Relational Systems Thinking

The Dibaajimowin (Story) of Re-Theorizing “Systems Thinking” and “Complexity Science”

Authors

  • Melanie Goodchild Waterloo Institute for Social Innovation & Resilience

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47061/jabsc.v2i1.2027

Keywords:

Indigenous, Relational, systems thinking

Abstract

This paper extends the analysis begun in Goodchild (2021), with suggestions for engaging with the spirit of relational systems thinking as a dynamic interface theoretical model.  It is a perspective offered to help systems change practitioners and scholars transcend binary and hierarchical thinking, in the sacred space between worldviews, to embrace a complexity mindset informed by Indigenous wisdom.  It is not about the what of deep systems awareness, but the how.

References

Absolon, K. E. (2011). Kaandossiwin: How we come to know. Fernwood Publishing.

Andersen, L. R., & Björkman, T. (2017). The Nordic secret: A European story of beauty and freedom. Fri Tanke.

Anderson, D. B. (2002). Preparing to teach our children the foundations for an Anishinaabe curriculum. McGill Journal of Education, 37(3), 293–307.

Arizona State University, (2011, May 9). Native and Western science: Possibilities in a dynamic Collaboration [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycQtQZ9y3lc

Barlo, S., Boyd, W. E., Pelizzon, A., & Wilson, S. (2020). Yarning as protected space: Principles and protocols. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 16(2), 90–98. https://doi.org/10.1177/1177180120917480

Barlo, S., Boyd, W. E., Hughes, M., Wilson, S., & Pelizzon, A. (2021). Yarning as protected space: Relational accountability in research. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 17(1), 40–48. https://doi.org/10.1177/1177180120986151

Battiste, M., & Youngblood Henderson, (Sa’ke’j). (2009). Naturalizing Indigenous knowledge in Eurocentric education. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 32(1), 5-18. https://doi.org/10.14288/cjne.v32i1.196482

Bawaka Country, Wright, S., Suchet-Pearson, S., Lloyd, K., Burarrwanga, L., Ganambarr, R.,Ganambarr-Stubbs, M., Ganambarr, B., and Maymuru, D. (2015). Working with and learning from Country: Decentering human author-ity. Cultural Geographies, 22(2), 269–283. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474474014539248

Bell, N. (2018). Anishinaabe research theory and methodology as informed by Nanaboozhoo, the bundle bag, and the medicine wheel. In D. McGregor, J. P. Restoule & R. Johnston (Eds.), Indigenous research: Theories, practices and relationships (pp. 175–186). Canadian Scholars’ Press.

Bishop, M., Vass, G., & Thompson, K. (2021). Decolonising schooling practices through relationality and reciprocity: Embedding local Aboriginal perspectives in the classroom. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 29(2), 193–211. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2019.1704844

Bishop, M. (2021). ‘Don’t tell me what to do’ encountering colonialism in the academy and pushing back with Indigenous autoethnography. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 34(5), 367–378. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2020.1761475

Bohm, D. (1981). Wholeness and the Implicate Order. Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Cajete, G. A. (2000). Native science: Natural laws of interdependence. Clear Light Publishers.

Cajete, G. (2015). Indigenous community: Rekindling the teachings of the seventh fire. Living Justice Press.

Capra, F., & Luisi, P. L. (2014). The systems view of life: A unifying vision. Cambridge University Press.

Carey, M., & Prince, M. (2015). Designing an Australian Indigenous studies curriculum for the twenty-first century: Nakata’s ‘cultural interface’, standpoints and working beyond binaries. Higher Education Research and Development, 34(2), 270–283. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2014.956691

Coates, J., Gray, M., & Hetherington, T. (2006). An ‘ecospiritual’ perspective: Finally, a place for Indigenous approaches. The British Journal of Social Work, 36(3), 381–399. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcl005

Coulthard, G. S. (2014). Red skin white masks: Rejecting the colonial politics of recognition. University of Minnesota Press.

