会经济发展、文化认同和健康结果产生深远影响。随着时间的推移，水将几代人联系在一起，可以通过治愈和破坏的方式做到这一点，这取决于不同的世代与水的互动方式。正如土著人民一样，我们今天与之互动的水域也经历了历史创伤。传统和当代艺术越来越多地被土著人民用来通过家族历史反映他们与土地和水的联系，从而促进代际愈合。土著青年正在发挥关键作用，他们与长老建立联系，通过艺术引领对话，鼓励变革，设计解决办法，从对水和人民的历史创伤中恢复过来。我们研究的目标是与土著青年合作，解决目前影响土著社区的水和精神健康问题。我们的方法将受到“双眼看”的概念的启发，通过一种共同的语言：艺术，融合土著和非土著的认识方式。我们认识到非土著和土著知识体系之间的不平衡关系，这将要求我们的研究团队谨慎并有意识地了解他们的价值观、立场和动机。我们将分别与亚马孙(秘鲁)和阿拉斯加(美国)的Awajun和阿拉斯加土著人民合作，项目团队成员与当地组织和社区建立了长期的合作和值得信赖的关系。我们项目的早期阶段将致力于巩固建立在相互信任和理解基础上的跨国土著和非土著伙伴关系。在研究团队内并与社区一起，我们将制定合作进程的共同愿景，以支持创建：(I)对如何交谈的共同理解；(Ii)如何一起行走的共同愿景；以及(Iii)对术语和概念的共同理解。将叙事和参与式艺术方法融合在一起，符合Awajun和阿拉斯加土著土著的认识方式并在其指导下，我们将提高社会变革的意识，并开辟知识发展的新途径，将权力转移到土著人民和社区。通过艺术大篷车、传统艺术工作坊、以艺术为基础的社会企业和PhotoVoice，我们将探讨精神健康和水之间的联系，以及土著社区水治理中的公平和正义挑战。我们项目的最后阶段侧重于发展一个网络，将来自世界各地的土著青年、研究人员、艺术家、活动家和政策制定者联系起来，他们共同致力于以艺术为基础的研究和跨文化知识交流。该网络将通过在线讨论平台、播客系列和巡回展览促进对话。这项研究将表明，土著青年是他们土地上的专家，他们能够作出决定，为符合他们自己的目标、认识方式和存在方式的未来提供信息。通过将不同的研究专门知识与土著知识和兴趣相结合，并通过建立对如何利用土著原则支持水和人类健康的以艺术为基础的理解，该项目有可能利用可能在世界其他地区复制的方法为可持续战略提供信息。

For Indigenous Peoples, water provides lifeways, subsistence, and has undeniable spiritual significance. Indigenous Peoples are increasingly recognised as global leaders, actively shaping, through their knowledge and wisdom, national and international water policymaking. Yet, for generations, Indigenous Peoples continue to struggle for water justice across the globe, and colonial legacies still have profound effects on Indigenous Peoples' right to self-determination, socioeconomic development, cultural identity and health outcomes. Water connects generations over time and can do so in both healing and destructive ways, depending on how the various generations interact with it. The waters we interact with today have experienced historical traumas, just as Indigenous Peoples. Traditional and contemporary art is increasingly being used by Indigenous Peoples to promote intergenerational healing by reflecting on their connection to land and water through family histories. Indigenous youth are playing a critical role by connecting with Elders and leading a dialogue through art, to inspire change and design solutions to recover from historical trauma to water and to peoples. The goal of our research is to work with Indigenous youth to address current water and mental health issues affecting Indigenous communities. Our approach will be informed by the concept of "two-eyed seeing", blending Indigenous and Non-Indigenous ways of knowing, through a common language: art. We acknowledge that the uneven relationship between non-Indigenous and Indigenous knowledge systems, will require our research team to be careful and consciously aware of their values, positions, and motives.We will work with Awajun and Alaskan Native Peoples in Amazonas (Peru) and Alaska (USA) respectively, where members of the project team have long-term established collaborations and trusted relationships with local organisations and communities. The early stages of our project will aim to consolidate a cross-country Indigenous and non-Indigenous partnership, based on mutual trust and understanding. Within the research team and with the communities we will develop a common vision of the collaborative process to support the creation of: (i) a shared understanding of how to talk together; (ii) a shared vision of how to walk together; and (iii) a shared understanding of terms and concepts.Blending narrative and participatory art approaches, which are consistent with and guided by Awajun and Alaskan Native Indigenous ways of knowing, we will raise consciousness for social change, and open new pathways to knowledge development, which shift the power towards Indigenous Peoples and communities. Through artistic caravans, traditional art workshops, an arts-based social enterprise and photovoice, we will explore the linkages between mental health and water and the challenges of equity and justice in water governance in Indigenous communities. The final stages of our project focus on developing a network to connect Indigenous youth, researchers, artists, activists and policy makers from around the world who share a commitment to arts-based research and intercultural knowledge exchange. The network will facilitate dialogues through an online discussion platform, podcast series and a travelling exhibition. This study will demonstrate that Indigenous youth are experts on their lands and that they are able to make decisions to inform a future that is compatible with their own goals, ways of knowing and of being. By combining diverse research expertise with Indigenous knowledge and interests, and by building an arts-based understanding of how to harness Indigenous principles in support of water and human health, this project has the potential to inform sustainable strategies using approaches which may be replicated in other regions of the world.