Envisioning desirable futures in small-scale fisheries: a transdisciplinary arts-based co-creation process

Envisioning desirable futures in small-scale fisheries: a transdisciplinary arts-based co-creation process

Despite the critical importance of small-scale fisheries for food security and well-being and the role of fishers as stewards of aquatic ecosystems, their future is uncertain. Tackling narratives that portray small-scale fisheries as obsolete, disparate, and inefficient requires collectively imagini...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecology and society Vol. 29; no. 1; p. 20
Main Authors: Gianelli, Ignacio, Trimble, Micaela, Juri, Silvana, Beretta, Nazarena, Torena, Denisse, Acosta, Manuela, Acosta, Robert, Del Bó, Mario, Fuster, Jorge, González, Vanessa, Kurta, Diego, Kurta, Marcelo, López, Tamara, Marfetán, María, Montes de Oca, Pablo, Morales, Alberto, Pardo, Victoria, Sandoval, Juan, Schuch, Nancy, Taroco, Claudio, Norström, Albert, Pereira, Laura, Villasante, Sebastián
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Ottawa Resilience Alliance 01-03-2024
Subjects:
Aquatic ecosystems
artisanal fisheries
artistic boundary objects
Arts
Case studies
Collaboration
Communication
Fish
Fisheries
Fisheries management
Fishing
Food
Food processing
Food security
Food systems
Future
futures
Local knowledge
Modernization
Narratives
Nutrition
Small-scale fisheries
Sustainability
sustainability initiatives
sustainability transformations
Uruguay
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Summary:Despite the critical importance of small-scale fisheries for food security and well-being and the role of fishers as stewards of aquatic ecosystems, their future is uncertain. Tackling narratives that portray small-scale fisheries as obsolete, disparate, and inefficient requires collectively imagining and articulating new, creative, and inspiring narratives that reflect their real contributions and enable transformative futures. Drawing on a transdisciplinary country-level case study, we analyze the process and outcomes of co-creating desirable, plural, and meaningful visions of the future for small-scale fisheries in Uruguay. Using an arts-based approach and leveraging the agency of emerging innovative initiatives throughout the country, different food system actors (fish workers, chefs, entrepreneurs) and knowledge systems (local, experience-based, and scientific) were engaged in a creative visioning process. The results of this arts-based co-creation process include (1) a series of desirable visions and narratives, synthesized into an artistic boundary object; and (2) the stepping stones to a transformative space for collective reflection, learning, and action. Although the artistic boundary object has proven instrumental among multiple and diverse participants, the transformative space encouraged academic and non-academic participants to plan collective actions and to feel more confident, motivated, and optimistic about the future of small-scale fisheries in Uruguay. With this paper we provide a tool, a platform, and a roadmap to counter the dominant bleak narrative, while also communicating the elements that constitute desirable futures for small-scale fisheries in Uruguay. On a broader scale, our contribution reinforces the emerging narrative of the key role that small-scale fisheries have, and will play, in local and global food systems.
ISSN:1708-3087
1708-3087
DOI:10.5751/ES-14869-290120