Abstract:
In many parts of the world, over the last three centuries, a Euro-American mindset and world view has imposed itself as a result of colonialism and globalization. The particularities of that mindset have been an important contributor to the current sustainability conundrum. In order to deal with that conundrum, I argue that it is necessary simultaneously to achieve decolonization. The paper looks at the historical background of the present situation, and then points to fundamental differences between the Euro-American and the traditional East-Asian perspective. Adopting that perspective again would be an important contribution to the change in mindset that is necessary. But to do so is difficult, as it is more difficult to unlearn ideas that have been acquired, than it is to learn new ideas. Moreover, there is no easy fixed point against which to leverage the current world view in order to change it. I argue that in this domain, Japan has an important role to play because it has retained much of the East-Asian perspective on Nature and the World underneath its more recent adoption of a Euro-American material way of life.
Bio:
An archeologist and historian, Sander van der Leeuw pioneered the Complex Adaptive Systems approach to socio-environmental challenges, technology and innovation. He held teaching positions in Amsterdam, Leyden, Cambridge and Paris (Sorbonne), was founding director of Arizona State University’s School of Human Evolution and Social Change and dean of its School of Sustainability. He is Fellow of the AAAS, Honorary Fellow of RIHN (Kyoto, Japan), External Fellow of the Santa Fe Institute, Corresponding Member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2012, he was awarded the title "Champion of the Earth for Science and Innovation" by UNEP.
His most important publications are:
1998 S.E. van der Leeuw (ed.), The Archaeomedes Project - Understanding the natural and anthropogenic causes of land degradation and desertification in the Mediterranean. Publications of the European Union. Open Access
2009 D.A. Lane, S.E. van der Leeuw, D. Pumain, & G. West (eds.), Complexity Perspectives on Innovation and Social Change, Springer
2019 S.E. van der Leeuw Social Sustainability, Past and Future: Undoing Unintended Consequences for the Earth’s Survival, Cambridge University Press, Open Access: https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/811395DC3A8D82EAD39C45657B2FD1AD/9781108498692AR.pdf/Social_Sustainability__Past_and_Future.pdf?event-type=FTLA