{"id":4607,"date":"2025-11-06T20:34:04","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T18:34:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/conference\/?page_id=4607"},"modified":"2026-01-13T00:24:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T22:24:22","slug":"working-group-17-reclaiming-metaphysical-memory-indigenous-knowledge-ancestral-healing-and-regenerative-development-in-southern-africa-and-the-global-south","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/conference\/working-groups\/working-group-17-reclaiming-metaphysical-memory-indigenous-knowledge-ancestral-healing-and-regenerative-development-in-southern-africa-and-the-global-south","title":{"rendered":"Working Group 17: Reclaiming Metaphysical Memory: Indigenous Knowledge, Ancestral Healing, and Regenerative Development in the Global South"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div><strong>Coordinators: <\/strong><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Munya Saruchera <em>(Director at African Centre for Inclusive Health Management, Stellenbosch Univesity)<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Sostina Spiwe Matina <em>(African Centre for Migration and Society, Wits University) <\/em>&#8211; <a href=\"mailto:sipmartina@gmail.com\">sipmartina@gmail.com<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This Working Group explores how Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and ancestral healing practices offer regenerative alternatives to the constraints of colonial and neoliberal development paradigms. We invite contributions that examine how metaphysical memory\u2014ancestral, ecological, and embodied\u2014can inform contemporary struggles for healing, belonging, and sustainability across the Global South.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Amid ecological collapse and social fragmentation, communities continue to mobilise ancestral cosmologies, ritual practices, and relational ethics to restore balance between humans, land, and the metaphysical world. These practices\u2014often maintained and transmitted through migration, kinship, and diasporic networks\u2014challenge linear notions of \u201cprogress\u201d by centring reciprocity, interdependence, and collective care.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We seek to create a dialogical and participatory space for scholars, practitioners, healers, artists, and community knowledge holders to share how ancestral epistemologies shape visions of justice, well-being, and regeneration.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We particularly welcome abstracts that:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Engage with Indigenous epistemologies as living, adaptive, and mobile.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Examine how healing travels through migration, diaspora, and kinship networks.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Theorise regenerative development beyond growth-centric and extractive models.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Foreground ritual and embodied methodologies as forms of knowledge production.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Explore ecological, spiritual, and communal responses to capitalist and climate crises.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Guiding Question: <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How might reclaiming metaphysical memory and ancestral knowledge aid collective reawakening towards futures of justice, care, and ecological harmony?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Format and Planned Activities<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>The Working Group will combine:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Paper presentations (10\u201312 minutes each)<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Roundtable discussions with Indigenous practitioners and community-based researchers<\/li>\n<li>Dialogical and storytelling sessions exploring embodied and ritual knowledge<\/li>\n<li>Collaborative reflection workshop to synthesise key insights into a shared statement on \u201cRegenerative Futures from the South\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Submission email<\/strong>: <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">metaphysicalmemory.devdays2026@gmail.com<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Full papers are not required; participants may submit conceptual, experiential, or practice-based abstracts.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Registration is now open from 12 January to 15 February 2026.\u00a0 <\/strong><br \/>\nPresentation titles and the detailed timetable will be published soon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Coordinators: Munya Saruchera (Director at African Centre for Inclusive Health Management, Stellenbosch Univesity) Sostina Spiwe Matina (African Centre for Migration and Society, Wits University) &#8211; sipmartina@gmail.com This Working Group explores how Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and ancestral healing practices offer regenerative alternatives to the constraints of colonial and neoliberal development paradigms. We invite contributions that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"parent":3437,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4607"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4607"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4854,"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4607\/revisions\/4854"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kehitystutkimus.fi\/conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}