Creating transformative spaces for dialogue and action: reflecting on the experience of the Southern Africa Food Lab

Ecology and Society: a journal of integrative science for resilience and sustainability

RalphHamann,¹  ScottDrimie,²  Annie P. Manderson,³  NorahMlondobozi,⁴ 

[1] Southern Africa Food Lab, Stellenbosch University;Centre for Complex Systems in Transition, Stellenbosch University;Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town;Southern Africa Food Lab, Stellenbosch University

关键词: change;    dialogue;    experimental action;    food systems;    power imbalances;    social-ecological systems;    Theory U;    transformative spaces;   

DOI  :  10.5751/ES-10177-230302

学科分类：生物科学（综合）

来源: Resilience Alliance Publications

【 摘 要 】

Addressing food insecurity in South Africa requires innovative responses that fundamentally reconsider its causes, particularly because challenges facing the food system cut across issues, sectors, and scales. We discuss our experience in the Southern Africa Food Lab, a transformative space for diverse stakeholders from across the food system to engage in dialogue, paying particular attention to the relationship between dialogue and action. We argue that dialogue gives rise to action not only because it generates new ideas but because it creates commitments and relationships for new action. A particularly important aspect of such dialogue is to proactively address power imbalances and to give voice to the marginalized in the system. Such efforts, when implemented vigorously, likely result in a new set of challenges, but such resistance is a signal that indeed we are having at least some success at addressing deep-seated, structural dimensions of systems transformation.

【 授权许可】

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