River co-learning arenas: principles and practices for transdisciplinary knowledge co-creation and multi-scalar (inter)action
Local Environment, vol. 30, pp. 58–80
Abstract
This paper develops the methodological concept of river co-learning arenas (RCAs) and explores their potential to strengthen innovative grassroots river initiatives, enliven river commons, regenerate river ecologies, and foster greater socio-ecological justice. The integrity of river systems has been threatened in profound ways over the last century. Pollution, damming, canalisation, and water grabbing are some examples of pressures threatening the entwined lifeworlds of human and non-human communities that depend on riverine systems. Finding ways to reverse the trends of environmental degradation demands complex spatial-temporal, political, and institutional articulations across different levels of governance (from local to global) and among a plurality of actors who operate from diverse spheres of knowledge and systems of practice, and who have distinct capacities to affect decision-making. In this context, grassroots river initiatives worldwide use new multi-actor and multi-level dialogue arenas to develop proposals for river regeneration and promote social-ecological justice in opposition to dominant technocratic-hydraulic development strategies. This paper conceptualises these spaces of dialogue and action as RCAs and critically reflects on ways of organising and supporting RCAs while facilitating their cross-fertilisation in transdisciplinary practice. By integrating studies, debates, and theories from diverse disciplines, we generate multi-faceted insights and present cornerstones for the engagement with and/or enaction of RCAs. This encompasses five main themes central to RCAs: (1) River knowledge encounters and truth regimes, (2) transgressive co-learning, (3) confrontation and collaboration dynamics, (4) ongoing reflexivity, (5) transcultural knowledge assemblages and translocal bridging of rooted knowledge.
Authors 19
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Daniele Tubino Pante de Souza corresponding
Wageningen University & Research
Affiliation as printed
Water Resources Management Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Geography & Institute of the Environment, University of Girona, Girona, Spain
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Norwegian University of Life Sciences · Wageningen University & Research
Affiliation as printed
Education and Learning Sciences, Department of Social Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands
Norwegian Life Sciences University, Ås, Norway
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Wageningen University & Research
Affiliation as printed
Water Resources Management Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands
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University of Amsterdam · Wageningen University & Research
Affiliation as printed
CEDLA - Center for Latin American Research and Documentation, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Water Resources Management Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands
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Wageningen University & Research
Affiliation as printed
Water Resources Management Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands
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Wageningen University & Research
Affiliation as printed
Water Resources Management Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands
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Wageningen University & Research
Affiliation as printed
Cultural Geography Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands
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University of British Columbia · University of Johannesburg
Affiliation as printed
Department of Anthropology and Development Studies, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
Institute for Resources Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
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Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies
Affiliation as printed
Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies, Leiden, Netherlands
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Wageningen University & Research
Affiliation as printed
Hydrology and Quantitative Water Management Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands
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Wageningen University & Research
Affiliation as printed
Aquaculture and Fisheries Group, Department of Animal Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands
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Affiliation as printed
CEDLA - Center for Latin American Research and Documentation, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
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Wageningen University & Research
Affiliation as printed
Water Resources Management Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands
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Affiliation as printed
CEDLA - Center for Latin American Research and Documentation, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
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Affiliation as printed
Universidad del Valle, Instituto Cinara, Cali, Colombia
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Affiliation as printed
Instituto de Estudios Regionales INER at Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia
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Wageningen University & Research
Affiliation as printed
Water Resources Management Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands
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Society for Promoting Participative Ecosystem Management
Affiliation as printed
SOPPECOM - Society for Promoting Participative Ecosystem Management, Pune, India
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