This research network will work directly with a number of indigenous communities in the northeast of Brazil (the Pankararu, Xokó, Kariri-Xocó, Karapotó Plak-ô, Tupinambá de Olivença, Pataxó Hãhãhãe, Pataxó da Aldeia Dois Irmãos, Pataxó da Aldeia Trambuco, and Imboré Camacan da Aldeia do Cachimbo) and in the southwest of Colombia (primarily the Nasa community).
The network will also seek to draw in activists and community members from further afield in Brazil and Colombia, and from other countries in Latin America where the discourse of sumak kawsay has been more extensively developed, for example Bolivia and Ecuador.
The research agenda addressed through the network is both timely and important for the whole of humanity. We therefore anticipate that members of mainstream society with a concern for the environment, sustainability and community wellbeing in both Latin America as well as in the UK will benefit from engagement with this project.
Our project partners in Brazil and Colombia, the NGO Thydêwá and the Pueblos en Camino communication-action initiative will facilitate work with the indigenous communities. These organisations will also allow the network to reach a wider public in Latin America, both indigenous and non-indigenous, marginalised and mainstream, through their own extensive networks of contacts.
In the UK we aim to open up debate on the subject of ‘living well’ with local community groups and branches of relevant national organisations as a follow-up to events held in Leeds and Bristol.
Please get in touch if you would like to get involved in the network’s outreach activities.