RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Women taking action: Multisession learning circles, storytelling, and an ecosystem of relationships for conservation
JF Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
FD Soil and Water Conservation Society
SP 00129
DO 10.2489/jswc.2023.00129
A1 L. Shenk
A1 J. Eells
A1 W. Almitra
YR 2023
UL http://www.jswconline.org/content/early/2023/02/03/jswc.2023.00129.abstract
AB Current conservation outreach largely focuses on single-day, presentation-heavy events typically addressed to farmers, mostly men. Our project created a multisession learning circle series for a cohort of women landowners that introduced conservation education through storytelling and a more conversation-driven format. Its objective was to build relationships that would empower women landowners to take action. Its outcomes, however, far exceeded expectations. The program’s facilitators and the women landowner-participants not only built relationships of action but also developed a partnership that resembles what researchers call a cognitive ecology. This cognitive ecology involves collaboration among diverse and equal partners who expand each other’s thinking and capacity, use tools and technologies to extend cognition (maps, soil tests, lease agreements, and simulation models), and interact with the environment. As a cognitive ecology, our group—facilitators and women landowners—produced this article together, as coauthors. Our collaboration offers a storytelling- and exchange-based framework to engage individuals whose needs have not been fully met through conventional programming. Our preliminary findings suggest that conservation programming might better empower a larger range of underinvolved stakeholders by offering multisession programming that builds an ecosystem of relationships for action.