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Ways forward for resilience thinking: lessons from the field for those exploring social-ecological systems in agriculture and natural resource management
Citation
Sinclair, K and Rawluk, A and Kumar, S and Curtis, A, Ways forward for resilience thinking: lessons from the field for those exploring social-ecological systems in agriculture and natural resource management, Ecology and Society, 22, (4) Article 21. ISSN 1708-3087 (2017) [Refereed Article]
DOI: doi:10.5751/ES-09705-220421
Abstract
Resilience thinking appears to offer a holistic approach that can be used by social researchers to interpret past and contemporary conditions and identify possible futures for social-ecological systems (SES). Resilience thinking is shaping contemporary environmental policy and its implementation in Australia, Europe, and North America. At the same time, social researchers have raised concerns about the limitations of resilience thinking, particularly in its handling of human agency, power relationships, social thresholds, and the social construction of SES definitions. We argue for a reflexive turn in resilience thinking as a way to address these concerns. We draw on lessons from three Australian case studies where a reflexive application of resilience thinking generated insights for research and practice. We propose six areas for reflexive inquiry: (1) focal scale and level, (2) SES definition, (3) narratives of change, (4) processes of knowledge production, (5) social transition trajectories, and ( 6) social thresholds. In so doing, the assumptions of resilience thinking are politicized and problematized, which improves its theoretical analytical utility, and in practice generates new insights into social processes. Reflexivity offers opportunity for greater cross-disciplinary dialogue between resilience thinking and the social sciences, while allowing methodologies with differing ontologies and epistemologies to be applied in a complementary manner.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | agriculture, limitations, natural resource management, reflexivity, resilience framework, social-ecological systems, resilience, agricultural systems, social research |
| Research Division: | Agricultural, Veterinary and Food Sciences |
| Research Group: | Agriculture, land and farm management |
| Research Field: | Agricultural land management |
| Objective Division: | Expanding Knowledge |
| Objective Group: | Expanding knowledge |
| Objective Field: | Expanding knowledge in the agricultural, food and veterinary sciences |
| UTAS Author: | Kumar, S (Ms Saideepa Kumar) |
| ID Code: | 145789 |
| Year Published: | 2017 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 13 |
| Deposited By: | TIA - Research Institute |
| Deposited On: | 2021-08-05 |
| Last Modified: | 2021-08-06 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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