Revitalization and Sustainability

Research Project, 2019

This project investigates instances where people look back in their cultural traditions to address contemporary problems. Departing from the concept of revitalization, the project investigates how practices of cultural revitalization can contribute to a sustainable development. Revitalization refers to practices of revival, transmission and development of cultural knowledge. This project on revitalization of traditional knowledge and practices investigates how cultural heritage in the form of knowledge and traditions can contribute to sustainable development for coming generations. Revitalization is both an act of knowledge management and of activism and these aspects are inherently intertwined.The project has three aims: 1) To create a theoretical and thematic understanding of revitalization as an approach to sustainability and to map practices of revitalisation. 2) To conduct three pilot studies: The seed sovereignty movement trying to help small scale breeders develop share their own seed varieties without having them patented and enclosed by the agricultural industry, the Rights of Nature movement aiming to transform human relations to nature in a more sustainable direction, and seed growing as heritage, knowledge transmission and safeguarding of biological diversity. 3) To build a consortium for a future large scale research project on revitalization of traditional knowledge and practices.