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Abstract
In this article, we focus on the teaching of criminology in the university classroom. Considering the recent debates on “public criminology,” we examine teaching as a method of reaching more “publics.” As university educators we recognize “students are our first public” (Burawoy, 2008, p. 8) and as criminologists we want to rethink the form of instruction and the means of delivery of a criminological education. Yet this pedagogical picture is not complete without understanding how students interact with content material beyond the formal study of crime, criminals, and criminality – namely, the issues of environmental and “green” harm circulating around illegal and “lawful yet awful” behaviour in society. To further understand these experiences, we reflect upon our teaching of undergraduate and graduate green criminology courses, specifically examining the merits of reorienting criminological teaching to focus upon green issues that brings in students’ experiences and how they make connections with the content and material we provide them. Our article presents an opportunity for criminology and criminal justice instructors to reconsider curriculum reform and conventional criminological education. Criminological curricula ought to contextualize criminology and its green impacts. By drawing upon aspects of green criminology and popular criminology, we argue that educators and students can work together towards a critical ecopedagogy which benefits the teaching and the learning of criminology, as well as advances a more public criminology in the process.
Notes
1 In a similar vein with Hamilton (Citation2013), in what follows is not a debate on the intrinsic worth of the concept of ‘public criminology’; such a focus would require a discussion length beyond what we are able to articulate here.
2 Relatedly, this paper and the pedagogical methods we describe herein also engage with the sort of ‘popular criminology’ referred to by Rafter (Citation2006, Citation2007), Rafter and Brown (Citation2011), Kohm and Greenhill (Citation2011),Yar (Citation2016), and others.
3 Per Hamilton (Citation2013, p. 22) there is no one definition of ‘public sociology’ (Burawoy, Citation2005) on which all sociologists or criminologists agree; this is also explicitly acknowledged by Loader and Sparks (Citation2010, p. 772) who indicate that public criminology is a work in progress, or “whatever that might turn out to mean.”
4 We recognize this is not an exhaustive list the cornucopia of green criminological research has produced; nevertheless, we are mindful of page space and length.
5 While two specific courses are discussed by the authors, the following commentary is that of the authors and do not reflect or represent formal policies or positions of the authors’ respective Departments, Faculties, Schools or affiliated Universities.
6 For further information regarding the journey of the University of Regina Justice Studies program from its inception to current developments, see Greenberg (Citation2014).
7 Depending on the term in the academic year, the ‘first-half’ of term could roughly cover Modules 1-5, inclusive.
8 Although we hope that this is not the case, especially if we strive for diverse and quality required reading examples. Nevertheless, what we as educators might find appealing to students could unfortunately become the opposite in practice.
9 Much to the chagrin of the professor – anecdotally, we know several of our colleagues would have no problem waxing lyrical!