Co-creating ecological knowledge through illustrated storytelling: an innovative method to address the complex sustainability challenges
Research demonstrates that knowledge co-creation contributes to effectively addressing the complexity of sustainability. Despite the evidence of its effectiveness, it is still an underdeveloped field of research and approach, especially within the law domain. The ECOCARE team from Norway and Brazil (https://en.uit.no/project/ecocare) explores the implications of knowledge co-creation from a methodological viewpoint grounded in participatory research. In this context, participatory research is framed as an experiential, relational, and collaborative inquiry process. The preliminary step in establishing participatory approaches, especially within research endeavors that link Western practices and Indigenous research methodologies, is to adopt a critical decolonizing mindset through transformative community engagement. Participatory research foci shall include critical appraisal and rethinking of the dominant Western paradigm approach to climate governance research. The result is that research is no longer conceived as an inquiry into legal orders and community members, but rather as a collaborative experience with all the participants. This leads to the construction of research as a co-created interpretation of stories, which may be effectively supported through the adoption of visual language that advances participation, inclusion, and interaction among the parties.
