The Cultural Fashion Agenda: Why is Cultural Sustainability good for the mind, the body, the soul and the Planet?

Dear Readers,

It's been 9 weeks since our previous meeting for The Cultural Fashion Agenda. While 9 weeks sound like the ideal time to rest, recharge and reflect in our overly stimulated society - a luxury that no human can realistically afford today - for me, the past 9 weeks have been full of questions and challenges, all around Cultural Sustainability. The most important one being - will we, as a society, be able to understand that Cultural Sustainability is good for the mind, the body, the soul and the Planet??

I began answering this question starting from my personal experience, but like everything about Cultural Sustainability, an answer to such a question requires collective input and shared experience.?

It's almost 5 years now since I started working with Cultural Sustainability on a daily basis. The most important thing I learned so far is that Cultural Sustainability is a human-centric, dynamic and evolutive concept. Its complexity and diversity make Cultural Sustainability difficult to frame and define. Being multifaceted, its layers, manifestations and applications are revealed through action (research), (fieldwork) experience, cross-disciplinarity, observation and reflection.?

One of the most challenging aspects about enabling Cultural Sustainability is that it requires a cosmological shift towards embracing Indigenous worldviews like we explained in a previous Cultural Fashion Agenda. Indigenous worldviews are relational and holistic. The individual as a whole, including its psyche, emotions, spirit and intellect, is seen in relation to everything around him - family, communities, natural elements, animals, plants, natural phenomena - who are his kin, his relatives (i.e. Kincentric Ecology). Both humans and nature are part of an extended ecological family that shares ancestry and origins (Salmón, 2000). For Cultural Sustainability to be a pathway to Planetary Wellbeing, this cosmological shift must permeate the collective consciousness. What Usher (2022) says about Ecosystem Restoration, applies mutatis mutandis to Cultural Sustainability: "This is not simply a change of policy but a fundamental reorientation of the collective mindset that increasingly recognizes the potentially meaningful role of humans in world-making as well as world-breaking, transcending the cognitive divide entrenched in modern society between nature and culture." We'll explain what this means in the second point on this Cultural Fashion Agenda.

Beyond pompous wording, to understand why Cultural Sustainability is good for the mind, the body, the soul and the Planet, we must first be able to identify what Cultural Sustainability looks like, and feels like, in practice, in everyday life. The multiple facets of Cultural Sustainability.?

To give you an example:

I was starting the last Introduction to The Cultural Fashion Agenda with concerns about the unprecedented heatwave in Europe and sharing reports that indicate high risks for food security and social stability as a result. What the World Meteorological Organization called 12 weeks ago "a foretaste of the future" is already the present for first responders, farmers and people who live close to the land and farm it for personal use.

Having spent most of the past 4 months in different rural areas across Romania, I have seen the effects of the draught and high temperatures, the dry fields, the barren plains, I have heard the fears and complaints of those few who are still trying to farm their land without chemicals and let their cattle graze on local pastures. Seeing the landscape transform in front of my eyes from its beautiful greens in April to a semi-aridity by June - something atypical for our region - and the cornfield in front of my window dry before harvest season, left a much deeper impression than the figures in any report. Every morning I would hear my neighbors discussing the weather, praying for rain to come and sharing what should be done next if rain does not come. Rain did finally come, in much more abundance than expected, tearing down trees, flooding gardens and washing away hard work. Again in the morning people were discussing - sharing their fears, assessing the damage, planning what to do next. I wanted to be part of this, and in a way, just by being there, listening and observing, I was already part of it. I have never really worked the land but I spent my summers as a child watching my grandparents do it. Playing around while they were ploughing, jumping on the hay bale when they were stacking the hay. I decided I will not let my grandmother's garden be only a memory and I will rewire my relationship with the land that was so vital and dear to my grandparents. From desire to action is however a long way. I did not succeed much in my plan this summer, I barely managed to take out the weeds in the front-garden, and that itself was an exercise of patience, collaboration and trust. There is a succession of processes and a right time for them, and I still have a lot to learn about that. No book will teach me, but spending more time with my community will.?

This is a short story of Cultural Sustainability and the ways it can manifest in a contemporary local community in Romania, reflecting community cohesion in the face of adversity, collective knowledge creation and knowledge exchange, a process of initiation, discovery, and a readiness to help one another HERE and NOW. The same attitude and approach that we could and should have towards one another irrespective of religion, shared interests or geographical location.?

This awakens our awareness of the deep levels of disconnection we are experiencing as a society - disconnection from all other living beings and often, disconnection from our core values and beliefs - rewires our connection to one another, and enables us to rework and redesign the systems that alienate us and commodify the planet and the people so that collective wellbeing prevails over individual interests.?

When applying a Cultural Sustainability lens to a global context, what happens now in Pakistan becomes an important topic on the agenda of fashion and textiles ecosystem actors, not only because Pakistan-based textile suppliers are part of global supply chains and recovery from this tragedy will be a complex process with far-reaching ramifications, but because this will keep repeating itself in different scenarios, across different geographies. What is the fashion ecosystem doing to support its textile supply partners like Bangladesh and Pakistan, both countries with vulnerable infrastructures and growing numbers of climate migrants? Both countries that are victims of climate injustice - a consequence of what Indigenous climate change researcher Kyle Whyte (2017) calls "an intensified episode of colonialism" ( i.e. climate change) - where the countries that contribute the least to global warming are the ones that suffer the most from climate change.

From a Cultural Sustainability perspective the answer should include Knowledge Partnerships with Indigenous People, Ethnic Groups and Local Communities for holistic (and successful) Climate Action. We spoke in depth about this before.

With this longer-than-usual check-in done, we're ready to dive into today's Agenda.

The Introduction:

We'll need two working definitions to help us navigate today's Cultural Sustainability-focused Cultural Fashion Agenda. These are:

1. Cultural Sustainability as a metaconcept, and
2. Cultural Sustainability in Fashion as a sum of actions, approaches and practices relevant to the textiles and fashion industry.

Cultural Sustainability is a metaconcept with a diversity of relationships and manifestations under its umbrella. It is very often referred to as an umbrella term.?

Being a metaconcept, there is no single applicable definition, but a plurality of valid perspectives depending on the relationships it applies to. Understanding its applications and layers requires holistic thinking. Like we learn from the Jain parable of The 6 Blind Men and the Elephant.?

Cultural Sustainability embraces the added value of different knowledge systems and acknowledges the interdependence between individuals, communities, and the environments they live in.

Cultural Sustainability implies the inter- and intra-generational access to cultural resources, meaning that the current generation can use and adapt cultural heritage only to the extent that future generations will not be affected in terms of their ability to understand and live their multiple values and meanings (Pereira, 2007). This includes how we access, use and create cultural goods and cultural services, cultural-context specific knowledge, tangible and intangible cultural expressions, and genetic resources. Cultural Sustainability deals a lot with spiritual, material, intellectual, emotional and artistic practices, but also applies to tangible cultural heritage (i.e. cultural property) such as heritage buildings, sacred or protected natural sites, artifacts and collections in museums, libraries, galleries or archives. Cultural Sustainability goes beyond the preservation of Traditional Cultural Expressions and cultural conservation, engaging the whole social and cultural ecosystem and its current actors to craft a strategy for self-conscious cultural change. It is centered on the current needs of contemporary actors and how they imagine their futures (Mason and Turner, 2020). Cultural Sustainability implies reducing inequalities based on ethical and equitable practices.?

Relevant to the fashion and textiles context, on the occasion of our first Cultural Sustainability in Fashion Workshop at the Swedish School of Textiles, in December 2018, I was explaining Cultural Sustainability in Fashion as:

(i) transmitting or supporting the knowledge transfer of Traditional Knowledge (TK) and Traditional Cultural Expressions (TCEs) to future generations by integrating traditional craftsmanship in contemporary fashion and textile supply chains;

This includes awareness and respect of the cultural narratives and histories associated to the respective TK and TCEs, and aspects of cultural continuity such as sustaining crafts and indigenous languages (i.e. ensuring the use of the words and concepts of the custodians of TCEs and TK to describe and promote).

and

(ii) acknowledging, respecting, protecting and continuing culturally embedded sustainability practices and characteristics reflected in sustainable design, sustainable production and sustainable consumption patterns.

