To main content
Norsk
Publications

Transformation as praxis: responding to climate change uncertainties in marginal environments in South Asia

Academic article
Year of publication
2021
Journal
Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability
External websites
Cristin
Arkiv
Doi
Involved from NIVA
Hans Nicolai Adam
Contributors
Lyla Mehta, Shilpi Srivastava, Synne Movik, Hans Nicolai Adam, Rohan D’Souza, Devanathan Parthasarathy, Lars Otto Næss, Nobuhito Ohte

Summary

This paper provides some of the conceptual and methodological underpinnings being developed in the ongoing TAPESTRY project which is part of the Transformations to Sustainability (T2S) Programme. We debate how the notion of transformation may be conceptualized from ‘below’ in marginal environments that are especially marked by high levels of climate-related uncertainties. We propose the notion of transformation as praxis — where the focus is on bottom-up change, identities, wellbeing and the recovery of agency by marginalized people and explore how ‘patches’ and the ‘marginal’ offer critical conceptual templates to examine whether and how systemic transformative changes are being assembled and effected on the ground by hybrid and transformative alliances. The article concludes by discussing potential challenges of such engagements, alongside pursuing a normative and political approach to T2S.