Field Notes: Finding Hope in Environmental Politics with Peter Andrée
In this edition of Field Notes, Political Science Professor Peter Andrée shares how collaboration, storytelling, and mindfulness can help build more resilient futures. From Indigenous-led food systems initiatives to his ecopolitics podcast and immersive classroom simulations, his work explores how people can find hope — and common ground — in challenging times.
What are you focused on these days?
My focus these days is on working with collaborators and students to share stories of resilience and success in the face of the environmental challenges we face. These are challenging times, whether that’s because of the state of the environment, geopolitics, or the ongoing inequities of settler-colonialism in countries like Canada. My attention is on the ways in which people are working together to address these issues, often in coalitions of settler and Indigenous partners working together.
Why is this work important right now?
I believe this is such an exciting time to be alive and working on these issues. The stakes are so high, and the opportunities are vast. To survive as cultures and civilizations, we must do things very differently, while being informed by wisdom traditions that go way back in time. I hope that my work can help to bridge the past and future, while encouraging students to see places for themselves in the exciting work ahead.
What is a question you hope to answer with your research?
One project I co-direct, with Māori scholar Prof. John Reid from the University of Canterbury, is entitled ‘Living Relations’. It is about sharing stories of how Indigenous and settler partners are working together to respond to the food system sustainability transition challenge in Aotearoa New Zealand and Canada. This knowledge sharing project amplifies and builds dialogue among Indigenous-led food systems initiatives to show how they strengthen Indigenous food sovereignty and improve broader societal resilience. I’m intrigued by the questions of how we work together, across cultures, histories and continents, to build a better future together. The answers are subtle. They involve rethinking how we think, and talk, and engage with one another in ways that the western academy has not been very good at.
What is something people would be surprised to learn?
I’ve been training to be a meditation teacher and increasingly bring guided meditations into the classroom. I even won a teaching achievement award to do this and will hold an event next year at Carleton on the topic of Mindful Approaches to Ecopolitics. I discovered mindfulness practices during the pandemic, to grapple with my own anxieties at feeling little control for our collective predicament. I’ve learned that others value these tools and the values that underpin them too. It’s also a whole new type of teaching, as this is less about sharing content and more about sharing ways of approaching our inner experiences.
What’s the biggest misconception about your research area?
Many non-Indigenous researchers feel uneasy about engaging in research with Indigenous peoples and communities, feeling it is not their place to do so, or that they will make mistakes. I can understand this. There is much that Indigenous researchers and communities need to take the lead on. And I have made many mistakes. At the same time, decolonization involves all of us. Figuring out how to do this work collaboratively and respectfully is something people of all backgrounds and positionalities can find a place in.
Any new projects you’re excited about?
One of my favourite projects these days is the ecopolitics podcast. This is a podcast for students to learn about environmental politics, but its reach has grown widely through platforms like youtube and itunes. The podcast is mostly long-form interviews with prominent environmental activists and academics who have such interesting insights to share! And almost every episode has a discussion about how and where they find ‘hope’. I love the answers we get! I started this podcast with my colleague Prof. Ryan Katz-Rosene from the University of Ottawa during the pandemic, but it’s taken on a life of its own.
What’s your favourite class to teach?
I love my environmental politics courses, of which I teach 3 or 4 in political science. Almost all involve real-life simulations, whether of international treaty negotiations, or deliberations on environmental issues facing Canadians. Students learn so much in these exercises. They need to embody diverse perspectives on these issues and then figure out how to find common ground with one another.