Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Reframing Education for Eco-Social-Cultural Change

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Education as the Practice of Eco-Social-Cultural Change

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Educational Futures ((PSEF))

  • 63 Accesses

Abstract

Education for living within the Earth’s carrying capacity requires shifts in the core assumptions of modern Western culture—that is, the worldview of the Capitalocene, the socio-economic-political landscape sustaining the current educational regime. This chapter reviews five major categories of such assumptions: epistemology (knowing; making; and sharing meaning), ontology (being and becoming), axiology (values and ethics), cosmology (storying our origins), and psychology (understanding ourselves and our development). Descriptions and discussions of each “ology” are followed by a series of further questions and “reckonings” for educational practice. The overall objective is to build capacity for this kind of theoretical work—to help educators identify and question the deeper metaphysical assumptions and cultural habits in which their work is embedded. While indicating some alternative insights and directions that might be taken up, we encourage skepticism, ongoing attention, and thoughtful, intentional critique of this ideological structuring of education.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    See our discussion of the organizing concepts of the wild, the sacred, and the just in Chap. 2.

References

  • Abram, D. 1996. The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-than-Human World. Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Adams, G., I. Dobles, L.H. Gómez, T. Kurtiş, and L.E. Molina. 2015. Decolonizing Psychological Science: Introduction to the Special Thematic Section. Journal of Social and Political Psychology 3 (1): 213–238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baggs, E., and A. Chemero. 2021. Radical Embodiment in Two Directions. Synthese 198 (Suppl 9): 2175–2190.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bai, H. 2009. Reanimating the Universe. In Fields of Green: Restorying Culture, Environment, and Education, ed. M. Mckenzie, P. Hart, H. Bai, and B. Jickling. Hampton Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bamford, B. 1999. From Environmental Education to Ecopolitics: Affirming Changing Agendas for Teachers. Educational Philosophy and Theory 13 (1): 157–173.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beery, T., and D. Wolf-Watz. 2014. Nature to Place: Rethinking the Environmental Connectedness Perspective. Journal of Environmental Psychology 40 (1): 198–205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bird Rose, D. 2018. Connectivity Thinking, Animism, and the Pursuit of Liveliness. Educational Theory 67 (4): 491–508.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blenkinsop, S., and C. Beeman. 2010. The World as Co-Teacher: Learning to Work with a Peerless Colleague. The Trumpeter 26 (3): 27–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bold, R., ed. 2019. Indigenous Perceptions of the End of the World: Creating a Cosmopolitics of Change. Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonnett, M. 2003a. Chapter 7. Nature and Knowing. Journal of Philosophy of Education 37 (4): 641–655.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2003b. Chapter 9. Education for Sustainability: Sustainability as a Frame of Mind. Journal of Philosophy of Education 37 (4): 675–690.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bowers, C.A. 2008. Why the George Lakoff and Mark Johnson Theory of Metaphor Is Inadequate for Addressing Cultural Issues Related to the Ecological Crises. The Trumpeter 24 (3).

    Google Scholar 

  • Clarke, D., and J. McPhie. 2014. Becoming Animate in Education: Immanent Materiality and Outdoor Learning for Sustainability. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning 14 (3): 198–216.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2016. From Places to Paths: Learning for Sustainability, Teacher Education and a Philosophy of Becoming. Environmental Education Research 22 (7): 1002–1024.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Corntassel, J. 2012. Re-envisioning Resurgence: Indigenous Pathways to Decolonization and Sustainable Self-Determination. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 1 (1).,: –86-101.

