Indigenous Intergenerational Resilience and Lifelong Learning: Critical Leverage Points for Deep Sustainability Transformation in Turbulent Times

Abstract

Rapidly changing conditions and the complexity and interconnectedness of global challenges means that learning across the lifespan is more important than ever. Equally critical are sustainable planetary futurities and associated pedagogical practices which reach beyond the imposition of settler temporalities, modernist technological solutions, and western cognitive imperialism as a means of responding to our cultural-ecological crisis. Pedagogical practices must actively work with diverse generational realities and impacts associated with the cultural, ecological, and climate emergency. This paper reports on a growing conversation across diverse cultural biospheres regarding inclusive Indigenous-led strategies of multi-generational resilience addressing human–environmental wellbeing. Adopting an inclusive Indigenist theoretical and methodological approach, it narrates the epistemological and relational practices of several multigenerational pedagogical forums (land-based and virtual) based in and out of Turtle Island/Canada from 2015–2023. Based on an Indigenist research paradigm and qualitative research methods pertaining to one multi-day land based learning summit and three online virtual learning forums, a thematic analysis of key findings relating to pedagogical practices, intercultural and intergenerational themes, and the shifting dynamics of multi-generational resilience work is provided. Themes include the critical importance of epistemological shifts over time; Indigenous multi spatial-temporalities; relational rather than binary or even hybrid views of sexual, gendered, ethnic, and racial identities within cultural-ecological restoration work; the relevance of transnational gatherings; and the adaption of pedagogical practices to meet fluctuating local–global conditions. The paper then summarizes the key elements of lifelong learning within an Indigenist approach to cultural-ecological restoration work, and concludes with a discussion regarding the relevance of this approach in reorientating three previously identified leverage points for accelerating sustainability transformation.