Kennan Kellaris Salinero, Jeanine Olund, Michael D Nephew and Ken Paul
Cape Town - Science gives us a deeper understanding of our world, the human body, living systems and the cosmos.
However, it can also be used to exploit natural resources and widen socio-economic disparities such as access to resources.
Science can be misused for monetary gain and power.
Inconsiderate and thoughtless use of scientific discoveries can lead to unintended consequences, causing climatic impacts and wreaking havoc on biodiversity. This can result in an existential threat to the security of our place on the planet.
ReImagine Science was founded in 2008 to focus on how we “do” science; to create a scientific enterprise that is more inclusive of society, more generous to the younger generations of scientists and more responsive to negative impacts on the natural world.
We propose a shift in the framework of science, recognising the large gap between current approaches to science and a holistic approach.
Our model of science would continue to enable research, innovation and discovery, but as a holistic model. Science would also honour social responsibility and environmental and cultural sustainability, community and the living environment.
We began a learning journey in 2020 to develop the kind of training needed for the scientists of the future. This journey led us to a new partnership. We were introduced to a framework that is based on an indigenous, holistic four-directions model for health and healing, which is practised by many Native American/First Nations in North America.
At its base, this framework identifies the four areas that are the basis of a healthy system: spiritual, emotional, physical and mental. These are represented in each person as the spirit, heart, body and mind, respectively.
Indigenous teachings say that all four aspects must be addressed in order for an individual to be healthy, otherwise there will be an imbalance in their health journey.
When this model is expanded to the societal level, the elements of societal health for spiritual, emotional, physical and mental transform. The spiritual aspect becomes culture and environment, dealing with the intangibles that support our lives.
The emotional aspect becomes social interactions and biodiversity, which concerns itself with interrelationships and co-dependence.
The physical aspect represents our economics and technology – the tools needed to support our physical needs.
And finally, the mental aspect becomes our politics and knowledge systems, intellectual pursuits of research, policies, and knowledge acquisition.
The last two – physical and mental – define the domains where scientific work centrally resides.
We propose that what can bring us back to balance is to exercise love.
Love in the sense of practising respect, acceptance and understanding.
It can lead us to becoming more open, more generous and more honest in how we do our work.
In our existing science paradigm where the mental and physical are overvalued, scientific discovery can become focused on a model that emphasises profit.
When that happens, our institutions become detached from our society and social structures. The very visible result is a lack of trust.
The disconnection from culture, spirit and the environment can result in a lack of ethics and vision within our research, and potential large-scale environmental and ecological damage to our natural world.
We believe in a scientific paradigm that will continue to advance the pursuit of knowledge and innovation while supporting economic and technological gains.
But it will also provide balance through the inclusion of impacted communities, honouring spirit, culture and environment.
The current interest in indigenous knowledge within science needs to become a partnership where the whole indigenous knowledge system is embraced; a system that equally resides in all four directions of a healthy system.
One that includes heart and spirit as equal partners of intellect and invention. If all are given proper attention and support, we have the power to create a holistic and healthy world.
Salinero and Olund are with ReImagine Science. Nephew is with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and ReImagine Science, and Paul with the Wolastoqey Nation
Cape Times