  • Coulthard, G.S. 2014. Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition. University of Minnesota Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • De Lissovoy, N. 2012. Education and Violation: Conceptualizing Power, Domination, and Agency in the Hidden Curriculum. Race, Ethnicity and Education 15 (4): 463–484.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deleuze, G., and Guattari, F. 1987. A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Trans. B. Massui. University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donald, D. 2009. Forts, Curriculum, and Indigenous Metissage: Imagining Decolonization of Aboriginal Relations in Educational Contexts. First Nations Perspectives: The Journal of the Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre 2 (1): 1–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2012. Indigenous Métissage: A Decolonizing Research Sensibility. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 25 (5): 533–555.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Egan, K. 1997. The Educated Mind: How Cognitive Tools Shape our Understanding. University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fawcett, L., and M. Johnson. 2019. Coexisting Entities in Multispecies Worlds: Arts-Based Methodologies for Decolonial Pedagogies. In Animals in Environmental Education: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Curriculum and Pedagogy, ed. T. Lloro-Bidart and V. Banschbach, 175–193. Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Fenwick, T., and R. Edwards. 2010. Actor-Network Theory in Education. Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Fettes, M., and S. Blenkinsop. 2023. Rewilding Imagination: Reorienting Eco-Leadership in Education. In Imagination and Educational Leadership: Research, Practice and Possibility, ed. G. Judson and M. Dougherty. Teachers College Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flower, M., and M. Hamington. 2022. Care Ethics, Bruno Latour, and the Anthropocene. Philosophies 7 (2): 31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. 1983. On the Genealogy of Ethics: An Overview of Work in Progress. In Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics, ed. H.L. Dreyfus and P. Rabinow, 2nd ed., 229–252. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaard, G. 1997. Toward a Queer Ecofeminism. Hypatia 12 (1): 114–137.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gasparatou, R. 2017. Scientism and Scientific Thinking: A Note on Science Education. Science & Education 26 (7–9): 799–812.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gleason, T. 2019. Towards a Terrestrial Education: A Commentary on Bruno Latour’s Down to Earth. Environmental Education Research 25 (6): 977–986.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gonzales-Guardiano, E. 2001. Complexity in Environmental Education. Educational Philosophy and Theory 33 (1): 153–166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gough, N. 2004. RhizomANTically Becoming-Cyborg: Performing Posthuman Pedagogies. Educational Philosophy and Theory 36 (3): 253–265.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2006. Shaking the Tree, Making a Rhizome: Towards a Nomadic Geophilosophy of Science Education. Educational Philosophy and Theory 38 (5): 625–645.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gregoriou, Z. 2004. Commencing the Rhizome: Towards a Minor Philosophy of Education. Educational Philosophy and Theory 36 (3): 234–251.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grossman, L. 2018. The Ecosystem that Controls a Galaxy’s Future Is Coming into Focus. Science News, July 12, 2018. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/cosmic-cloak-controls-galaxy-future-coming-focus

  • Haraway, D. 2016. Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hardy, J. 2002. Levinas and Environmental Education. Educational Philosophy and Theory 34 (1): 459–476.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harman, G. 2018. Object-Oriented Ontology: A New Theory of Everything. Pelican.

    Google Scholar 

  • Humphreys, C., and S. Blenkinsop. 2017. White Paper Concerning Philosophy of Education and the Environment. Studies in Philosophy and Education 36 (3): 243–264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hung, R. 2008. Educating For and Through Nature: A Merleau-Ponty Approach. Studies in Philosophy and Education 5: 355–367.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hunt, S. 2014. Ontologies of Indigeneity: The Politics of Embodying a Concept. Cultural Geographies 21 (1): 27–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ingold, T. 2011. Being Alive: Essays on Movement, Knowledge and Description. Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Irigaray, L. 2013. In the Beginning, She Was. Bloomsbury.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Jickling, B., S. Blenkinsop, N. Timmerman, and M. Sitka-Sage. 2019. Wild Pedagogies: Touchstones for Re-Negotiating Education and the Environment in the Anthropocene. Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, D. 2017. Embodied Cognitive Ecosophy: The Relationship of Mind, Body, Meaning and Ecology. Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography 99 (2): 156–171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Katz, J. 2018. Ensouling Our Schools: A Universally Designed Framework for Mental Health, Well-Being, and Reconciliation. Portage & Main Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kimmerer, R.W. 2013. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. Milkweed.

    Google Scholar 

  • King, T. 2003. The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative. House of Anansi.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kingsnorth, P. 2017. Confessions of a Recovering Environmentalist and Other Essays. Graywolf Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohn, E. 2013. How Forests Think: Toward an Anthropology Beyond the Human. University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kurth-Schai, R. 1992. Ecology and Equity: Towards the Rational Reechantment of Schools and Society. Educational Theory 42 (1): 147–163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Latour, B. 2005. Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network Theory. Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2018. Down to Earth: Politics in the New Climatic Regime. Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • LeGrange, L. 2011. Sustainability and Higher Education: From Arborescent to Rhizomatic Thinking. Educational Philosophy and Theory 43 (7): 742–754.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, H. 1996. On the Nature of Environmental Education: Anthropocentrism Versus Non-Anthropocentrism: The Irrelevant Debate. Philosophy of Education Yearbook 1: 253–256.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lloro-Bidart, T. 2017. A Feminist Posthumanist Political Ecology of Education for Theorizing Human-Animal Relations/Relationships. Environmental Education Research 23 (1): 111–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luke, T. 2001. Education, Environment, and Sustainability: What Are the Issues, Where to Intervene, What Must be Done? Educational Philosophy and Theory 33 (1): 187–202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mignolo, W. 2011. Decolonizing Western Epistemology/Building Decolonial Epistemologies. In Decolonizing Epistemologies: Latina/o Theology and Philosophy, ed. A.M. Isasi-Díaz and E. Mendieta, 19–43. Fordham University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Mika, C. 2017. Indigenous Education and the Metaphysics of Presence: A Worlded Philosophy. Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mikaels, J. 2019. Becoming-Place: A Rhizomatic Exploration of Friluftsliv in the Swedish School Curriculum. Curriculum Perspectives 39 (1): 85–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pillay, S.R. 2017. Cracking the Fortress: Can We Really Decolonize Psychology? South Africa Journal of Psychology 47 (2): 135–140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Plumwood, V. 1993. Feminism and the Mastery of Nature. Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2002. Environmental Culture: The Ecological Crisis of Reason. Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Record-Lemon, R.M., and M.J. Buchanan. 2017. Trauma-Informed Practices in Schools: A Narrative Literature Review. Canadian Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy 51 (4).

