AESS 2017 Draft Conference Session Schedule
A Network Approach to Climate Change Collaborations between Indigenous Peoples and Climate Scientists
Abstract
Using a social network approach, this research analyzes collaborations in a U.S. climate change organization that brings together Indigenous peoples and climate scientists with emphasis on respect for multiple knowledge and science systems. I study this organization’s efforts to attend to inequalities associated with climate change through collaborative projects, relationship building, respectful organizational protocols, and levelling uneven power dynamics between climate science and Indigenous science. The research uses social network analysis, participant observation, and secondary data sources to analyze and graphically illustrate different kinds of collaborations in the network, and how they correlate with multiple attributes of organization participants. The network analysis finds ample knowledge sharing collaborations between members of the network, and that a majority hold high value for Indigenous science. The organization uses diverse cultural practices and protocols, and Indigenous members are central actors in the network and in leadership roles. The study reveals less collaborations taking place in network relations focused on shared decision-making and policy efforts, and in community-based climate adaptation, possibly because these types of collaborations require greater investments of trust, time, resources, and power sharing. This research holds potential to inform other climate change organizations seeking to work alongside Indigenous peoples, and suggests areas of improvement for more integrated collaboration efforts, including attention to intersections between race, ethnicity, Indigeneity and gender.
Primary Contact
Carla May Dhillon, University of Michigan
Presenters
Carla May Dhillon, University of Michigan
Title of paper
A Network Approach to Climate Change Collaborations between Indigenous Peoples and Climate Scientists