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The Palgrave International Handbook of Women and Outdoor Learning pp 473–488Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Eyes Wide Shut: A History of Blindness Towards the Feminine in Outdoor Education in Australia

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Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Gender and Education ((GED))

Abstract

Thirty years ago, the author entered the field of outdoor education, was bruised, and then demanded an alternative to traditional “eyes wide shut” approaches, one that would admit female ways of being. It was a vision of a different way of knowing and learning in the bush that acknowledged an attentive response to one’s surroundings, created time and space for stillness and silence, with a view of humans as an integral part of the natural world, not humans wishing to dominate or control Nature. Through a single-sex lens, each place provided its own store of transformative potential of what females could do unshackled from the demands of narrow “macho” curriculum imperatives.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Coogee, NSW, Australia

    Carol Lee Birrell

Authors
  1. Carol Lee Birrell
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Western Sydney University, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia

    Tonia Gray

  2. Prescott College, Prescott, AZ, USA

    Denise Mitten

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Birrell, C.L. (2018). Eyes Wide Shut: A History of Blindness Towards the Feminine in Outdoor Education in Australia. In: Gray, T., Mitten, D. (eds) The Palgrave International Handbook of Women and Outdoor Learning. Palgrave Studies in Gender and Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53550-0_31

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53550-0_31

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-53549-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-53550-0

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