Davidson-Hunt, I. J., & Berkes, F. (2003). Learning as you journey: Anishinaabe perception of social-ecological environments and adaptive Learning. Conservation Ecology, 8(1).https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol8/iss1/art5/

Debassige, B. (2010). Re-conceptualizing Anishinaabe mino-bimaadiziwin (the good life) as research methodology: A spirit-centered way in Anishinaabe research. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 33(1), 11–28.

Debassige, B. (2013). Building on conceptual interpretations of Aboriginal literacy in Anishinaabe research: A turtle shaker model. Canadian Journal of Education, 36(2), 4–33. http://www.jstor.org/stable/canajeducrevucan.36.2.4

Dias, W. P. S. (2008). Philosophical underpinning for systems thinking. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 33(3), 202–213. http://doi.org/10.1179/174327908X366897

Doerfler, J., Sinclair, N. J., & Stark, H. K. (Eds.). (2013). Centering Anishinaabeg studies: Understanding the world through Stories. Michigan State University Press.

Dudgeon, P., & Fielder, J. (2006). Third spaces within tertiary places: Indigenous Australian studies. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 16(5), 396–409. https://doi.org/10.1002/casp.883

Durie, M. (2005). Indigenous knowledge within a global knowledge system. Higher education policy, 18(3), 301–312. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.hep.8300092

Ermine, W. (2007). The Ethical Space of Engagement. Indigenous Law Journal, 6(1), 193-203.

Geniusz, W. (2009). Our knowledge is not primitive: Decolonizing botanical Anishinaabe Teaching. Syracuse University Press.

Goodchild, M. (2021). Relational systems thinking: That’s how change is going to come, from our earth mother. Journal of Awareness-Based Systems Change, 1(1), 75–103. http://doi.org/10.47061/jabsc.v1i1.577

Herman, R. D. K. (2016). Traditional knowledge in a time of crisis: Climate change, culture and communication. Sustainability Science, 11(1), 163–176. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-015-0305-9

Hughes, M., & Barlo, S. (2021). Yarning with country: An Indigenist research methodology. Qualitative Inquiry, 27(3–4), 353–363. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800420918889

Kimmerer, R. W. (2013). Braiding sweetgrass: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the teachings of plants. Milkweed Editions.

Kuokkanen, R. (2008). What is hospitality in the academy? Epistemic ignorance and the im(possible) gift. The Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 30(1), 60–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/10714410701821297

LaFever, M. (2016). Switching from bloom to the medicine wheel: Creating learning outcomes that support Indigenous ways of knowing in post-secondary education. Intercultural Education, 27(5), 409–424. https://doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2016.1240496

Lavallée, L. F. (2009). Practical application of an Indigenous research framework and two qualitative Indigenous research methods: Sharing circles and Anishnaabe symbol-based reflection. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 8(1), 21–40. https://doi.org/10.1177/160940690900800103

Lushwala, A. (2017). Deer & thunder: Indigenous ways of restoring the world. Hernan Quinones.

Matsinhe, D. M. (2007). Quest for methodological alternatives. Current Sociology, 55(6), 836–856. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0011392107081988

McGloin, C. (2009). Considering the work of Martin Nakata’s ‘Cultural Interface’: A reflection on theory and practice by a Non-Indigenous academic. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 38(1), 36–41. https://doi.org/10.1375/S1326011100000570

Meadows, D. H. (2008). Thinking in systems: A primer. Chelsea Green Publishing.

Mohawk, J. (2008). Clear thinking: A positive solitary view of nature. In M. K. Nelson (Ed.), Original instructions: Indigenous teachings for a sustainable future (pp. 48–52). Simon and Schuster.

Nabigon, H. (2014). A pedagogical Aboriginal paradigm. Native Social Work Journal, 9, 29-34.