This includes principles of design to minimize waste which are specific to all Cultural Fashions (nowadays called 'zero-waste pattern making'), the acts of repair, reuse and repurpose which have always been part of culturally sustainable lifestyles and approaches to the Product Life-Cycles of Cultural Fashion garments (nowadays called 'recycling and upcycling'), textile production and consumption that is conscious of the limited availability of raw materials and the value thereof, as well as the time and effort required to create the products resulting in fewer items of high quality and an emotional connection to the garment (nowadays called 'luxury'). More about this in Chapter 6.3 Culturally embedded sustainability practices: Cultural Sustainability (p. 48) of this research.?

The practice of Cultural Sustainability in Fashion requires close relationships developed through culturally sensitive approaches, it involves equitable knowledge partnership, it fosters diversity and wellbeing (material and non-material).?

So, what's on the Agenda??

1) How did Cultural Sustainability become 'a thing'?

In the early days of (sustainable) development theories (i.e. before 1987 and the landmark Bruntland Report that gave us the 'working definition' of sustainability), culture was not only excluded from the equation, but some economists went as far as as to declare culture as a way of life an obstacle to development and economic growth.

It was in 1982 in Mexico, at the first World Conference on Cultural Policies (Mondiacult) that the link between culture and development was explicitly made. Paragraph 16 of the Mexico City Declaration on Cultural Policies (1982) states that:

"Balanced development can only be ensured by making cultural factors an integral part of the strategies designed to achieve it; consequently, these strategies should always be devised in the light of the historical, social and cultural context of each society."

In the same declaration the parties established an important definition of culture that is still valid today:

"culture may now be said to be the whole complex of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features that characterize a society or social group. It includes not only the arts and letters, but also modes of life, the fundamental rights of the human being, value systems, traditions and beliefs;"

40 years after the first Mondiacult World Conference (1982), the UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development – MONDIACULT 2022 will be convened in Mexico City again this month, from 28 to 30 September 2022. You can watch the official teaser of the conference here.?

A growing number of researchers from different disciplines advocate for the recognition of Cultural Sustainability as a sustainable development pillar in its own right, explaining how the Triple Bottom Line (People, Planet, Profit) is an incomplete and reductionist framework for sustainable development. Sabatini (2019) rightfully says that "culturally sustainable development is the only notion properly able to encompass all the meanings of culture and all its complex interactions with the social, economic and environmental dimensions of human life." I share this view and have constantly expressed it in my work, most recently in this informative conversation with Stella Hertantyo for the Conscious Style Podcast. Without acknowledgement of Cultural Sustainability as an enabler of social, economic and environmental sustainability, we perpetuate colonial mindsets instead of diversity, plurality and interconnectedness. For example, the word “sustainability” itself does not have an identical synonym in Hindi. Despite this, perpetuating a colonial attitude, the fashion industry imposes on India a sustainability narrative emanating from the West, that is not integrative of the meaning and understanding of the concept of sustainability in the Indian cultural context (Sandhu, 2020). We focus in more detail on this particular topic (see p. 48) in our research Rebranding “Made in India” through Cultural Sustainability (Bo?a-Moisin and Schreiber, 2021).

So Cultural Sustainability is not just 'a thing' but a very important thing. A metaconcept, a worldview, a framework, a lifestyle. For more Cultural Sustainability-related know-how, the Cultural Intellectual Property Rights Initiative? is hosting their 8th Workshop in 2022 -? A new World with Cultural Sustainability - on Wednesday 21st September, 12:00 CET. You are all invited!

This takes us to the second point on today's Cultural Fashion Agenda.

2) Is Cultural Sustainability measurable?

