Yeknemilis: Social Learning and Intercultural Transdisciplinary Collaboration for Sustainable Life

Isabel Bueno (), Ana Isabel Moreno-Calles and Juliana Merçon
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Isabel Bueno: Posgrado en Ciencias de la Sostenibilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City 04510, Mexico
Ana Isabel Moreno-Calles: Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores Unidad Morelia, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Morelia 58190, Mexico
Juliana Merçon: Instituto de Investigaciones en Educación, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa 91097, Mexico

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 12, 1-26

Abstract: Intercultural transdisciplinary research reinforces sustainable social-ecological systems in Latin America. Social learning (SL) is a crucial process within this type of research as it fosters collaboration among diverse groups of people, communities of practice, and cultures. Buen vivir (‘well living’), of the popular movements in America, promotes collective responsibility and respect for life. Yeknemilis (‘a good life’) is a value framework of the Masewal people of the Sierra Madre Oriental, Mexico. Members of Tosepan, an organization of the Masewal and other indigenous peoples of this region, reflected on their cultural roots, ways of life, and relations with the territory to strengthen their alternative and self-determined lifeway. Involvement in participatory research within the transdisciplinary process allowed us to focus on the learnings and conditions that foster values and strategies for yeknemilis. Through participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and participatory activities, we identified five key social learning areas that foster conditions for yeknemilis and life-sustaining relationships in intercultural transdisciplinary collaboration (ITC): collective action agenda, community capacities, intercultural transdisciplinarity, creative reflexivity, and a relational ontology horizon. Finally, we show how the collaborative construction of yeknemilis and social learning practices can be crucial in scaling up collective action toward sustainability.

Keywords: collective action; territory; interculturality; transdisciplinary collaborative research; community development; self-determination; relational ontology; communities of practice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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