research partners

As long as thinking remains the dominant and privileged way of knowing, animate Earth will continue to be either marginalized or excluded from explicit engagement in research (and other) conversations. As many suggest, engaging in conversation across socially constructed boundaries between human, nature and spirit may make a significant difference in our ability to live harmoniously and sustainability on a finite planet (see for example, Abram, 1996; Berry, 1999;  Berry & Tucker, 2006; Harner, 1988; Haraway, 1991a, 1994; Harvey, 2006a,2006b; Jensen, 2004; Montgomery, 2008; Plumwood, 2002; Smith, 2004; Starhawk, 2004). This does not mean a rejection of Western scientific or rational conceptual knowing, but rather a creation of more opportunities for both/and texts: research texts which demand different forms of consciousness from both 'writer' and 'reader,' and that enable 'reading' and researching through an integrated mind, heart, body and spirit. Paraphrasing the oft-cited quotation from Einstein, perhaps we cannot solve the human-created environmental and social problems with the same kind of thinking, consciousness, and knowledge-making processes (i.e. epistemologies) that created them.