It is, but not by the standards and indicators sustainability measurement is currently done. Most of these benchmarks, assessment tools, and reporting frameworks are designed based on the premise that sustainability means an ideal balance between economic, environmental and social principles. To be able to measure Cultural Sustainability we must first accept that it is the basis for Social, Environmental and Economic Sustainability and not a by-product.?

The tools and frameworks used in the fashion industry nowadays such as ESG Metrics or The Business of Fashion (Bof) Sustainability Index do not include Cultural Sustainability-specific indicators but with the right expertise, and based on consultations with Indigenous Peoples, Ethnic Groups and Local Communities, these could be adapted in this sense in the future. Cultural Sustainability indicators could include advancement of material and non-material wellbeing, degree of integration of community governance systems, equitable valorization? of cultural capital, aspects of cultural continuity, maintenance of biocultural diversity, respect of cultural rights, inclusion of Indigenous Peoples in decision-making, etc. The GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) sustainability reporting standards – the GRI Standards include topics on Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities and Biodiversity and can be a starting point for Cultural Sustainability reporting.?

In terms of scalability, which is different from sustainability but very relevant for systems-change enablers in understanding Cultural Sustainability as a metaconcept, Cultural Sustainability action is about scaling up and scaling deep.?

Scaling deep refers to changing the deeper values, cultural beliefs, meanings and practices of people, and the qualities of their relationships. This happens when people’s hearts and minds are transformed (see Figure below). Scaling up happens by impacting law and policy based on the recognition that the roots of social problems transcend particular places, and innovative approaches must be codified in law, policy and institutions (Moore et al, 2015).

Finally, after two intense topics, we reach the most beautiful part:

3) How to practice Cultural Sustainability in everyday life? If you don't know where to start, go to a Wedding!

This is a topic for input from all Cultural Fashion Agenda readers. How would you integrate Cultural Sustainability practice in everyday life??

In my experience, it has been a challenging but very enriching process. It does not mean accumulation of material wealth, but a wealth of knowledge, a healthier self, a more present and connected existence. It does mean ultimately questioning core beliefs, personal values and identities, a process that is difficult and sometimes even painful, but Cultural Sustainability practice can start simple: with the newsletters we read, the questions we ask ourselves, the recipes we cook, the places where we travel for our holidays. I realized recently, preparing for a wedding in India that I will be attending early next year and researching wedding rituals and traditions for one I attended in Romania, that Weddings are scenes for immersion in culturally sustainable practices in contemporary times. Written by a great professor at the University of Art and Design in Cluj-Napoca, and dear friend prof. dr. Elena Basso St?nescu, The Wedding, between Ritual and Performance (orig. Romanian Nunta, ?ntre ritual ?i spectacol) is an extraordinary ethnographic study about weddings, as Traditional Cultural Expressions in Romania. Many rituals, symbols, objects and performances have been kept alive or adapted and transmitted from generation to generation to mark the beginning of, what Basso calls "a continuous training and spiritual growth process" i.e. the Wedding, the beginning of Marriage. Everything from the ritual of dressing up the bride and the groom in ceremonial wedding garments to the feast and party, has a symbolic role and a spiritual meaning. In many wedding ceremonies across the globe we see Cultural Fashion in its most beautiful and rich display. To mark our most meaningful moments, we go deep to our roots.

Pictures from the wedding of Emily Bode and Aaron Aujla:

To end this Cultural Fashion Agenda, here is an Invitation to watch ?‘Once There Were Rivers’ a short documentary addressing the deteriorating conditions of the rivers in climate vulnerable Bangladesh. This work was created and directed by Dhaka-based Mahenaz Chowdhury, Founder and Zero-Waste Designer of Broqué, made in collaboration with Cultural Intellectual Property Rights Initiative? Systems-Change Enabler Berlin-based Simone Simonato, Founder of SICA UPCYCLING DESIGN.?

Like every time, I hope this was useful and invite you to further engage on the topic of this Cultural Fashion Agenda. We are all part of this Conversation.

Do you think Cultural Sustainability is good for the mind, the body, the soul and the Planet? I look forward to hearing from you!

Yours truly,

Monica