(Re)Storying Human/Earth Relationships in Environmental Education: Becoming (Partially) Posthumanist

This book explores the effects of posthumanist performativity and new materialist methodologies on environmental education, focusing on how the researcher makes sense of herself in the broader ecologies of the world, collaborates with an elementary-school teacher, and organizes herself with land-based pedagogies and environmental education curriculum policy. It offers a conceptual (re)storying of human/Earth relationships in environmental education for social and ecological justice in the Anthropocene.

Format: Hardback
Length: 124 pages
Publication date: 22 June 2023
Publisher: Springer Verlag, Singapore

This book explores the intersection of posthumanist performativity and new materialist methodologies to present a rich tapestry of stories that showcase co-constituted and co-implicated worldmaking practices. In response to the pressing challenges facing our planet, particularly the escalating temperatures and the widespread social and ecological crises that they have brought forth, the author seeks to understand how environmental education can be transformed to address these pressing issues. Recognizing the inseparable link between social and ecological injustices and the globalizing, neoliberal, capitalist, and colonial discourses that perpetuate them, the book challenges the dominant anthropocentric and humancentric logics that dominate the field of environmental education. These logics, which position the human as separate from the Earth and hierarchize human categories of power, result in an over-emphasis on instrumentalist,technicist, and mechanistic teaching and learning practices.

To address these challenges, the book employs a multisensory approach, engaging with Researcher/Teacher/Environmental Education Worldings. Through collaborative processes with an elementary-school teacher in Saskatchewan, Canada, the author explores how the researcher makes sense of herself within the broader ecologies of the world. This is achieved through four co-created and co-implemented multisensory researcher/teacher enactments: Mindful Walking, Mapping Worlds, Eco-art Installation, and Photographic Encounters. These enactments serve as tangible examples of how collaboration can lead to the creation of meaningful and impactful environmental education experiences.

Furthermore, the book delves into the researcher/teacher's organization with Land-based pedagogies, environmental education curriculum policy, and wider discourses of Western education. The author argues that by embracing these diverse perspectives, environmental education can become more inclusive, culturally sensitive, and responsive to the needs of diverse communities.

While this book does not offer a prescriptive approach to teaching and learning in environmental education, it aims to showcase the potential of posthumanist performativity and new materialist methodologies to transform the field. By highlighting the importance of collaboration, multisensory experiences, and a holistic understanding of the world, the book encourages environmental educators to embrace a more nuanced and inclusive approach to their work.

In conclusion, this book offers a valuable contribution to the field of environmental education by exploring the intersection of posthumanist performativity and new materialist methodologies. Through its rich narratives and practical examples, the book demonstrates how environmental education can be transformed to address the urgent challenges facing our planet. By embracing collaboration, multisensory experiences, and a holistic understanding of the world, environmental educators can create more meaningful and impactful learning experiences for their students and communities.

Weight: 395g
Dimension: 235 x 155 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9789819925865
Edition number: 1st ed. 2023