    Google Scholar 

  • Rovelli, C. 2022. Helgoland: Making Sense of the Quantum Revolution. Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Russell, J. 2013. Whose Better? (Re)orientating a Queer Ecopedagogy. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education 18 (1): 11–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Semetsky, I. 2003. Deleuze’s New Image of Thought, or Dewey Revisited. Educational Philosophy and Theory 35 (1): 17–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Settles, I.H., L.R. Warner, N.T. Buchanan, and M.K. Jones. 2020. Understanding Psychology’s Resistance to Intersectionality Theory Using a Framework of Epistemic Exclusion and Invisibility. Journal of Social Issues 76 (4): 796–813.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sheridan, J., and R. Longboat. 2006. The Haudenosaunee Imagination and the Ecology of the Sacred. Space and Culture 9 (4): 365–381.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simpson, L.B. 2017. As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom Through Radical Resistance. University of Minnesota Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, L. 2018. Indigenous and Decolonizing Studies in Education. Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Stables, A., and W. Scott. 1999. Environmental Education and the Discourses of Humanist Modernity: Redefining Critical Environmental Literacy. Educational Philosophy and Theory 31: 145–155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swillens, V., and J. Vlieghe. 2020. Finding Soil in an Age of Climate Trouble: Designing a New Compass for Education with Arendt and Latour. Journal of Philosophy of Education 54 (4): 1019–1031.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, A., and V. Pacini-Ketchabaw. 2015. Learning with Children, Ants, and Worms in the Anthropocene: Towards a Common World Pedagogy of Multispecies Vulnerability. Pedagogy, Culture, and Society 23 (4): 507–529.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Todd, Z. 2016. An Indigenous Feminist’s Take on the Ontological Turn: ‘Ontology’ is Just Another Word for Colonialism. Journal of Historical Sociology 29 (1): 4–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valencia, R.R., ed. 2012. The Evolution of Deficit Thinking: Educational Thought and Practice. Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Horn, G., R.W. Kimmerer, and J. Hausdoerffer, eds. 2021. Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations. Center for Humans and Nature.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watts, V. 2013. Indigenous Place-Thought and Agency Amongst Humans and Non-Humans (First Woman and Sky Woman Go on a European Tour!). Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education and Society 2 (1): 20–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, L. 2022. Indigenous Intergenerational Resilience: Confronting Cultural and Ecological Crisis. Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williamson, B. 2017. Decoding ClassDojo: Psycho-Policy, Social-Emotional Learning and Persuasive Educational Technologies. Learning, Media and Technology 42 (4): 440–453.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Willinsky, J. 1998. Learning to Divide the World: Education at Empire’s End. University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, S. 2008. Research Is Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methods. Fernwood Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wohlleben, P. 2016. The Hidden Life of Trees. Greystone Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wong, P.T.P. 2011. Positive Psychology 2.0: Towards a Balanced Interactive Model of the Good Life. Canadian Psychology 52 (2): 69–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wozolek, B. 2020. Hidden Curriculum of Violence: Affect, Power, and Policing the Body. Educational Studies 56 (3): 269–285.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright, K. 2014. Becoming-With. Environmental Humanities 5 (1): 277–281.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zemblylas, M. 2017. The Quest for Cognitive Justice: Towards a Pluriversal Human Rights Education. Globalization, Societies, and Education 15 (4): 397–404.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zwicky, J. 2019. The Experience of Meaning. McGill-Queen’s Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada

    Mark Fettes & Sean Blenkinsop

Authors
  1. Mark Fettes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sean Blenkinsop
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Fettes, M., Blenkinsop, S. (2023). Reframing Education for Eco-Social-Cultural Change. In: Education as the Practice of Eco-Social-Cultural Change. Palgrave Studies in Educational Futures. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-45834-7_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-45834-7_3

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-45833-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-45834-7

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation