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AAA/CASCA Executive Program Committee
Executive Session - Oral Presentation Session
Heather Lazrus
National Center for Atmospheric Research
Research that brings Indigenous and Earth sciences into partnership has the potential to investigate and address complex issues in ways that go beyond what a single knowledge system might accomplish on its own. Facilitating such collaborative research through building trust, exploring appropriate protocols, and following just pathways of collaboration is the cornerstone of the Rising Voices: Climate Resilience through Indigenous and Earth Sciences program at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. One example of the collaborative research flowing from Rising Voices is the Indigenous and Western Knowledge to Transform Learning and Discovery in the Geosciences project which was designed to promote the participation and inclusion of Native American scientists in geosciences. The intent of the original project was to support intergenerational Indigenous community input into the National Water Model through observations, contributions to model priorities and development, and exploring potential utility of such national models to tribal decision making. Through conversations and knowledge exchanges with project partners in Arizona, Alaska, Wisconsin, and Hawai‘I, the project evolved to explore deeper epistemological issues around the roles of water in Indigenous communities and in scientific models. A retrospective, critical look at the project illustrates how bidirectional pathways of information sharing can lead to intercultural knowledge creation through a scientific framework of social justice.