Guest post from Dr Surindar Dhesi @Surin75
I am delighted to brief post linking to a new publication from my dear friend and colleague Surindar. She has been an inspiration in her international work around health and the environment and as most recently worked on how we can teach diverse ways of knowing.
As part of a research project on canals in Colombo, Sri Lanka I was involved in creating the attached illustrated and open source booklet https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7022902 designed to assist with teaching concepts of knowing something in different ways. In this case though social, political, structural and environmental health lenses.
Our research looks at how cities are constructed and our understanding changes how we build, operate and live in and with them. We focus on the canal as part of the urban environment to present these changes and what it has meant for different city dwellers over time, embedded in different understandings. Knowledges are political, with different meanings, knowledge and experiences for different people and at different times in their lives; these different lenses affect how we live in our cities.
The book shows us that knowledges are plural both in words and in its beautiful illustration, which in itself offers diversity and new perspectives to understanding the complexities and dynamic nature of cities that is different for everyone.
Ways of Knowing by Palat Narayanan, Nipesh; Cornea, Natasha; Dhesi, Surindar; Shreshtha, Promina
