Mobilizing Collective Agency through Technologies of the Self in Transformation Labs

This workshop focused on two tools to raise participants’ awareness about their actual and potential social-ecological agency for transformation, called “Ego-nets” and “Avatars”.

David Manuel-Navarrete

David Manuel-Navarrete is an associate professor in sustainability at Arizona State University. He studies subjective dynamics in coupled social-ecological and technological systems, and sustainability transformations. His most recent research explores adaptation, resilience, and transformation of water infrastructures in Mexico City, and the promotion of indigenous languages to advance sustainability in the Amazon.

Hallie Eakin

Hallie Eakin is in the School of Sustainability and an affiliated professor in the School of Urban Planning and Geographical Sciences and the School for the Future of Innovation in Society at Arizona State University. Professor Eakin’s research interests include household vulnerability and the sustainability of adaptations to global change, social-ecological resilience and integration of risk into development planning, the governance of telecoupled systems, rural development, sustainable food systems, agricultural change, and food sovereignty.

Lakshmi Charli-Joseph

Lakshmi Charli-Joseph has been involved for the past twelve years in educational and capacity building projects related to wetland management, water governance, and sustainability science. She currently works at the Laboratorio Nacional de Ciencias de la Sostenibilidad-IE, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (LANCIS-IE-UNAM) in stakeholders’ engagement, and transformation to sustainability in Mexico.

J. Mario Siqueiros-García

J. Mario Siqueiros-García is a researcher at the Instituto de Investigaciones en Matemáticas Aplicadas y en Sistemas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (IIMAS-UNAM). He is an anthropologist working in complex systems, complex networks, social sciences and computational modeling.

“Ego-nets” and “Avatars” are part of a suite of participatory research practices that support effective Transformation Labs (T-Labs), which are participatory spaces to activate and mobilize collective agency and intentions in relation to a stagnant sustainability challenge. T-Labs were developed and implemented in the context of ISSC “Transformative Pathways to Sustainability” Project (PATHWAYS Network).