Mini Symposium 2026 Feb 25 - Norma Romm
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The importance of recognizing the systemic thinking of Indigenous sages and scholars
Abstract
In this presentation, Norma Romm discussed the systemic thinking of Indigenous sages and scholars’, which is grounded in a relational ontoepistemology and attendant axiology. The argument is that at the moment of “knowing/inquiring” we co-constitute with other agents (and not only human ones) the worlds that are brought forth. Otherwise expressed, there are never spectators, only participants in ongoing world-construction. This is the meaning (for them) of saying we live in a participative universe. One implication is that the language we use and the mental models we create already make a difference (constructive or destructive), to the worlds of which they are part. For example, the language of “natural resources” means that we do not recognize the sacred life forces of all of creation as our kin (family). They are seen as something to be exploited for human use. Likewise, the language of “growth” in our dominant economic models has consequences for the displacement of Indigenous people from their lands in the name of “development”. The language excludes consideration of this as indeed part of the polycrisis facing humanity, but which normally does not feature in accounts of this crisis. The systemic thinking of Indigenous sages and scholars recognizes that our knowing processes cannot be divorced from generating outcomes in human-to-human and human-to-more than-human relations. One of the qualities of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) is the recognition that knowing (as a collective process) needs to be tied at the outset, to “making the world better”. In other words, given that knowing is already consequential, we need to consider the values underpinning the knowing endeavor. In the presentation I will indicate the strength of Structured Dialogical Design (SDD) as a methodology which incorporates this intention. I will show how it is a form of systemic thinking which resonated, inter alia, with African participants in a re-invent democracy project organized by the Future World Center (2016-2018). I will also show how the triggering questions now formulated for the SDDs to take place in 2026 (organized by the 21st Century agoras, the FWC, and ISSS) contain the understanding that knowing (even at the moment of mapping challenges facing humanity, and of course at the moment of actively seeking leverage points for the most influential action towards systemic transformation) is never a detached exercise (as also understood in IKS).
Short Bio
Norma Romm (DLitt et Phil) is author of The Methodologies of Positivism and Marxism (1991), Accountability in Social Research (2001), New Racism (2010), Responsible Research Practice (2018), People’s Education in Theoretical Perspective (with V McKay 1992), Diversity Management (with R Flood 1996), and Assessment of the Impact of HIV and AIDS in the Informal Economy of Zambia (with V McKay 2006). She has co-edited six books—Social Theory (with M Sarakinsky 1994), Critical Systems Thinking (with R Flood 1996), Balancing Individualism and Collectivism (with J McIntyre-Mills and Y Corcoran-Nantes 2017), Mixed Methods and Cross-Disciplinary Research (with J McIntyre-Mills 2019), Democracy and Governance for Resourcing the Commons(with J McIntyre-Mills and Y Corcoran-Nantes 2019), and Covid-19: Perspectives Across Africa (with A Fymat and J Kapalanga 2022). She has published over 120 research articles on social theorizing, transformative research towards social and ecological regeneration, and Indigenous paradigms of knowing.
Norma RA Romm (DLitt et Phil) is author of The Methodologies of Positivism and Marxism (1991), Accountability in Social Research (2001), New Racism (2010), Responsible Research Practice (2018), People’s Education in Theoretical Perspective (with V McKay 1992), Diversity Management (with R Flood 1996), and Assessment of the Impact of HIV and AIDS in the Informal Economy of Zambia (with V McKay 2006). She has co-edited six books—Social Theory (with M Sarakinsky 1994), Critical Systems Thinking(with R Flood 1996), Balancing Individualism and Collectivism (with J McIntyre-Mills and Y Corcoran-Nantes 2017), Mixed Methods and Cross-Disciplinary Research (with J McIntyre-Mills 2019), Democracy and Governance for Resourcing the Commons(with J McIntyre-Mills and Y Corcoran-Nantes 2019), and Covid-19: Perspectives Across Africa (with A Fymat and J Kapalanga 2022). She has published over 120 research articles on social theorizing, transformative research towards social and ecological regeneration, and Indigenous paradigms of knowing.