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The art of co-imagining : Investigating the role of arts-based research practices in the co-production of imaginative social-ecological futures
Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2025.
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2025
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| _version_ | 1867613769325084672 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Fick, Wilhelm Liebrecht |
| author2 | Hamann, Maike |
| author_browse | Fick, Wilhelm Liebrecht Hamann, Maike |
| author_facet | Hamann, Maike Fick, Wilhelm Liebrecht |
| author_sort | Fick, Wilhelm Liebrecht |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description |
Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2025. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/132352 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:41:24.431Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/132352 The art of co-imagining : Investigating the role of arts-based research practices in the co-production of imaginative social-ecological futures Fick, Wilhelm Liebrecht Hamann, Maike Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Centre for Sustainability Transition. Research -- Methodology Science and the arts Social sciences -- Research -- Methodology Social ecology -- Research UCTD Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2025. Fick, W. L. 2025. The art of co-imagining: Investigating the role of arts-based research practices in the co-production of imaginative social-ecological futures. Unpublished masters thesis. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University [online]. Available: https://scholar.sun.ac.za/items/1903ba09-23bc-489c-9d6e-fa50bccca435 ENGLISH SUMMARY: Given the scientific consensus on the detrimental impact of human activities on the Earth’s natural systems, there is an urgent call for visions of radically alternative futures with the ability to inspire action to set in motion systemic transformations to justice and sustainability for all life on the planet. Often the conceptions of futures resemble the present too closely, instead of depicting the radically alternative futures that environmental sustainability and social justice likely require to be realised. However, with the rapid emergence of the social-ecological systems research field within the domain of sustainability science, novel approaches and methods to conceive of possible futures are being developed. Researchers are increasingly using conceptions of radically alternative futures as tools in sustainability research, for example to identify potential pathways to these futures and to translate these pathways into actions in the present. Conceptions of futures are also increasingly used in the work of global bodies, such as the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Traditionally, futures are envisioned by scientists and policymakers and communicated to a wider audience in the form of written reports. However, this approach is being problematised by the social-ecological systems worldview, as well as relational and transformative paradigms emerging in sustainability science. As a result, novel approaches are being developed to account for the complex interconnections and interdependence of social-ecological systems, representation of diverse types of knowledge, and different ways of conducting research and generating and synthesising knowledge. Social-ecological systems researchers have been embracing the research field’s interdisciplinary nature to draw upon research methods from a variety of disciplines, for example the natural and social sciences. Consequently, researchers have increasingly been turning to arts-based and other creative approaches to explore different understandings of social-ecological intertwinedness and how this might play out along multiple pathways toward radically alternative futures. Against this background, this study aimed to investigate two aspects of the use of arts-based research practices in social-ecological research, namely: through a conceptual framing that aims to connect the theories and concepts underpinning the practice, and by means of a scoping review of the existing evidence on relevant cases described in peer-reviewed literature. The conceptual framing provides clear links between arts-based research practices, co-production and imagination, and the potential of these three notions to enable participants to envision radically alternative futures. The analysis and synthesis of the evidence collected during the scoping review revealed that studies reported on the methodological aspects of the use of arts-based research practices to facilitate futuring processes in varying amounts of detail. While it is evident that arts-based research practices have unique opportunities to offer social-ecological systems research, there are a number of challenges that need to be addressed to fully realise the potential of arts-based futuring processes. Alongside determining the meaning of the term ‘co-imagining’, this study offers a theoretical contribution, namely defining an ‘imaginative’ principle for co-production, as well as a practical contribution suggesting the compilation of a database containing comparable data. AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming beskikbaar. Masters 2025-06-04T12:51:55Z 2025-06-04T12:51:55Z 2025-03 Thesis https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/132352 Stellenbosch University x, 131 pages : illustrations application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Research -- Methodology Science and the arts Social sciences -- Research -- Methodology Social ecology -- Research UCTD Fick, Wilhelm Liebrecht The art of co-imagining : Investigating the role of arts-based research practices in the co-production of imaginative social-ecological futures |
| title | The art of co-imagining : Investigating the role of arts-based research practices in the co-production of imaginative social-ecological futures |
| title_full | The art of co-imagining : Investigating the role of arts-based research practices in the co-production of imaginative social-ecological futures |
| title_fullStr | The art of co-imagining : Investigating the role of arts-based research practices in the co-production of imaginative social-ecological futures |
| title_full_unstemmed | The art of co-imagining : Investigating the role of arts-based research practices in the co-production of imaginative social-ecological futures |
| title_short | The art of co-imagining : Investigating the role of arts-based research practices in the co-production of imaginative social-ecological futures |
| title_sort | art of co imagining investigating the role of arts based research practices in the co production of imaginative social ecological futures |
| topic | Research -- Methodology Science and the arts Social sciences -- Research -- Methodology Social ecology -- Research UCTD |
| url | https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/132352 |
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