Exploring care ethics through a more-than-human lens - Kelli Pearson
In the video below, Kelli Pearson from Re:Imaginary introduces a creative workshop method to deepen our understanding of all stakeholders involved in a particular topic - those actively related or those who are affected. It considers more marginalised perspectives - those stakeholders who rarely have an opportunity to speak for themselves, including the more than human. This method is inspired by Joanna Macy's 'Council of All Beings' (described in her book 'Coming back to life: the updated guide to the work that reconnects') as well as David Abram's book 'The Spell of the Sensuous'.
The full methodology and background can be found on the Re.Imaginary website, but below are the basic steps.
- Present participants with several cards*, each representing a different ‘character’ (i.e. a relevant non-human stakeholder). Descriptions of the character’s contributions to the local ecosystems and culture, as well as their needs and wants, are written on the backside of the card (some examples can be downloaded at the bottom of this page);
- Invite participants to identify with one of the ‘characters’ by choosing a card and reading the description;
- Ask everyone to take a few moments to imagine being “in the skin” of their character: how does it feel, what do they notice, how do they move through the landscape?
- In pairs, ask participants to introduce themselves to each other in character, either reading from their card and/or sharing spontaneous reflections;
- Then, give participants some more time (3-5 minutes) to reflect individually on their ‘character’. Invite them to write down some notes, words, or drawings, inspired by some guiding questions (such as):
• What does this place mean to you? (For all questions 'you' refers to the character you are embodying)
• What is your best memory of this place?
• If you think about the past, is there something you are grateful for?
• How are the changes taking place affecting you and your life?
• What do you wish for the future of the place, what are the needs you wish could be fulfilled for your species?
• How would you like to contribute to making this ideal future come true? - Participants share insights or thoughts in pairs, and in the group.
*this exercise can also be done with masks instead of cards.
If you download the PDF (below) and print double-sided, you can make 9 cards (4 per A4 page).
Please let us know if you try this method in any of your workshops and share any tips you may have.
Background info: Re.imaginary is an open access website, offering more than 100 creative and arts-based methods, plus plenty of resources, tips, and case examples for collaborative and co-creative work. It is freely inspired by nature, and many of the methods are practical tools to include the more-than-human in normal conversations.
From the website:
“We are a collective of practitioners and researchers exploring how creative methods can support deep change towards just and ecological cultures. We advocate for anti-racism and for deep sustainability whenever possible in our work and in our lives. We are interested in how people can better access deep time perspectives, attentiveness, diversity and inclusion, complexity thinking, and expanded spheres of empathy and caring, including the ecological world. From a more poetic angle, we think of re-imaginary as an expedition into mindscapes of the imagination. A search for practices, metaphors, mental models, and narratives that support ecological regeneration and the well-being of future generations.”
