SUSTAIN supports NATHIST on SAREC Funded Webinars - Sustain Icom

NATHIST secured SAREC funding to organize and deliver three webinars around the topic, Confluence of Knowledge Across Time : Workshop for Reciprocal Engagement with Living Knowledge Systems in Museums

About the Project
This project marks a fundamental shift in museum practice—moving away from traditional models of “collecting nature” toward a framework of “listening to nature.” Using the Mi’kmaw methodology of “Two-Eyed Seeing” (Etuaptmumk), we are working to position source communities as co-authors of museum knowledge rather than subjects of study. The Mi’kmaw concept, advocating for the simultaneous application of Indigenous/local knowledge holders’ perspectives alongside Western viewpoints supports co-created approaches to represent the natural world, exploring methodologies for the co-existence of multiple knowledge systems within museum display and outreach.

Workshop I (held June 30, 2026)

Local Knowledge and Climate Change Adaptation in Simonga Village featured a case-study from Zambia focused on documenting traditional agricultural knowledge as a nature-based solution for climate resilience in collaboration with the Livingstone Museum and Simonga Village Farmers Collaborative. The webinar introduced participants to smallholder farmers from Simonga in Livingstone, Zambia, who cultivate maize, groundnuts, beans, and other crops. Farmers shared their experiences of using local knowledge to adapt to climate change and cope with declining rainfall. Attendees heard from farmers about traditional knowledge that has been abandoned over time, practices that continue to support farming today, and challenges that farmers face in applying their knowledge. SUSTAIN board member Michela Rota, ICOM-Italy, provided commentary. You can watch the recorded webinar on YouTube at this link: https://youtu.be/Bi8cELjq2VE

Workshop 2 (11 July 2026)

The Quiet Beasts in the Living Territory — Rukai Forest Knowledge, Colonial Forestry History, and Decolonial Futures

Saturday, 11 July 2026 | 10:00–11:30 AM (UTC+2)

Kabalelradhane Village Indigenous Cultural Health Station + YouTube Livestream

FREE and open to all. Watch live on the ICOM NATHIST YouTube channel!

Online registration: https://forms.gle/76GTK9bUkam3hbuQ6

When museums start including Indigenous and local knowledge alongside Western science, the result is often oversimplified or turned into a template. And even when the intention is good, the way knowledge gets interpreted and presented to visitors , whether through guided tours, exhibition labels, educational programmes, still tends to be shaped by a modern, Western lens.

Why is this so hard to change? Because the knowledge itself arrives fragmented. The gap between how traditional knowledge was built and how modern institutions operate is enormous. Many native languages, known as the living vessels of this knowledge, are no longer spoken fluently across generations. And the communities who hold this knowledge have seen their landscapes transformed by decades of policy change, population shifts, and climate change. Add the pressures of tourism and local bureaucracy, and cultural interpretation becomes even harder to keep in the hands of the people it belongs to.

Workshop 2 brings museum professionals directly into a conversation – through prerecorded interviews – that is rarely heard outside the village. An elder of the Rukai people in Kabalelradhane Village (神山部落), Pingtung County, Taiwan, shares experiences about a colonial forestry plantation, memories of what the forest used to look like, how government tree-planting policies changed the mountains, and encouragement based on what today’s young people are doing to reclaim that history. You will also hear a female elder and a young woman in dialogue that shows what it really looks like when traditional knowledge is passed on and when it breaks. Together, these voices connect elders still practicing traditional knowledge in daily life with a younger generation working to repair what has been lost and to reclaim the right to tell their own story. We invite you to join this conversation and explore what it might mean for museums, cultural interpretation, and traditional knowledge to genuinely coexist.

Program (UTC+2)

10:00–10:10 | Opening Remarks

10:10–10:20 | Introduction: The topic and the “Cultural Learning Week”

10:20–10:35 | Interview I: Forest Knowledge and Colonial History

10:35–10:50 | Interview II: Farming Knowledge and Intergenerational Dialogue

10:50–11:00 | Commentary from ICOM UMAC and ICOM ICR (tentative)

11:00–11:25 | Q&A and Open Discussion

11:25–11:30 | Closing Remarks

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If you wish to learn more about the Indigenous Rukai community, you may refer to this conference recording in 2025: https://www.youtube.com/live/MI9Y4gm8XrU?si=inNZdJP96g-3MwAP

Workshop III (tbd)

Global/Spiritual Contexts will focus on uthentic representations of spiritual connections between people and nature in scientific institutions.

This series of webinars results from a partnership between numerous ICOM committees and local community stewards. The project is led by ICOM NATHIST and co-organized by ICOM France, ICOM SUSTAIN, and the Livingstone Museum (Zambia).

NATHIST appreciates the moral support and partnership of ICOM Zambia, ICOM ICME, ICOM ICR, ICOM Costa Rica, ICOM Spain, ICOM Israel, ICOM Barbados, and ICOM UMAC.

By documenting oral histories and co-creating metadata, the goal is to establish a replicable, ethical model for museums worldwide to empower the communities who steward our environment and cultural heritage.

Participate
We invite museum professionals, researchers, community workers, and students to join these vital conversations on decolonization, climate justice, and the future of natural history museums.

ICOM SUSTAIN

ICOM SUSTAIN

SUSTAIN supports NATHIST on SAREC Funded Webinars Network, SAREC Project