As Gender is integral to all dimensions of human life. Environment, religion and cultural aesthetics intersect with gender to create vulnerabilities, taboos and marginalization on one hand, and with identities, roles and knowledge on the other. Can we represent and re–present gender so that it addresses the synergies and symbiotic relationships of the cosmos as well as concerns for conservation of ecology and heritage? Also can the modalities of daily living be articulated within a gendered landscape? This panel engages these questions in the context of Big History. The purpose is to enable us to develop an understanding of the gaps that need to be bridged, so we can understand the significance of peace, along with diversity and sustainability.

Humanity is facing a period of rapid change and evolutionary crisis that demands difficult choices. In Big History, we discuss the evolutionary nature of threshold events, and it is increasingly evident that we are in the midst of one of those threshold moments. From its unique vantage point and with its profound perspectives, can Big History help humanity break free of conventional thinking and respond to the critical challenges and opportunities we face? Contributing to a transformative worldview has never been more important. How might the innovative possibilities of Big History help provide us with a framework to successfully cross the threshold into a new evolutionary era? Enhanced transdisciplinary learning in social change, the role of linguistics in a macrocosmic context, and comparing transformational approaches to evolutionary theory across different fields of study are approaches that we explore.

This roundtable explores the potential of Big History in addressing the fundamental challenges of race, class, gender and intergeneration divides that exist in the midst of the world’s sixth great extinction and climate crisis. The year 2050 has become a benchmark for warnings about the global environment and economy. By then, people of colour will be the collective majority and leaders in the United States and throughout the world, but they have been historically excluded from primary systems of Western knowledge-generation. We propose a decolonized approach to Big History with cross-cultural application by changemakers. After the long history of injustices suffered by disadvantaged groups, this re-evaluation offers opportunity to repair past wrongs and transition to more healthy, just and sustainable communities. Examples are shared by frontline workers from several global and multicultural activist organizations.