Meanings and implications of culture in sustainability education research

ABSTRACT

As scholars working both individually and collectively, we are interested in exploring what may be achieved through taking up the complex notion of culture in sustainability education research. In this article, we present a bricolage of research, drawing on empirical and theoretical sources that collectively establish the kind of capacity we see as potentially creating the conditions for cultural change. We draw from cultural and environmental education theories. The three empirical examples explore the role of community and family, Indigenous and non-Indigenous knowledge, and personal change through social and ecological justice teaching. The studies demonstrate ways sustainability education research can create the conditions to engage and cultivate communities—both previously established or newly formed—to respond to the pervasiveness and influence of culture as an always/already obstacle to ecologically and socially sound patterns of thought and behavior. Indeed, it seems clear that research and practice must be directed toward cultivating a collective capacity and movement that creates spaces for renewed thinking and action—in other words, for renewed being.

Keywords:

• collaborative research
• culture
• environmental education
• indigenous knowledge
• participatory action research
• sustainability education

Notes

1. We intentionally chose to capitalize the term Indigenous to show respect for Indigenous peoples.

2. All participant names in this article were replaced with pseudonyms to protect their identities. The number in parentheses listed next to pseudonyms indicates the age of the participant.