Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses, based upon oral narratives from Southern Mozambique, the possibilities of storytelling, recorded throughout research carried out over two decades, for grounding critical environmental interpretations, inspiring the future which can foster other approaches.

Paper long abstract:

Linking the ongoing ecological crisis with contemporary conditions of disenchantment in our societies, this papers investigates the capacity of orature to reconnect people to their territories and renew their experience of nature, place and their own existence in the world. How to recuperate silenced and forgotten environmental practices that could generate intercultural dialogues that could maximize efforts to protect the Earth? Science traditionally delivers its results through mostly written expressions (scientific journal articles, milestones of selected events, newsletters, etc.). In cultures based primarily on orature, many of their knowledges are transmitted through narratives , raising important issues with respect both to community building and to the potential of fostering ecologies of knowledges. Specifically in this paper I discuss, based upon oral narratives from Southern Mozambique, the possibilities of storytelling, recorded throughout research carried out over two decades, for grounding critical environmental interpretations, inspiring the future which can foster other approaches.