Thursday May 6th Humberto Maturana passed away at age 92. He was a highly influential Biologist and Philosophers with a profound knowledge of cybernetics and system thinking. Perhaps his most notable concept, one that is increasingly referred to in the context of sustainability science is that of autopoiesis which referred to the self-regenerating and self-constructing structures of living systems. Not so long ago I co-authored a paper about his work and that of Paulo Freire, together with Brazilian lead-author Daniele Tubino Souza and Pedro Jacobi .

I am re-posting it here in commemorating both great Latin American thinkers who have now both passed away. The paper represents an attempt to link the thinking of both men and a discussion of how a synthesis might contribute to emancipatory sustainability-oriented transformations in urban area’s.

Abstract

This article investigates the relevance of the work of the Latin-American thinkers Humberto Maturana and Paulo Freire to learning-based transformations towards sustainability. This analysis was inspired by a case study of a Brazilian urban community seeking to develop pathways towards sustainable living and was informed by a review of their key works. The paper aims to obtain a better conceptualization of learning-based transformations and provide insights into collective learning processes focused on advancing sustainable practices. We present notions of the transformative social learning approach that underpins the case study, using the concepts of Maturana and Freire as a lens. Our results indicate the importance of a relational approach in fostering collective learning processes. Finally, we derive three principles that can guide such processes: (1) facilitating transformative interactions between people and places, (2) enabling dialogic interaction within a climate of mutual acceptance, and (3) creating space for ontological pluralism.

See: https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2019.1641183 or click:  Relational Pedagogy Freire & Maturana  

Keywords: Sustainability, community-based initiatives, dialogue, transformative social learning, relational pedagogy

One of the two key figures can be seen below – please go to the the publisher’s website to find the paper and the other figures!

Thursday May 6th Humberto Maturana passed away at age 92. He was a highly influential Biologist and Philosophers with a profound knowledge of cybernetics and system thinking. Perhaps is most notable concept, one that is increasingly referred to in the context of sustainability science is that of autopoiesis which referred to the self-regenerating and self-constructing structures of living systems. Not so long ago I co-authored a paper about his work and that of Paulo Freire, together with Brazilian lead-author Daniele Tubino Souza and second co-author Pedro Jacobi that appeared in Environmental Education Research.

I am re-posting it here in commemorating both great Latin American thinkers. The paper represents an attempt to link the thinking of Paulo Freire and Humberto Maturana to each other and to emancipatory sustainability-oriented transformations in urban area’s.

Abstract

This article investigates the relevance of the work of the Latin-American thinkers Humberto Maturana and Paulo Freire to learning-based transformations towards sustainability. This analysis was inspired by a case study of a Brazilian urban community seeking to develop pathways towards sustainable living and was informed by a review of their key works. The paper aims to obtain a better conceptualization of learning-based transformations and provide insights into collective learning processes focused on advancing sustainable practices. We present notions of the transformative social learning approach that underpins the case study, using the concepts of Maturana and Freire as a lens. Our results indicate the importance of a relational approach in fostering collective learning processes. Finally, we derive three principles that can guide such processes: (1) facilitating transformative interactions between people and places, (2) enabling dialogic interaction within a climate of mutual acceptance, and (3) creating space for ontological pluralism.

See: https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2019.1641183 or click:  Relational Pedagogy Freire & Maturana  

Keywords: Sustainability, community-based initiatives, dialogue, transformative social learning, relational pedagogy

One of the two key figures can be seen below – please go to the the publisher’s website to find the paper and the other figures!