Abstract

Seasonal rounds are deliberative articulations of a community’s sociocultural relations with their ecological system. The process of visualizing seasonal rounds informs transdisciplinary research. We present a methodological approach for communities of enquiry to engage communities of practice through context-specific sociocultural and ecological relations driven by seasonal change. We first discuss historical précis of the concept of seasonal rounds that we apply to assess the spatial and temporal communal migrations and then describe current international research among Indigenous and rural communities in North America and Central Asia by the creation of a common vocabulary through mutual respect for multiple ways of knowing, validation of co-generated knowledge, and insights into seasonal change. By investigating the relationship between specific biophysical indicators and livelihoods of local communities, we demonstrate that seasonal rounds are an inclusive and participatory methodology that brings together diverse Indigenous and rural voices to anticipate anthropogenic climate change.

Highlights

  • To recognize and respond to climate change, we must appreciate the complex connectivity between sociocultural and ecological systems

  • We present ongoing transdisciplinary climate change research in North America and Central Asia in which seasonal rounds serve as a starting point for revitalization3 and development of ecological calendars, and reflect on how the collaborative process of articulation and visual expression of seasonal rounds can facilitate cogeneration4 of actionable insights

  • This paper is about a methodology to understand the priorities of diverse communities in response to a global phenomenon, namely anthropogenic climate change, that is experienced uniquely in different cultural and ecological contexts

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Summary

Introduction

To recognize and respond to climate change, we must appreciate the complex connectivity between sociocultural and ecological systems. Relational thinking is fundamental to grasping the implications of climate change at the scale of local communities (Gaston et al, 2018). Developing a relational understanding of climate change confounds disciplinary approaches because it forces us to think across epistemological and ontological boundaries. A being “is” in relation to a continuum of beings within its habitat (Ingold, 2000). Living organisms, including humans, evolve through relations with their habitat across space and time, corresponding to the rhythms of seasonal change within their respective landscapes (Dunlap et al, 2004). Human knowledge derives from engagement and performance in the spatial and temporal dimensions of climatic and ecological cycles.

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