Reimagining the liminal Cerrado: the virtual ancestral future

This paper examines transformations in social-ecological system through the process-relational perspective (PRP), using the concepts of the “real-possible,” the existing reality, and the “actual-virtual” potentials that exist beyond current hegemonic thinking and practices—framed within the Latin American feminist concept of Nepantla, which refers to a liminal space of transition, ambiguity, and transformation where multiple perspectives, identities, or worldviews intersect. Focusing on Western Bahia in the Cerrado, Brazil’s critical agricultural frontier facing intense sustainability challenges, this study underscores the importance of recognizing and integrating coexistent realities to enhance sustainability efforts. Over six months of fieldwork in the region, interacting and living with local actors, Indigenous Peoples and Traditional Communities, our research utilized the PRP approach, offering deep insights into the perspectives and experiences of diverse actors in Western Bahia. This strategy highlighted that the production of phenomena is the result of a simultaneous entanglement between the researcher, the researched, the context, the script, the data, and the process of conducting participatory action research. Furthermore, this study highlights the often-overlooked spiritual dimension vital for Indigenous Peoples and Traditional Communities, as it deeply shapes their ways of life and perspectives on sustainability. By engaging with relational ontologies, we contribute to the conceptualization of transformations as ongoing, performative, and continuously unfolding processes. Moreover, we highlight the novelty of our research by advancing relational methodologies that honor liminality as a generative space—where multiple worldviews coexist, collide, and compost into new possibilities. We argue that embracing ontological plurality is essential for nurturing radical transformations in contested places like Western Bahia.