power are also key to the effectiveness of asset-based community development, mutual aid networks, community land trusts, and cooperative enterprise that help marginalized communities build resilience in the face of gentrification and other threats (Corburn, 2005; Medoff, 1994; Nangwaya & Akuno, 2017; Nembhard, 2014; Scharpie, 2017). Moreover, we build on the concept of “regenerative mapping” presented by Muñoz et al. (2021) and inspired by practitioners of regenerative design and development (Hes & Plessis, 2014). “Regenerative” mapping is grounded in the power of all living beings and systems to regenerate, e.g., to heal and recreate personal, social, and ecological wellbeing. This use of “regenerative” resonates with calls for a just transition to a regenerative economy – one that is "based on ecological restoration, community protection, equitable partnerships, justice, and full and fair participatory processes” (United Frontline Table, 2020, p. 6).
2.1 SHIFTING THE CARTOGRAPHIC GAZE TO SENSE LIKE A SOVEREIGN BODY While colonial sovereign rationalities aim to impose supreme control over bounded territories to develop them according to their highest and best economic use, radical sovereignty is deeply rooted in reciprocal relationships of care among people and land. In the words of Phillip Blake (Blake, 1977, pp. 7–8), a chief of the Dene nation from Fort McPherson (emphasis added): “We have lived with the land, not tried to conquer or control it or rob it of its riches. … [W]e have not tried to conquer new frontiers, or out do our parents or make sure that every year we are richer than the year before. We have been satisfied to see our wealth as ourselves and the land we live with. … I believe your nation might wish to see us, not as a relic from the past, but as a way of life, a system of values by which you may survive in the future. This we are willing to share.” Inspired by critical indigenous traditions (Harjo, 2019; Kimmerer, 2015; Lyons & Mohawk, 1998), we posit that these relationships of care and their system of values are rooted in three natural laws, or principles for vitality in living systems: reciprocity, integrity, and liberty (Walsh, 2021). Translated into practice: ●
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Reciprocity is the exercise of awareness and power to support mutual flourishing relationships, supported by responsively metabolizing feedback and practicing gratitude for diverse gifts and strengths; the practice of reciprocity depends upon an appreciative gaze – a view capable of recognizing gifts and expressing both appreciation and attribution in ways that enable the twoway flow of diverse gifts – including feedback (Ghaye, 2010; Macy & Johnstone, 2012); Integrity is the exercise of awareness and power to restore broken promises and integral health in living systems; the practice of integrity depends upon a compassionate gaze – a view capable of imagining a state of complete wholeness in which all parts belong, and suffering can be held together and transformed into energy for action (Cunningham, 2021; Greenberg & Turksma, 2015); Liberty is the exercise of awareness and power to create and choose powerful states of being and empowering storylines of desired futures that call us forward; the practice of liberty depends upon a decolonial gaze – a capacity for self- and system-awareness that can name and disrupt
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