The 2022 International Conference on Sustainability Culture, Sustainability Culture and the Sense of Belongingness to the Land

2022 Sustainability Culture Conference


Ethnic & Cultural Studies Sustainable Development Anthropology Sociology Culture






Our Call for Papers focuses on an interdisciplinary study of sustainability culture and the Agroecological Transition. In our research at NCHU/IAC, we find that the same core question arises over and time again: how is it possible that even though we already have all the knowledge and technology required to live and farm sustainably, we do not seem to be able to fully achieve this? We postulate that the answers are found in how we form our culture and how we relate to the technology that gives us our comforts. Which values do we have, how do we think the world works, and do we really want to be sustainable, no matter what?



 



We seek to further the debate on how culture defines our drive and thrust toward sustainability from an interdisciplinary approach and on what sustainability culture means exactly in the 21st century. The conference that this call for papers is for, the 2022 International Conference on Sustainability Culture, seeks to explore the issues that hinder the achievement of the Great AgroEcologial Transition, and what cultural change is needed to advance this in general. In particular the conference is intended to examine the role and importance in that process of the sense of human belongingness to the land, the environment, and more broadly, to the Earth. We shape our lives in the bedrock of culture. What happens to this process when the Business-As-Usual culture that has led to Climate Change intersects with the urgent need to live sustainably?



 



There will be special attention for the phenomenon of Pacific Island Sustainability Culture. There is a widening acknowledgment that Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) offers pertinent insights on how to be sustainable in relationship to land, sea, and communities of all sentient beings. The question arises whether the island peoples of the Asia-Pacific region, because of their island life bound nature and culture, have a special outlook on TEK and sustainability that is specific to island life, and as such differs from more continental viewpoints. And to the extent this is the case, it is worthwhile to explore what can be their special contribution.



 



POSSIBLE TOPICS for papers relate, but are not limited to:





  • What is sustainability culture exactly, its definition and aspects?




  • How do we overcome Business-As-Usual in our (agri)culture?




  • Sustainability and social justice;




  • Indigenous land and sea management;




  • Building sustainable connections with our direct environment and living communities;




  • Rethinking education for sustainability;




  • Art and sustainability;




  • The Great AgroEcological Transition and its difficulties;




  • TEK and evolving beyond the post-colonial discussion;




  • How do we bring TEK into the AgroEcologial Transition?




  • Is there a Pacific Island Sustainability Culture and what does that entail?




  • On being ecologically human;




  • New Commonness: a universal issue that sustainability is grappling with?




  • Sustainable living as the new universal?




  • Any other related subject.









Contact Info: 




Theodoor Richard, PhD, National Chung Hsing University, International Agricuture Center, Taichung, Taiwan