AAA/CASCA Executive Program Committee

Executive Session - Oral Presentation Session

Rising Voices: An intercultural collaboration between Indigenous and Earth sciences

Presenter(s)

• 

  Julie Maldonado

  Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network

Co-Author(s)

Heather Lazrus (National Center for Atmospheric Research)

Rising Voices: Climate Resilience through Indigenous and Earth Sciences has developed into a network of over 400 engaged participants, including Indigenous and Western scientific professionals, tribal and community leaders, environmental and communication experts, students, educators, and artists from across the United States and around the world. The program facilitates intercultural approaches for understanding and adapting to extreme weather and climate events, variability, and change. At its core, Rising Voices aims to advance science through collaborations that bring Indigenous and Earth (atmospheric, social, biological, ecological) sciences into partnership, supports adaptive and resilient communities through sharing scientific capacity, and provides opportunities for Indigenous students and early career scientists through scientific and community mentoring. Further, it helps Western-trained scientists expand their observational skills, research paradigms, capacity to apply and translate findings, and ultimately their science. Rising Voices functions as a boundary network among diverse individuals and knowledge systems, and fosters relationship building based upon mutual trust and respect. It acknowledges the inherent value of Indigenous knowledge systems, science, and adaptive practices, honoring them equally with Western science. The program’s cornerstone has anchored around addressing the gap in the initial, seldom-funded period that is required to build trust and learn how to translate between Indigenous and Earth sciences for intercultural collaboration. We have had as many failures as successes, and mostly the complexities across this spectrum. This presentation will address some of what we have learned through this process and can offer to enhance intercultural collaboration based on respect, justice, equality, and reciprocity.