Nakata, M. (2006). Australian Indigenous studies: A question of discipline. The Australian Journal of Anthropology, 17(3), 265–275. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1835-9310.2006.tb00063.x

Nakata, M. (2010). The cultural interface of Islander and scientific knowledge. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 39(S1), 53-57. https://doi.org/10.1375/S1326011100001137

Nakata, M., Nakata, V., Keech, S., & Bolt, R. (2012). Decolonial goals and pedagogies for Indigenous studies. Decolonization: Indigeneity, education & society, 1(1), 120-140.

Parter, C., & Wilson, S. (2021). My research is my story: A methodological framework of inquiry told through storytelling by a doctor of philosophy student. Qualitative Inquiry, 27(8–9), 1084–1094. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800420978759

Peat, D. F. (2005). Blackfoot physics. Weiser Books.

Scharmer, C. O., & Kaufer, K. (2013). Leading from the emerging future: From ego-system to eco-system economies (1st ed.). Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Scharmer, C. O. (2016). Theory U: Leading from the future as it emerges (2nd Ed.). Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Scharmer, C. O. (2018). The essentials of Theory U: Core principles and applications. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Senge, P.M. (2006). The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization. Currency/Doubleday.

Simpson, L. B., & Manitowabi, E. (2013). Theorizing resurgence from within Nishnaabeg thought. In J. Doerfler, N. J. Sinclair, & H. K. Stark (Eds.), Centering Anishinaabeg studies: Understanding the world through stories (pp. 279–293). Michigan State University Press.

Simpson, L. B. (2017). As we have always done: Indigenous freedom through radical resistance. University of Minnesota Press.

Smith, L. T. (2012). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples (2nd ed). Zed Books.

Stonechild, B. (2016). The knowledge seeker: Embracing Indigenous spirituality. University of Regina Press.

Wagamese, R. (2008). One Native Life. Douglas & McIntyre.

Wagamese, R. (2016). Embers: One Ojbway’s Meditations. Douglas & McIntyre.

Wilson, S. (2003). Progressing toward an Indigenous research paradigm in Canada and Australia. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 27(2), 161–178.

Wilson, S. (2008). Research is ceremony: Indigenous research methods. Fernwood Publishing.

Wilson, S. & Hughes, M. (2019). Why Research is Reconciliation. In S. Wilson, A.V. Breen & L. Dupré (Eds.), Research & Reconciliation: unsettling ways of knowing through Indigenous relationships, (pp. 5-19). Canadian Scholars.

Wråkberg, U., & Granqvist, K. (2014). Decolonizing technoscience in northern Scandinavia: The role of scholarship in Sámi emancipation and the indigenization of Western science. Journal of Historical Geography, 44, 81–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhg.2013.12.005

Wulun, J. (2007). Understanding complexity, challenging traditional ways of thinking. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 24(4), 393–402. https://doi.org/10.1002/sres.840.

Yunkaporta, T. (2020). Sand talk: How Indigenous thinking can save the world. Harper One.

Yunkaporta, T., & McGinty, S. (2009). Reclaiming Aboriginal knowledge at the cultural interface. Australian Educational Researcher, 36(2), 55–72. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03216899

Yunkaporta, T., & Shillingsworth, D. (2020). Relationally responsive standpoint. Journal of Indigenous Research, 8(2020). https://doi.org/10.26077/ky71-qt27

Zimmerman, B., Lindberg, C., & Plsek, P. (1998). A complexity science primer: What is complexity and why should I learn about it. Adapted From: Edgeware: Lessons from complexity science for health care leaders, Dallas, TX: VHA Inc.

Published

2022-05-31

How to Cite

Goodchild, M. (2022). Relational Systems Thinking: The Dibaajimowin (Story) of Re-Theorizing “Systems Thinking” and “Complexity Science”. Journal of Awareness-Based Systems Change, 2(1), 53–76. https://doi.org/10.47061/jabsc.v2i1.2027

Issue

Section

Original Articles (Peer-Reviewed)