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The Call of Wild Stories: Crossing Epistemological Borders with Narrative Fiction

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Animals in Environmental Education

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Education and the Environment ((PSEE))

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Abstract

This chapter explores the use of fiction in scholarship and teaching technique to foster epistemological border crossings between human and nonhuman worldviews. Drawing upon the work of the author, who has used fiction to critique the hidden colonial curriculum of zoos, this chapter is co-authored with one of his animal characters (a black bear named Sam). This chapter examines the meaning found in fictional analyses and suggests potential for understanding the animal through fictional voices that integrate complex theoretical and analytical traditions in curriculum studies and pedagogy. This chapter also references teaching work done with high school students at a zoo several years ago where the author employed fiction as a way to explore the meaning of the captive animal in the zoo.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    While the outlook for snow leopard conservation was dire in 2003, and the cat remains highly endangered, improved technology has yielded more accurate estimate of leopards in the wild, and this number is higher than previously thought (Gertz, 2016; Wildlife Conservation Society, 2016).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Education Department, Augsburg University, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Jason Michael Lukasik & Sam A. Bear

Authors
  1. Jason Michael Lukasik
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  2. Sam A. Bear
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Correspondence to Jason Michael Lukasik .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Liberal Studies Department, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA, USA

    Teresa Lloro-Bidart

  2. Environmental Studies Department, Roanoke College, Salem, VA, USA

    Valerie S. Banschbach

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Lukasik, J.M., Bear, S.A. (2019). The Call of Wild Stories: Crossing Epistemological Borders with Narrative Fiction. In: Lloro-Bidart, T., Banschbach, V.S. (eds) Animals in Environmental Education. Palgrave Studies in Education and the Environment. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98479-7_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98479-7_8

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-98478-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-98479-7

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